Re: Re: ‘Dutch Billys’

It’s a whim at that location, I think the last gabled house on Leeson Street was at no. 13 [the white painted house in this photo from a 1982 An Taisce booklet].

No. 11 was the house where the ‘Dutch’ gable could still be read in the brickwork of the facade although I think I remember there being some uncertainty as to whether the gable outline was authentic or not. Either way, the house was a clear cut Billy with a cruciform roof and a largely intact panelled interior. I suspect that part of the horse trading between the developer and the planning department included the imaginative proposal to ‘re-construct’ a Dutch Billy as part of the development, so for 12 demolished 18th/19th century houses we got x million sq, feet of offices in a giant pastiche block and a fake Dutch Billy – nice.

I suspect that the reason that the fake Billy was shoved down that other end was that it was used to make a buffer between the new office blocks and the few remaining Georgian houses on the street outside the redevelopment site.

I don’t think it’s ever been regarded as having much value. As well as being fake and in the wrong place, the details are too clumsy, the brick is not red enough, the roof profile is ludicrous and the gable copings are far too deep . . . . but at least it better than the Marks and Spencer Billys :rolleyes:

You would have thought that setting the bar that low . . . .