No.14 Henrietta Street was built around 1748 along with Nos. 13 and 15 as a single building campaign by Luke Gardiner. Along with No.3 these were the last houses to be constructed on Henrietta Street, which was laid out almost 25 years before in 1729.
It is a protected structure, entered on the RPS Ref: 3664 and is located within a Conservation Area in the Historic Core of the City as defined in the Development Plan: It has been surveyed under the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage completed in 2016, Reg No: 50010675, rated as being of ‘Regional Significance’ and cited as being of ‘Architectural and Artistic interest’.
As part of a restricted Tender Competition, in late 2015 Kelly and Cogan Architects were invited by Dublin City Council to submit proposals for the conservation and refurbishment of 14 Henrietta Street as a Tenement Museum.
Our proposed design is representative of the sensitivity of our design approach in such delicate conservation projects, and in particular those which involve a significant degree of intervention and interpretation.
This design brief was to bring No. 14 back into use as a cultural facility exploring Georgian and Tenement life in Dublin and to consolidate its architectural character and significance.
The key aims of our design concept was to undertake necessary repairs to the existing fabric and to reinstate the original circulation of the house.
The different uses of the house over time – as an aristocratic town house and as tenements – had left fascinating traces on the building fabric. Nonetheless it was deemed important to reinstate the original mid 18th century circulation of the house while preserving this patina.
Internally walls were to be left rough and scarred, the cornicing to be cleaned down and repaired and fallen elements salvaged, repaired and reinstated.
All broken slabs of the existing stone floor areas were to be lifted and repaired with the careful numbering dismantling and re-insertion on a consolidated base. Voids and irregularities would be filled with a repair terrazzo creating an even surface leaving the difference between new and old material clearly visible.
At ground floor level the front primary staircase was to be reinstated by the removal of the partition wall and the partly removal of the first floor, both additions undertaken at tenement stage. A modern staircase- functioning as a shadow of the lost staircase connecting the front hall to the first floor was also to be installed. Its design allowing the traces of profile of the former staircase on the walls to be seen.
The secondary staircase, which extends over the full height of the house was to be fully restored.
The house was determined to be too delicate to accommodate kitchens, serveries and sanitary facilities. As such a contemporary garden pavilion was proposed to be built on the original line of the garden structures as surveyed and shown on John Rocque’s map in 1756.
The new structure would accommodate toilets, coffee dock, stores and boilers and allowed for the installation of new services with minimum impact on the house and created the opportunity to reinstate the original parterre garden.
The extension of the visitor experience to the basement level and to the back of the house presented an opportunity to bring the garden back into use.
John Rocque’s map of 1756 shows an ornamental parterre garden which reinstated could become an integral part of the overall complex, would showcase a typical 18th century townhouse garden and could also function as an outdoor area for the café on summery days which would relieve visitor impact upon the historic fabric.
| Details | |
|---|---|
|
Location |
Henrietta Street, Dublin 1 |
|
Date Of Construction |
2016 |
|
Client |
Dublin City Council |
Location: Henrietta Street, Dublin 1
Date Of Construction: 2016
Client: Dublin City Council
