post box

Freestanding round-plan cast-iron pillar postbox, installed c. 1915, having moulded neck, dentillated frieze and domed cap, curved door with integral handle and raised frame bearing raised royal cipher of George V. Partially obscured maker's mark to rear of base with lettering 'McDowall, Steven and Co Ltd, London & Glasgow'. Located at north side of Carlingford Road at junction with Iona Avenue.

An attractive and functional piece of street furniture representative of the high quality of mass-produced cast-ironwork in the early years of the twentieth century. The royal insignia of George V dates the box to the period 1910 to 1922 when the Irish Free State came into being. The box is reflective of a period of suburban expansion in north Dublin in the early twentieth century. The maker's mark refers to McDowall, Steven and Co Ltd, a firm of Glasgow-based iron founders, founded by John McDowall in 1828, and best known for their decorative cast-iron street, park and garden furniture. The company produced many similarly styled and detailed postboxes across Ireland and Britain until the company was dissolved in 1964.