house

Terraced three-bay two-storey house, c.1850, retaining early fenestration to first floor. Reroofed, c.1960. Renovated, c.1995, with entrance reoriented and timber shopfront inserted to right ground floor. One of a pair. Gable-ended roof. Replacement artificial slate, c.1960. Clay ridge tiles. Roughcast chimney stacks over red brick construction. Cast-iron rainwater goods on eaves course. Roughcast walls. Unpainted. Square-headed window openings (remodelled, c.1995, to left ground floor to accommodate use as door opening. Stone sills. 2/2 timber sash windows (some with cylinder glazing). Replacement timber panelled door, c.1995. Overlight. Timber shopfront, c.1995, to right ground floor with panelled pilasters, fixed-pane timber display window and glazed timber door having timber fascia over on paired consoles and moulded cornice. Road fronted. Concrete footpath to front.

This house, built as one of a pair, is an attractive symmetrically-planned range that has been remodelled to ground floor to accommodate a commercial use – however, the first floor retains its original form. The house is of considerable social and historical significance, indicating the continued development of Leixlip in the mid nineteenth century. In its original form the house is representative of the dwellings built by the successful business class in nineteenth-century Leixlip. The house retains some important early or original salient features and materials, including timber sash fenestration with cylinder glazing, and cast-iron rainwater goods to the roof. The timber shopfront to right ground floor is not an attractive addition to the composition, being boldly detailed and encroaching on the neighbouring house to right (north-west) – future renovation works might aim to incorporate a shopfront that alludes to the true traditional Irish model, without unnecessary detailing. The house, together with the second house in the pair (11804037/KD-10-04-37), remains an attractive feature of the streetscape of Pound Street, leading out of the town to the north-west.