Survey Data
Reg No
50100602
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1790 - 1830
Coordinates
316811, 233362
Date Recorded
08/06/2016
Date Updated
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Description
Attached two-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1810 as one of terrace of three, having full-height glazed extension of c. 1980 to rear (shared with adjoining buildings). Now in use as offices. M-profile pitched slate roof to front span, hipped to west end, behind brick parapet with granite coping and parapet gutters. Shouldered brick chimneystacks to east party wall with terracotta pots. Flemish bond red brick walling on masonry plinth course over rock-faced limestone basement walling. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with patent reveals and granite sills; block-and-start yellow brick surrounds to basement openings. Replacement timber sliding sash windows with simple horns, six-over-three pane to top floor, three-over-six pane to basement with wrought-iron grilles, and six-over-six pane elsewhere. Decorative cast-iron balconettes to first floor. Round-headed doorway with moulded surround, and painted masonry doorcase comprising pro-style Ionic columns, plain entablature, leaded batwing fanlight and replacement four-panel timber door with beaded muntin and brass furniture. Granite entrance platform with decorative cast-iron boot-scrape and three steps to street level. Basement area enclosed by decorative spear-headed cast-iron railings on moulded granite plinth. Mild-steel steps to basement. Rear enclosed by late twentieth-century building.
Appraisal
An early nineteenth-century Georgian row house forming part of a terrace (of three (Nos. 55-57). Although some historic fabric has been lost, the overall character has been retained and it constitutes an important component of the streetscape. It displays a fine Ionic doorcase, fanlight, ornate balconettes, and intact setting details. Laid out in the 1780s and principally developed by a Mr Osburne and David Courtney, the street 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 on the street were completed by 1834. The terrace is characterized by well-balanced proportions and good doorcases, typical of the period. Variations within the street, such as differences in parapet heights, are a telling feature of its piecemeal development. The street is terminated at its east end by St. Stephen's Church, an impressive landmark focus, a key vista of Georgian Dublin.