Survey Data

Reg No

60230044


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social


Original Use

House


Date

1855 - 1865


Coordinates

321919, 226087


Date Recorded

24/10/2014


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached three-bay (two-bay deep) two-storey house, built 1860; extant 1864, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey projecting open porch to ground floor; single-bay (single-bay deep) two-storey lower central return (west). Occupied, 1911. Sold, 1955. For sale, 2013. Sold, 2014. Hipped slate roof on a U-shaped plan behind parapet; hipped slate roof (west), clay ridge tiles, fine roughcast chimney stacks having corbelled stepped stringcourses below chamfered capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots, and concealed rainwater goods retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Fine roughcast walls bellcast over rendered plinth with lead-covered "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed cornice on blind frieze below parapet. Round-headed central opening approached by flight of three cut-granite steps with moulded rendered archivolt. Square-headed door opening into house with concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having overlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows without horns. Round-headed central window opening (west) with cut-granite sill, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash window having fanlight. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed ceiling rose, staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber "spindle" balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, carved timber surrounds to door openings to half-landing framing timber panelled doors centred on carved timber surround to window opening framing timber panelled reveals or shutters, carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors, and picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; drawing room (south) retaining carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with carved timber surround to window opening framing timber panelled shutters on panelled riser, cut-veined grey marble Classical-style chimneypiece, and picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed ceiling rose; dining room (north) retaining carved timber surrounds to door opening framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers, cut-white marble Classical-style chimneypiece, and picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed ceiling rose; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers. Set in landscaped grounds with tuck pointed margined rock faced granite ashlar piers to perimeter having cut-granite shallow pyramidal capping supporting cast-iron double gates.

Appraisal

A house representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one of the 'several villa residences and elegant mansions…of a very superior character' mentioned in The Dublin Builder (1st June 1861; cf. 60230031; 60230043; 60230045; 60230047; 60260176; 60260185), suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a Classically-detailed porch; the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the openings on each floor; and the parapeted roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, a symmetrically-composed stable outbuilding (extant 1908) continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained suburban estate having historic connections with the MacIlwaine family including John Stanford MacIlwaine (d. 1884), 'Gentleman late of Stanford House Foxrock County Dublin' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1884, 455); and John Bedell Stanford MacIlwaine RHA (1857-1945), architect, artist, civil engineer and inventor of "APPARATUS FOR WASHING OR OTHERWISE TREATING PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES, PRINTS, OR FILMS" (patented 1905); and Edgar Anderson (c.1883-1959) of the short-lived engineering practice McCarthy and Anderson (formed 1905; dissolved 1906).