house

Terraced two-bay four-storey over basement former house, built c.1800, now in use as flats. Pitched M-profile roof, hidden behind parapet to front (north) elevation having cut granite coping. Brown brick chimneystacks on party wall to east. Brown brick walls laid in Flemish bond. Cut granite plinth course over rendered walls to basement level. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls to rear elevation. Square-headed window openings having cut granite sills and rendered reveals. Wrought-iron balconettes to first floor windows. Timber sash windows, three-over-three pane to third floor, six-over-six pane to first and second floors front elevation, eight-over-eight pane to ground floor front elevation and to rear elevation. Round-headed stair window to rear elevation, having six-over-six pane timber sash window. Bipartite timber sash window to basement level have two-over-two panes. Round-arched door opening having painted masonry surround with engaged Ionic columns supporting a plain frieze and cornice. Petal fanlight. Timber panelled door. Cut granite steps to entrance platform having cast-iron railings with corner-post to west side. Cast-iron bootscrape to east side of platform. Basement area enclosed from pavement by cut granite plinth wall with cast-iron railings and recent gate. Recent external metal stairs provides access from pavement to basement area. Square-headed door opening to basement having half-glazed timber battened door.

This house makes an important contribution to the streetscape. Its proportions and details are typical of Georgian Dublin houses and shared with neighbouring properties on Blessington Street resulting in a coherent terrace, despite the change in building height. Early fabric survives in its brickwork, entrance platform and door, and the timber sash windows add depth and texture to the facade. Blessington Street was laid out in the late eighteenth century, appearing in the alphabetical list of streets in Wilson's Dublin Directory for the first time in 1795. It terminates to the west end at Blessington Street Basin, constructed in 1810 as a city reservoir supplied from the nearby canal, it is now a public park.