house

Attached two-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1810, having two-storey rear return. Now in office use. Pitched re-slated roof to front, behind rebuilt brick parapet with granite coping, and having flat roof to rear span. Shared shouldered rendered chimneystacks with terracotta pots, concealed gutters, and cast-iron hopper and downpipe. Flemish bond red brick walling over granite plinth, and painted smooth-rendered to basement and rear elevation. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with patent reveals and painted masonry sills. Round-headed window opening and Wyatt-style windows to rear. Timber sliding sash windows, six-over-six pane with ogee horns to front, except for three-over-three pane to top floor; timber sash to rear, tripartite to east bay and with round-headed stairs window to west bay. Wrought-iron grille to front basement. Round-headed door opening to front, with pole-moulded stucco reveal, inset doorcase comprising pro-style Ionic columns, entablature with fluted frieze, replacement fanlight, and replacement eleven-panel timber door with replacement brass furniture. Granite platform with boot-scrape and two steps to street. Basement area enclosed by wrought-iron railings with decorative corner posts on moulded granite plinth. Freestanding cast-iron lamp standard behind railings. Recent concrete steps to basement. Rear of plot bounded by recent apartment block. Stepped street-line to each side, forward from east and recessed from west.

No. 20 Baggot Street Lower is sited within a well-preserved group of late Georgian houses lining the north side of the street. With Nos. 18 and 19, it marks, with a number of set-backs, the adjustment of the street line to its new alignment. The building has an original aspect, with salient features, including its Ionic doorcase and timber sash windows, and the setting also has an intact appearance, and thus it makes a worthy contribution to the architectural heritage of Baggot Street Lower and the wider Georgian core of south Dublin. The development of this street was planned in the late 1780s and approved by the Wide Streets Commissioners in 1791. Characterized by rhythmic proportions and graded fenestration, the austere and relatively modest facades of this row are aggrandized by the width of the tree-lined street, as the building line steps back considerably from No. 18 to the west, expanding to a breadth of 30m (100ft).