Survey Data
Reg No
60230135
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Flower Grove originally Flowergrove
Original Use
Country house
In Use As
Apartment/flat (converted)
Date
1755 - 1765
Coordinates
323967, 226104
Date Recorded
28/11/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three- or five-bay two-storey country house with half-dormer attic, built 1760, on a T-shaped plan with single-bay (single-bay deep) full-height central return (east). Extended, 1820, producing present composition. Occupied, 1911. Vacant, 1999. Renovated, 2001-3, to accommodate alternative use. Pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan behind parapet centred on hipped slate roof (east), clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having capping supporting terracotta tapered pots, and concealed rainwater goods with cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Roughcast walls on rendered plinth with dentilated "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed cornice below parapet centred on eagle finial. Round- or segmental-headed central door opening approached by flight of three replacement cut-granite steps, concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement six-over-six or three-over-three (half-dormer attic) timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (east) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing three-over-three or six-over-six timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central hall with moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; round- or segmental-headed opening into staircase hall with timber surround including archivolt; staircase hall retaining staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber "spindle" balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, carved timber surrounds to window openings to half-landings, and carved timber surrounds to door openings to landings framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled reveals on panelled risers. Set in relandscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A country house representing an integral component of the eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, 'a plain Georgian house' erected on a new avenue cutting through the Malpas estate (Pearson 1998, 65), suggested by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic views of a mountainous backdrop in the distance; the symmetrical footprint centred on a restrained doorcase; the uniform proportions of the openings on each floor; and the high pitched parapeted roofline: meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the continued development or "improvement" of the country house in the early nineteenth century. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original or replicated fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; and plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of a country house having historic connections with Hervey de Montmorency (1796-1872), fourth Viscount Mountmorres (Lewis 1837 II, 116-7); Henry Littlewood (d. 1879), 'late of Flower-grove Rochestown-avenue Kingstown [Dún Laoghaire] County Dublin' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1879, 407); David John Henry (d. 1899), 'Barrister-at-Law late of Flower Grove Rochestown-avenue Kingstown [Dún Laoghaire] County Dublin' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1899, 200); David Lewers Craig (d. 1963), 'Independent Income from Houses Land [and] Dividends' (NA 1911); and Louis Aloysius Byrne FRCIS LRCPI (d. 1932), one-time Coroner for the City of Dublin (The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal 1933, 226).