house

Terraced two-bay four-storey over basement former townhouse, built c. 1800, now in use as a school. Two-storey recent extensions to rear. L-plan pitched roof, hipped to west end, hidden behind refaced brick parapet with granite coping, having brick chimneystacks to east party wall and projecting to rear (north), with yellow clay pots. Parapet gutters and replacement uPVC rainwater goods to east end. Brown brick walls laid in Flemish bond with granite plinth course over rendered walls to basement. Square-headed window openings with granite sills, brick voussoirs and patent reveals. Some round-headed openings to rear. Largely six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows with convex horns, three-over-three to third floor. Decorative wrought-iron balconettes to first floor. Round-headed door opening with brick voussoirs, rendered moulded reveals and Tuscan columns supporting plain frieze and cornice, having petal fanlight and raised-and-fielded timber-panelled door. Granite entrance platform with granite steps flanked by iron railings with decorative corner posts on granite plinth, continuing to east to enclose basement area.

This fine Georgian townhouse displays well-balanced proportions with a restrained use of detailing, ornamented by a Tuscan doorcase which retains a delicate petal fanlight 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.