house

Terraced two-bay four-storey over basement former townhouse, built c. 1800, now in use as offices and apartment. L-plan pitched roof, hipped to north-west corner, hidden behind refaced brick parapet with granite coping. Shouldered rendered chimneystack to south party wall with brick upper section and replacement clay pots. Parapet gutters. Brown brick walls laid in Flemish bond over rendered walls to basement beneath granite stringcourse. Square-headed window openings with masonry sills, brick voussoirs and patent reveals. Largely replacement six-over-six timber sliding sash windows with profiled horns, three-over-three to third floor. Decorative iron balconettes to first floor and steel-grille to basement opening. Round-headed door opening with brick voussoirs, Tuscan columns with fluted capitals supporting fluted frieze and simplified cornice, having plain fanlight with timber-panelled door. Granite entrance platform with five granite steps flanked by iron railings with decorative cast-iron corner posts on granite plinth, enclosing basement area to south.

This fine Georgian townhouse displays well-balanced proportions with a restrained use of detailing, ornamented by a Tuscan doorcase and iron work balconettes and railings. It makes a positive contribution to the streetscape and to the wider historic Georgian core of south Dublin. Leeson Street forms part of an ancient routeway, Suesey Street, leading from the city to Donnybrook. Located within the Fitzwilliam Estate, which covered much of the south-east of the city, the street was named after Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown. Plots were leased for development in the mid-eighteenth century but, apart from the north-western end, it remained undeveloped until the 1780s. Most development was completed by 1836.