house

Terraced two-bay two-storey two-pile former house over raised basement, built c. 1890 as one of terrace of fourteen, having full-height return to rear (south) elevation. Now in use as apartments. M-profile pitched roof, hipped to east end of rear pile, with red brick chimneystacks having clay pots to east and west ends and to return, profiled metal gutter supported on corbelled yellow brick eaves course, and replacement uPVC downpipe to west end. Red brick walling to upper floors, laid in Flemish bond, with yellow brick stringcourse over granite plinth course with snecked limestone walls to basement; rendered to rear. Square-headed window openings with granite sills, having red brick block-and-start surround to basement, and replacement aluminium windows. Round-headed principal doorway with carved timber doorcase comprising panelled pilasters having scrolled brackets, supporting timber frieze and plain fanlight, and having carved timber panelled door. Flight of ten nosed granite steps and granite platform shared with house to east, with wrought-iron handrails to each side having cast-iron uprights. Garden to front, bounded by decorative cast-iron railings on cut granite plinth, and decorative cast-iron pedestrian gate.

This well-built house is part of a terrace of fourteen nineteenth-century houses with similar parapet heights and fenestration patterns. The combination of snecked limestone and red brick adds visual and textural interest to the facade. The corbelled brick detailing to the eaves places the house in a late nineteenth-century context. The impressive steps and the intact setting details considerably enhance the site. The North Circular Road was laid out in the 1780s to create a convenient approach to the city. It developed slowly over the following century with little development west of Phibsborough till the 1870s.