Survey Data
Reg No
50100303
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1775 - 1795
Coordinates
316330, 233341
Date Recorded
26/07/2016
Date Updated
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Description
Attached three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1785. Now in use as offices. M-profile roof, hipped to west, behind rebuilt parapet with granite coping, and having large buff brick chimneystack to east party wall with yellow clay pots, parapet gutters and shared replacement uPVC hopper and downpipe breaking to east. Flemish bond red brick walling, refaced to upper floors, with painted masonry plinth course over painted rendered walling to basement. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with brick voussoirs, painted masonry sills and painted rendered reveals. Timber sliding sash windows, six-over-six pane to first (lacking horns) and second floor (with ogee horns), three-over-three pane to top floor, one-over-one pane to ground floor, and three-over-six pane (lacking horns) to basement with iron grille. Decorative cast-iron balconettes to first floor. Round-headed door opening with painted rendered masonry doorcase having engaged Ionic columns with acanthus flower-enriched capitals, plain entablature, leaded petal fanlight with scalloped archivolt, and ten-panel timber door with brass furniture. Granite entrance platform with four steps to street, flanked by wrought-iron railings on painted granite plinth with decorative cast-iron corner posts, extending east to enclose basement area.
Appraisal
Forming a group with No. 9, No. 10 was built c. 1785 by the stuccodore and master builder Charles Thorp, who was responsible for much of the north side of the street, but invested most heavily in Nos. 9 and 10. Characterized by finely balanced proportions and graded fenestration, the enriched Ionic doorcase and the petal fanlight set in a scalloped archivolt add a decorative element to the otherwise restrained façade that is highly representative of late eighteenth-century Dublin townhouses. Casey (2005) notes that the interior features Thorp's rich neo-Classical plasterwork and a wrought-iron stairs balustrade. Thorp was a significant figure in the creation of neo-Classical interiors in Dublin and key examples of his work include the Blue Coat School and Royal Exchange. A worthy example of its type, No. 9 is an important component of the Georgian character of Hume Street and contributes to the wider architectural heritage of south Dublin, while also constituting an important record of Thorp's skill as a stuccodore.