Survey Data
Reg No
50100428
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1785 - 1795
Coordinates
316695, 233425
Date Recorded
29/07/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1790 apparently as one in terrace of seventeen, having two-storey return to rear. Now in use as offices. Pitched slate roof to front, hipped to east end, behind Flemish bond brown brick parapet with granite coping, and two hipped roofs to rear perpendicular to street, larger over eastern two bays. Brown brick chimneystacks to east end and shouldered chimneystack to west with clay pots. Concealed gutters, with cast-iron downpipe to west end. Flemish bond brown brick walls on moulded granite plinth, with exposed stone walling to basement. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, having painted rendered reveals, soldier arches and painted granite sills; exposed granite block-and-start surrounds to basement openings; round-headed stairs window opening to rear elevation. Timber sliding sash windows, nine-over-six pane to first floor, three-over-three pane to top floor and six-over-six pane elsewhere; one-over-one pane timber sash and replacement windows to rear. Front elevation has decorative wrought-iron balconettes to first floor, wrought-iron window-guards to second floor and wrought-iron grilles to basement. Round-headed principal doorway with paired Ionic columns, flanking decorative leaded sidelights, stepped fluted frieze and entablature, decorative leaded batwing fanlight, cavetto-moulded architrave and eleven-panel timber door with brass furniture. Granite platform with cast-iron boot-scrape and five granite steps. Wrought-iron railings enclosing basement area with decorative cast-iron posts on moulded granite plinth. Timber panelled door accesses basement interior below bridged platform. Rear plot partly garden, and having double-roofed three-bay two-storey former mews building with hipped slate roof and brick walls; yard to lane side with rendered walls containing segmental-arch vehicular entrance and square-headed pedestrian doorway, with double and single-leaf timber battened doors. Interior has good plasterwork and joinery detailing to vestibule and stairs and entrance halls. Garden to rear.
Appraisal
No. 60 Merrion Square forms part of the eighteenth-century square developed by the Fitzwilliam Estate. It is an elegant and well-proportioned house that makes a strong contribution to the early streetscape character of the square. Its relatively modest façade is enlivened by the ornate Ionic doorcase with a decorative leaded fanlight and sidelights, while the metalwork to its railings and balconettes provides additional visual and craft interest. The interior has some fine plasterwork and joinery detailing to the vestibule, stairs hall and entrance hall. The building was constructed for Fitzwilliam's agent Barbara Verschoyle and her husband; they later embellished the house with Greek Revival doorcases and casts from the Parthenon frieze. The building and its setting details contribute significantly to the intact appearance of this important architectural set-piece. The square is one of the best-preserved Georgian streetscapes in Ireland. The north, east and south sides are lined with terraced houses of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century date, while the west side is terminated by the garden front of Leinster House . The houses maintain a relatively uniform building height and design, attributed to standards promoted in Fitzwilliam's leases. Individuality was introduced through the design of doorcases, window ironwork and interior decorative schemes. The south side of Merrion Square was initially set in large plots of twelve leases; plots were leased consecutively from east to west until the row was complete in 1791.