house

Terraced three-bay three-storey over basement former house, built c.1800, now in use as flats. Pitched roof, hipped to east, hidden behind parapet to front (north) elevation, having cut granite coping. Brown brick walls laid in Flemish bond having rendered platbands. Cut granite plinth course over rendered walls to basement level. Square-headed window openings having cut stone sills with patent reveals and replacement aluminium windows. Round-arched door opening having painted brick piers supporting a plain frieze and cornice. Replacement fanlight. Replacement timber panelled door. Cut granite steps to entrance platform having cast-iron railings with corner post to east side. Basement area enclosed from pavement by cut granite plinth wall with cast-iron railings and recent gate. Recent external stairs provide access from pavement to basement area.

This former house makes an important contribution to the streetscape. Its proportions are broader than neighbouring houses on Blessington Street adding interest to the rhythm of the terrace. Although it has lost its windows, it retains the diminishing window pattern, and early fabric survives in its structural brickwork and granite steps and boundary treatment. Blessington Street was laid out in the late eighteenth century appearing in the alphabetical list of streets in Wilson's Dublin Directory for the first time in 1795. It terminates to the west end at Blessington Street Basin, constructed in 1810 as a city reservoir supplied from the nearby canal, it is now a public park.