Survey Data
Reg No
50100427
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1785 - 1795
Coordinates
316688, 233429
Date Recorded
29/07/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1790 apparently as one in terrace of seventeen, having full-height bow to two bays of rear elevation, third bay having three-bay two-storey return with further single-bay two-storey return to north. Now in use as offices. Pitched slate roof to front, hipped to west end, behind reconstructed Flemish bond red brick parapet with granite coping, and two hipped roofs to rear perpendicular to street, larger over bow. Shouldered brown brick chimneystacks to east end with clay pots. Concealed gutters, cast-iron downpipe to east. Flemish bond brown brick walls to front elevation on moulded granite plinth over painted ruled-and-lined rendered walls to basement to front and rear. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with painted rendered reveals, soldier arches and painted granite sills, with replacement red brick arches to top two floors; exposed granite block-and-start surrounds and wrought-iron grille to basement; round-headed stairs window opening to rear elevation of western bay. Timber sliding sash windows, nine-over-six pane to first floor of front and rear, three-over-three pane to top floor, and six-over-six pane elsewhere. Decorative cast-iron balconettes to first floor and wrought-iron window-guards to second floor of front. Round-headed principal doorway with paired Ionic columns, flanking decorative leaded sidelights, stepped fluted frieze entablature with paterae, decorative leaded batwing fanlight, cavetto-moulded architrave, and six-panel painted timber door with brass furniture. Granite platform with cast-iron boot-scrapes and five granite steps. Wrought-iron railings enclosing basement area with decorative cast-iron posts on moulded granite plinth. Replacement timber panelled door accesses basement below bridged platform. carparking to rear.
Appraisal
No. 61 Merrion Square forms part of the eighteenth-century square developed by the Fitzwilliam Estate. It is an elegant and well-proportioned house that makes a strong contribution to the early streetscape character of the square. Its relatively modest façade is enlivened by the ornate Ionic doorcase with its elaborate leaded fanlight and sidelights, and the metalwork to the balconettes and railings provides additional features of interest. The building and its intact setting details contribute significantly to the intact appearance of this internationally important architectural set-piece. The square is one of the best-preserved Georgian streetscapes in Ireland. The north, east and south sides are lined with terraced houses of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century date, while the west side is terminated by the garden front of Leinster House. The houses maintain a relatively uniform building height and design, attributed to standards promoted in Fitzwilliam's leases. Individuality was introduced through the design of doorcases, window ironwork and interior decorative schemes. The south side of Merrion Square was initially set in large plots of twelve leases; plots were leased consecutively from east to west up until the row was completed in 1791.