house

Pair of mid-terrace two-bay three-storey over basement former houses, built c.1800, having elliptical-headed integral carriage arch. Now in use as flats. M-profile hipped roof hidden behind parapet to front (south) elevation with cut granite coping to no.18 and concrete coping to no.19. Rendered chimneystacks having clay chimneypots. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls having cut granite plinth course to ground floor. Rendered walls to rear. Square-headed window openings having patent reveals and cut stone sills. Replacement uPVC windows. Round-headed stair window to rear of no.18. Round-headed door openings, each having recent surround, fanlight, and timber panelled door. Cut granite steps to entrance platforms having metal railings, rendered pier to no.19. Basement areas enclosed from pavement level by cut granite plinth wall with metal railings. Access from pavement level to basement areas by recent external concrete stairs.

This pair of houses makes an important contribution to the streetscape of Blessington Street. Although recently altered they maintain a number of early features such as cut granite steps, plinth course and coping, and they share proportions and characteristics with their neighbours. The integral carriage arch maintains a coherent terrace while providing access to Blessington Place. Blessington Street was laid out at the end of the 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.