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ROEBUCK HOUSE

July 08, 2010

Front Elevation

Roebuck House is a typical terraced Georgian townhouse and exemplifies features commonly found in 19th century Dublin houses such as irregular handmade bricks, a parapet concealing the roof, multiple pane sash windows, a basement area and the front door approached by a short flight of granite steps. This Heritage project involved restoring the original door and all the historic windows.

Front Door

The plain exterior of the Georgian façade was enlivened by their colourful doors of which Dublin is famous for. The door of Roebuck house is a typical example of an early 19th century door which is flanked on either side by ancient Greek (Ionic order) columns. Heritage fully restored the door, its surround and fanlight to its former splendor while carefully preserving the historic ironmongery. The later addition of the door bell was sensitively located on the reveal so as not to detract from the historic character of the door. 

 Door Furniture

The original hexagonal Georgian door knob was meticulously restored and a brass scroll door knocker specially designed to suit the proportions of the door. During the 18th century, door furniture was usually painted black and it was not until the Victorian era that it became popular to polish door ironmongery.

Windows
Multiple pane sash windows are a defining characteristic of Georgian houses before advancements in glass making produced larger sheets of glass during the Victorian era. Round-arched windows (as shown in the above image) are typically found in Georgian house returns on the first or second floor stair landing illuminating the stairwell. The window and the internal shutters and linings were fully restored by Heritage.

Window Shutter
The superior quality of 18th century timber means that historic windows can survive over 300 years. Their repair is always preferable to replacement with poor quality modern windows which have a much shorter life expectancy. Heritage carefully restores historic windows by only replacing sections of decayed timber and renewing old paintwork and putty. Internal works such as releasing sealed shutters and renewing sash cords, pulleys and weights will restore an historic window to full working order.

Basement Window
The basements of Georgian houses are typically more sparsely decorated as these were the servant’s quarters. The basement windows in Roebuck house have no shutters or decorative linings and are wider to allow more light into the basement level.

http://www.heritage.ie/Case_Studies/ROEBUCK_HOUSE.aspx

ROEBUCK HOUSE