house

Attached three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1777 as pair with No. 13 to east. Now in commercial office use. M-profile pitched roof, hipped to west end, flat-roofed to valley, fronted by brick parapet with granite coping over cement-rendered frieze. Rendered brick chimneystacks to west elevation and long stack to party wall shared with No. 13, with yellow clay and terracotta pots. Valley gutters and shared cast-iron downpipe with hopper. Flemish bond red brick walling with granite plinth course and platband over painted smooth rendered basement walls. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with painted rendered reveals and granite sills, also having block-and-start granite surrounds to basement windows. Timber sliding sash windows, nine-over-six pane to ground and first floors with some historic glass, six-over-six pane to second floor and basement and three-over-three pane to top floor. Rear has timber sash windows of similar fenestration to front, with round-headed stairs windows to west bay. Decorative cast-iron balconettes to first floor and iron grilles to basement. Round-headed door opening having doorcase with open-bed pediment having triglyph entablature on engaged Doric columns, leaded petal fanlight, recessed eleven-panel timber door with panelled reveals and brass furniture and flanked by one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows with leaded diamond motif. Granite entrance platform with cast-iron boot-scrape and three steps from street. Wrought-iron railings with decorative wrought and cast-iron posts over granite plinth and extending east to enclose basement area. Partly abutted to rear, with yard and garden.

No. 14 Hume Street is thought to be the work of the stuccodore and master builder, Charles Thorp. It and No. 13 were built as a pair and are the earliest on the north side of Hume Street, a thoroughfare laid out in 1768 by the surgeon and property developer, Gustavus Hume. Although relatively plain, the handsome and well-proportioned façade is enhanced by a fine surviving Doric doorcase and some early fenestration. Its decorative balconettes and railings add visual interest to the house and streetscape. The intact granite steps and railings leading down to the basement area add considerably to the attractiveness and intactness of the site. In conjunction with No. 13, it forms a centre-piece that contributes to the wider architectural heritage of the south side of Dublin city centre.