Survey Data
Reg No
50020421
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Finn's Hotel
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Hotel
In Use As
Hospital/infirmary
Date
1790 - 1810
Coordinates
316414, 233812
Date Recorded
24/02/2015
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
End-of-terrace two-bay four-storey former house, built c.1800. Refaced and shopfront added to front (south) elevation c.1890. Recent roof addition and extension to rear (north), c.2010. Later in use as hotel, now in use as dental hospital with retail outlet to ground floor. Shared pitched slate roof concealed behind terracotta and rendered parapet with piers, lead flashing and gable-fronted half-dormer window having pediment and string courses to centre, rendered chimneystack with shallow projecting chimneybreast to west elevation. Recent metal clad roof addition to north pitch. Moulded cornice and eaves course over red brick, laid in Flemish bond, to walls, red brick pilasters to front, painted lettering to side (west) elevation, and yellow brick with red brick quoins to rear. Square-headed window openings having moulded terracotta sills, continuous moulded sill to second floor windows, and one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows, moulded terracotta keystones to openings to third floor. Round-headed window opening to dormer, chamfered surrounds and keystone. Ashlar sandstone shopfront comprising pilasters, fluted pedimented consoles flanking render fascia and carved sandstone cornice, recent shopfront within. Street fronted, set at east end of South Leinster Street at junction with Lincoln Place.
Appraisal
Built as part of a group of four with shared form and fabric, this building makes a positive contribution to the continuity of the streetscape. Retaining a sense of symmetry and restraint, it was subsequently refaced with the addition of the eyecatching Victorian parapet, pilasters and shopfront. The warm brick blends with the terracotta elements, and the moulded detailing subtly articulates the façade. The elegant shopfront lends artistic and contextual interest to both the building and the streetscape. Together with the neighbouring building, No.2 South Leinster Street, it is of significance as a former hotel, Finn's Hotel, the workplace of Nora Barnacle, who was a chambermaid here at the time of her first encounter with James Joyce, on the 10th June 1904. The hotel name survives to the gable façade. Nos.1-4 South Leinster Street, together with the adjoining building 18-19 Lincoln Place, were recently sympathetically remodelled for the dental hospital by McCullough Mulvin Architects.