Survey Data

Reg No

50100598


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic


Original Use

House


In Use As

Office


Date

1790 - 1830


Coordinates

316783, 233378


Date Recorded

05/06/2016


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Terraced three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1810 as one of terrace of five, having full-height glazed extension of c. 1980 to rear (shared with adjoining buildings). Extensively remodelled in 1990s and now in use as offices. Replacement pitched slate roof to front span, behind brick parapet with granite coping having parapet gutters, and shouldered brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Flemish bond red brick walling, with recent wigged pointing, on granite plinth course over painted smooth-rendered basement walling. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with patent reveals and granite sills. Replacement timber sliding sash windows with convex horns, six-over-six pane to ground and second floors, nine-over-six pane to first floor, three over-three pane to top floor and three-over-six pane to basement. Wrought-iron grilles to basement. Round-headed doorway with stucco surround, engaged panelled pilasters with Adamesque Ionic capitals, stepped entablature having swags and rosettes to frieze, sidelights with oval-and-bar-motif, replacement petal fanlight, and eight-panel replacement timber door with beaded muntin and brass furniture. Granite entrance platform with cast-iron boot-scrape, and with bull-nosed step to street level. Basement area enclosed by wrought-iron railings with decorative cast-iron posts, on moulded granite plinth. Rear enclosed by late twentieth-century buildings.

Appraisal

An early nineteenth-century house, forming part of a largely unified terrace. Although much of the original detailing of No. 61 was replaced during the renovation works of the 1990s, the overall character has been retained and it represents an important component of the streetscape. The fine doorcase and fanlight provide strong visual and artistic interest. Laid out in the 1780s and developed principally by a Mr Osburne and David Courtney, Mount Street Upper was built to link the newly constructed Grand Canal to the upper class residential developments that radiated from Leinster House. Built in pairs and rows over a period of thirty years, the fifty-four houses in the street were completed by 1834. The terrace is characterized by well-balanced proportions typical of the period, but the group at Nos. 58-62 boast more elaborate doorcases and higher window to wall ratios. Such variations within the groups in the street are a telling feature of its piecemeal development. Mount Street Upper is terminated by St. Stephen's Church at its east end, an impressive landmark focus forming one of the key vistas of Georgian Dublin.