Figure 29.2 The old Irish Times building on D’Olier Street, Dublin. The buildings on D’Olier Street were designed in the 1790s with integrated shop fronts, a feature which came later in London.
Figure 29.3 Merrion Square was designed as a unit. This aerial view shows the park, which was private to residents of the square.
This was a time before motorised transport or electricity and everything was moved by horse and cart. Candles or oil lamps provided the only source of light. There was no public street lighting.
Media and Areas of Practice
Architecture Houses vary in size from a single bay wide, which was rare, to five or even seven bays for some of the largest houses. The basements were at natural ground level. The streets were built on brick arches. The spaces beneath the arches were used as
CHAPTER 29 URBAN DEVELOPMENT
storage areas for the houses. Circular coal holes on the pavements opened into chutes where coal, which was used to heat the houses, could be poured into the stores below. The streets were cobbled and the footpaths in the better parts of Dublin had granite kerbs. An open area between the street and the houses allowed light into the basement windows. This area was protected by a cast-iron railing set in a low stone plinth at street level. Railings continued up the sides of the steps to the front door. The steps formed a bridge over the area. Cast iron was also used for balconies and for foot-scrapers and other street furniture.
Terraces and Squares
Exterior The doorways provide one of the main decorative features of the Georgian street house. They come with a variety of fanlights and porticoes made up of classical elements (Fig. 29.4). Some houses have a small window each side of the door to help light the hallway inside. The sash windows vary in size according to the importance of the rooms within. The tallest windows were on the first-floor reception rooms and the smallest on the top-floor bedrooms.
The houses were often built of red Bridgwater Brick, which came as ballast in ships trading with Bristol.
