Ciao Bella Roma, The Bridge House

Attached two-bay five-storey former house, built c.1780, having shopfront to front (east) elevation. Now in use as restaurant and guest house. Pitched roof, set perpendicular to street, hidden behind lined-and-ruled rendered parapet with cut granite coping to front (east) elevation. Some cast-iron rainwater goods. Lined-and-ruled rendered wall to front. Square-headed window openings with masonry sill courses, pedimented entablatures to first floor windows and one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows and replacement windows. Square-headed door opening having recent half-glazed timber panelled door and awning. Recent timber shopfront with square-headed window and door openings. Situated on west side and south end of Parliament Street.

Parliament Street is the first example of formal axial planning in mid-eighteenth-century Dublin. When George Semple designed the rebuilding of Essex Bridge (1753-55) his plan showed a new wide street linking the bridge to Dublin Castle, and this plan for Parliament Street was implemented by the Wide Street Commissioners in 1762. Many of the buildings, including this one, were altered and rebuilt in the nineteenth century. It shares a parapet height with its neighbours, lending a sense of continuity to the streetscape. The diminishing upper floor fenestration attributes a hierarchy to each floor, creating a pleasantly balanced façade. Stucco embellishment, such as that of the first floor window surrounds, became fashionable in the nineteenth century, adding textural variation to the façade. According to Casey (2005) the interior retains historic joinery and cornices. Historic maps show that the building was formerly numbered 7 Essex Bridge and was described in Thom's Directory of 1862 as in use as occupied by tobacco and snuff manufacturers.