Georgian Court

Two bay four-storey house over raised basement, built c.1820, currently in use as guesthouse, occupying Nos. 77-79. Built as part of terrace on Lower Gardiner Street, formerly connecting Beresford Place to Mountjoy Square via Middle Gardiner Street. M-profile pitched slate roof having parapet with squared granite coping and stepped rendered brick chimneystacks to boundary with No. 79. Flemish bond recently re-pointed yellow brick walls having moulded granite plinth over rendered walls with basal plinth to basement area. Diminishing square-headed window openings having gauged brick voussoirs, patent rendered reveals, granite sills and replacement single-pane timber sliding sash windows to ground, first floor, second and third floors, and replacement uPVC replacement window to basement opening. Recent decorative metal balconettes to first floor windows and recent steel window guards to second floor windows. Round-headed door opening with gauged brick voussoirs and stone doorcase comprising Roman Doric columns, with floral and egg and dart capital detail, on stone bases surmounted by Doric frieze displaying alternating triglyphs and metopes, and projecting masonry cornice, with replacement spoked fanlight. Timber panelled door with six raised-and-fielded panels opening onto granite flagged platform bridging basement having stepped granite approach. Approach flanked by spearheaded wrought-iron railings on moulded granite plinths returning to enclose basement area, with decorative posts displaying urn finials. Square-headed door opening to basement having replacement timber door. Limited access to rear of building. Five-storey building to Mabbot Lane occupies significant depth of plot and spans triple plot width across Nos.77-79. Building façades expressed individually on Mabbott Lane but share same roof.

Dating from the early nineteenth century, this house forms an integral component of Lower Gardiner Street, a significant streetscape in the north Georgian city. Despite some recent alterations, the building's historic form and character has survived largely intact with the survival of various original features including a pleasant doorcase, approach and enclosing railings. Lower Gardiner Street was developed by Gardiner in the late eighteenth century, with leases dating from the 1790s. The street formed part of Gardiner's route from Beresford Place to Mountjoy Square, and No.78 forms part of the surviving terrace along this route.