shop/retail outlet

Terraced four-bay three-storey house and shop, built c.1860, having recent timber shopfront to front (west) elevation. Pitched roof with rendered chimneystacks having clay chimney pots, hidden behind rendered parapet with moulded render cornice over platband. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls with channelled render quoins, and moulded render cornices and consoles over first floor windows. Square-headed window openings with moulded render architraves, painted masonry sills and two-over-two pane timber sash windows. Square-headed door opening with timber panelled door and overlight to north of shopfront.

This imposing building shares a parapet height and fenestration arrangement with its neighbours to the north, making the composition as a whole a striking presence on the corner of Clanbrassil Street Upper and South Circular Road. The decorative render detailing adds artistic interest, while the timber sash windows add to its historic character. Thom’s Directory of 1865 listed it as part of Clanbrassil Buildings, a commercial unit occupied by Francis Leonard who traded as a grocer, iron-monger, purveyor, glass, delft, haberdasher, coal and general merchant, and rated it at £48. A sub-post office had been established by 1894. In 1896 Nos.65 and 66 were listed as a general draper, the property of M. J. Nolan, and rated at £71, suggesting that alterations and improvements had taken place. In 1901 it was rated at £44. It remained in use as a post office until recently, making it a focal point in the local community. It is from this and other units occupied by Francis Leonard that the crossroads has become known as Leonard's Corner.