Survey Data
Reg No
50130299
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
Rathdown Terrace
Original Use
House
In Use As
Apartment/flat (converted)
Date
1880 - 1900
Coordinates
314448, 235617
Date Recorded
15/06/2018
Date Updated
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Description
Terraced two-bay two-storey two-pile house over raised basement, built c. 1890 as one of terrace of fourteen, having full-height return to rear (south) elevation. M-profile pitched slate roof, hipped to east end of rear pile, with red brick chimneystacks having clay pots to east and west ends and to return, profiled metal gutter supported on corbelled yellow brick eaves course, and with replacement uPVC downpipe to west end. Red brick walling to upper floors of front elevation, laid in Flemish bond, with yellow brick stringcourse over granite plinth course with snecked limestone walls to basement; rendered to rear. Square-headed window openings with granite sills, red brick block-and-start surrounds to basement; one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows to upper floors to front elevation, and replacement uPVC elsewhere. Round-headed principal doorway with carved timber doorcase comprising panelled pilasters with scrolled brackets, supporting timber frieze and plain fanlight, and with carved timber panelled door. Flight of eleven nosed granite steps and granite platform shared with house to east, having wrought-iron handrail on granite plinth to west with cast-iron uprights. Garden to front, bounded by decorative cast-iron railings on cut granite plinth, with decorative cast-iron pedestrian gate with ornate piers.
Appraisal
This well-built house is part of a terrace of fourteen late nineteenth-century houses with similar parapet heights and fenestration patterns. The combination of snecked limestone and red brick adds visual and textural interest to the facade. The corbelled brick detailing to the eaves places the house in a late nineteenth-century context. The retention of timber sash windows, as well as its carved timber door and doorcase, enhances the historic appearance of the building. The impressive steps and front garden and railings provide a fitting setting. The North Circular Road was laid out in the 1780s to create a convenient approach to the city, but it developed slowly over the following century with little development west of Phibsborough till the 1870s.