House of Colour

Terraced two-bay four-storey house over concealed basement, reconstructed 1916, with timber shopfront inserted to ground floor. Built as one of pair to design of Patrick Munden. Flat roof with rendered chimneystacks, hidden behind rendered parapet wall with moulded coping, string course to base and flanked by panels with decorative motifs. Ruled-and-lined rendered walls with channel rusticated render soldier quoins to either end. Square-headed window openings with shouldered and kneed architrave surrounds, painted granite sills and original timber casement windows. Symmetrical original timber shopfront comprising central full-height display window on polished granite plinth course and slender colonettes with recessed entrances to either side. Shopfront flanked by panelled pilasters surmounted by fluted and gableted console brackets framing full-span fascia and cornice. Replacement glazed timber doors to both entrances with original multi-pane overlight and decorative lintel cornice. Original mosaic tiled floor to west entrance and mirrored panelling to both entrances. Concrete-framed glazed basement lights to front pavement.

This building was erected to replace a house for Joseph Hunt which, along with much of the street, was destroyed during the 1916 Rising. No.64 is one of a pair built to the designs of Patrick Munden, who later formed the partnership of Munden and Purcell Architects, which continued until the 1980s. The contractor was Shortall and Co. This building, along with its neighbour to the east, was built slightly lower than the surrounding buildings, thus employing a more domestic façade decoration. Retaining most of its original fabric, this building adds to the architectural heritage of Abbey Street Middle with its original shopfront, which is of particular note and remains part of the commercial streetscape.