Survey Data
Reg No
60260105
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Kilbrae originally Air Hill
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1800 - 1837
Coordinates
325035, 222720
Date Recorded
14/11/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay (two-bay deep) two-storey over basement house, extant 1837, on a rectangular plan with three-bay two-storey rear (east) elevation. Occupied, 1901. Hipped slate roof on a quadrangular plan with pressed copper ridges extending into terracotta ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having rendered rounded capping supporting terracotta pots, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on timber eaves boards on overhanging eaves retaining some cast-iron downpipes. Creeper- or ivy-covered lime rendered walls. Segmental-headed central door opening with cut-granite step threshold, doorcase with three quarter-engaged columns on plinths supporting iron-covered cornice on flush beaded frieze, and moulded rendered surround framing timber panelled door having fanlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and moulded rendered surrounds framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set in landscaped grounds with replacement piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting spear head-detailed wrought iron double gates.
Appraisal
A house representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one erected on a plot fronting 'the new line of road [1836-7] from Loughlinstown to Bray' (Pratt in Pearson 1998, 52), confirmed by such attributes as the compact near-square plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also showing a pretty "peacock tail" fanlight; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the slightly oversailing 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, thus upholding the character or integrity of a house having historic connections with Thomas Smyth (d. 1867), 'Barrister-at-Law formerly of Belmont House Bray County Wicklow and late of Airhill [sic] near Loughlinstown County Dublin' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1868, 477).