NCBI Charity Shop

Terraced two-bay four-storey former house, built c.1780, having recent shopfront to front (north) elevation. Now in use as shop. M-profile pitched roof, hipped to west, with red brick chimneystacks, hidden behind rendered parapet, render coping. Rendered walls. Square-headed window openings with raised render reveals, painted sills and timber sash windows, three-over-three pane to third floor, one-over-one pane to first and second floors. Recent shopfront having timber panelled door, shuttered display window.

This mid-Georgian building retains its early form and fabric, although it is currently rendered. Timber sash windows enhance the façade, lending it a patina of age, and the decreasing scale of fenestration, characteristic of Georgian architecture, creates a well-balanced appearance. Now largely surrounded by buildings of a more recent date, it adds important early historic character to the street. The Dublin Street Directory of 1862 lists it as the property of John Keane, wax and tallow candle manufacturer, soap boiler and general merchant. Thomas Street developed along the ancient Slige Mor highway to the west, and was named after an Abbey dedicated to Saint Thomas the Martyr, which was established in the area in 1177. The city water course partially ran along the street until it was paved over in 1696, and the ready availability of water contributed to the development of the street as a centre of brewing and distilling.