house

Mid-terrace two-bay three-storey house, built c. 1895, having canted single-storey bay to front (east) elevation and single-storey return to rear with enclosed yard. Now in use as apartments. M-profile pitched slate roof with angled black ridge tiles, felted roof to canted-bay, red brick chimneystack to north end with yellow clay pots, and half-round cast-iron rainwater goods supported on cogged yellow and black brick eaves course. Red brick walling, laid in Flemish bond, over projecting granite plinth course. Segmental-headed window openings with polychrome brick voussoirs, granite sills (continuous to canted-bay) and replacement uPVC windows. Round-headed doorway with polychrome brick voussoirs, timber doorcase comprising panelled pilasters with scrolled foliate brackets, timber cornice and plain fanlight, and timber bolection-moulded four-panel door with beaded muntin and brass furniture, approached by one nosed granite step accessed by encaustic tiled garden path, latter with scalloped terracotta edging. Front garden bounded by wrought-iron railings with cast-iron finials on cut granite plinth. Located on tree-lined section of Drumcondra Road.

This attractive mid-terraced house is part of a group of late nineteenth-century houses on the west side of Drumcondra Road, set back behind a tree-lined buffer that separates them from the busy main thoroughfare. The terrace steps along the slight rise in topography and is distinguished by an attractive street frontage ornamented by a lively palette of red, yellow and black brick, and good-quality gauged brick detailing. No. 68 is also enhanced by the retention of its attractive encaustic tiled garden path and cast-iron railings. The group was laid out in the late nineteenth century as part of the suburban expansion of Drumcondra and is typical of the development that characterizes the area, driven by speculative development by builders who often constructed small groups of terraced houses, resulting in subtle variety of proportions, materials and detailing. This group presents similar characteristics to buildings on St. Alphonsus Road, suggesting the same developer, and adjoins an earlier terrace to the north.