Beds R Us

Corner-sited end-of-terrace four-storey house, built c.1820, having five-bay elevation to Great Strand Street and two-bay elevation to Capel Street. Now in use as shop with accommodation over recent shopfront. Flat roof concealed by rendered parapet with squared granite coping. Hexagonal hopper and downpipe to east end of Great Strand Street elevation. Rendered walls throughout over moulded render cornice with egg and dart decoration forming sill course to first floor. Recent billboard covering much of Great Strand Street elevation. Structural metal tie-bars between first and second floor windows to Capel Street elevation. Square-headed window openings with flush rendered reveals granite sills and replacement two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows.

Located on a prominent corner site, this substantial house retains much of its historic stature and scale as well as several interesting features including an unusual cornice course which presumably formed part of an earlier shopfront. While some original features have been lost its scale and proportions ensure that it continues to contribute to the important historic streetscape of Capel Street. Capel Street itself was laid out by Humphrey Jervis to link the new Essex Bridge (now Grattan Bridge) (1678) to the Great North Road. Originally a fashionable residential street of houses, it became largely commercialized around 1800. It frames an important vista to the south on axis with City Hall.