Survey Data
Reg No
50100227
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1755 - 1765
Coordinates
316529, 233705
Date Recorded
24/08/2016
Date Updated
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Description
Attached three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1760, having two-storey flat-roofed return to north end of rear. Now in use as offices. M-profile roof, hipped to north end and pitched to south. Shouldered rendered chimneystacks to party walls at front and to north end at rear, with clay pots. Flemish bond red brick walling with recent wigged pointing, and granite plinth course over ruled-and-lined rendered walls to basement; rendered to rear, painted to basement. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with painted rendered reveals, replacement granite sills and timber sliding sash windows, six-over-six pane with simple horns to ground, first and second floors, three-over-three pane to top floor and one-over-one pane to basement; rear has timber sash windows, apparently three-over-three-pane to top floor, six-over-six pane including round-headed stairs window to second floor and one-over-one pane to floors below. Elliptical-headed door opening with moulded rendered reveals, painted masonry doorcase comprising freestanding Scamozzian Ionic columns, entablature with nail-head panelled frieze, plain fanlight and eleven-panel timber door with recent brass furniture. Granite entrance platform with cast-iron boot-scrapes, five bull-nosed granite steps and cast-iron spear-headed railings on moulded granite plinth enclosing basement area.
Appraisal
No. 93 Merrion Square is an elegant Georgian house constructed by Columbine Lee Carré, in conjunction with Nos. 88-92, and forms part of the original laying out of the square. The brickwork to the front facade was replaced in the 1970s, along with substantial internal alterations, but the brickwork has been restored during recent conservation works and wigged pointing applied. Developed as part of the Fitzwilliam Estate, Merrion Square is one of the best-preserved Georgian streetscapes in Ireland. The north, east and south sides of the square have terraced houses of eighteenth and nineteenth-century date, while the west side is terminated by the garden front of Leinster House and the neighbouring Natural History Museum and National Gallery. The houses maintain a relatively uniform building height and design, attributed to standards promoted in Fitzwilliam's leases. Displaying elegant proportions and restrained detailing, the appearance of No. 93 has been enhanced by recent restoration works. Forming a worthy part of a short terrace of large-scale houses on the west side of the square, these are among the earliest houses, dating from the 1750s and 1760s. The fine Ionic doorcase, with its flight of steps and well-preserved setting provides interest and an intact appearance to the street edge.