Reg No
50010924
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Hotel
Date
1760 - 1770
Coordinates
315687, 235225
Date Recorded
20/09/2011
Date Updated
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Terraced three-bay four-storey house over exposed basement, built c.1765. Now in use as hotel, internally connected to Nos. 1 and 3-4 Gardiner Row and No. 2 North Frederick Street. Roof hidden behind parapet wall with granite coping and shared rendered chimneystack to south party wall with clay pots. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walls to painted moulded granite plinth course and rendered basement wall. Square-headed window openings with painted granite sills and replacement one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows to lower two floors and replacement uPVC windows to top two floors. Replacement iron balconettes to first floor and iron grille to basement window. Round-headed door opening with moulded masonry surround and painted stone Doric doorcase. Original timber panelled door having eight raised-and-fielded panels, flanked by advanced and engaged Doric columns on plinth bases to lintel cornice and plain fanlight. Door opens onto concrete platform and three concrete steps, bridging basement area, enclosed by wrought-iron railings on painted moulded granite plinth wall terminated by pair of original wrought-iron lamp piers. Railing and plinth wall returns to enclose basement area. Interior retains original dog-leg open-string timber stair, original timber door and window linings, decorative Rococco plaster cornices and ceiling roses.
Gardiner Row was laid out in 1768 and forms part of an impressive vista connecting Mountjoy Square to Parnell Square with Findlater’s Church terminating the view looking west. Architect and developer, John Ensor (1715-87), is believed to have developed Gardiner Row, with this house being the property of his wife Margaret Ensor. Despite the rendered facade, this former house retains its original fenestration pattern, a transitional doorcase and some Rococco internal detailing, constituting an important component part of a largely intact Georgian streetscape. The retention of timber sash windows contributes to the architectural character of the building and the retention of the plinth and railings to the basement area enhances the setting and to the intactness of the streetscape.