Dublin's Bourgeois Homes ─ Building the Victorian Suburbs, 1850-1901

In 1859, Dubliners strolling along country roads witnessed something new emerging from the green fields. The Victorian house had arrived: wide red brick structures stood back behind large front lawns. Over the next forty years, an estimated 35,000 homes were built in the fields surrounding the city. Distinguished by their elaborate entrances and imposing granite staircases, Dublin produced its own unique version of the Victorian house form. Today, these houses are some of the capital’s most highly valued structures, and are protected under strict conservation laws. However, despite their significance, there has been little research on those behind their creation, and of the complex processes which brought them into being. Based on measured surveys, photographs, and contemporary drawings and maps, this book is the first in depth analysis of Dublin’s Victorian domestic architecture. Focusing on the work of three entrepreneurial developers, who built high quality houses in different sectors, it follows in their footsteps as they speculated in house building: signing leases, acquiring plots, and sourcing bricks and mortar. What motivated them to invest in the housing market, and how did they finance their operations? It considers the roles of landowners and local government in supporting the suburbs: by supplying land, providing services and controlling building standards. The book analyses seventy-seven houses in different sectors: examining architectural characteristics from external form to plan type, and detailing of materials. It reveals how house design evolved over time, as bay windows pushed through facades and new lines of coloured brick were introduced. Comparisons are made with similar house types in Britain, showing the unique characteristics of the Dublin house form. Taking the reader behind the façade to the interior spaces within, the book shows how domestic space was manipulated to articulate the relationships between master and servant, male and f

Susan Galavan is a qualified architect with over twenty years’ work experience in Ireland, Italy and Germany. She has a particular interest in historic structures, having worked as a conservation architect on many Victorian properties in Dublin. She holds a first class Masters degree from University College Dublin and a PhD in architectural history from Trinity College Dublin. Her doctorate was a multidisciplinary examination of Dublin’s Victorian domestic architecture and was funded by a three-year scholarship from the Irish Research Council (equivalent of AHRC). She works as a conservation consultant in Dublin, and teaches history of architecture at University College Dublin and Griffith College Dublin.