This 52 bed hotel replaced a three storey nightclub at this location on the edge of Georgian Dublin. From the beginning; the choice of external finishes was identified as critical to how the building could be integrated into this sensitive setting. Being within the Georgian core, the use of brick as the predominant façade material was established as a project priority – but what type of brickwork to use? While we often refer to Georgian Dublin as being a red brick city; in fact, much of Georgian Dublin was built of poor quality yellow or brown brick to which red pigmented render was applied. To this was further applied an artificially pronounced joint by the process of ‘wigging’ or ‘tuck pointing'. Much of this façade finish has been lost over the twentieth century, when it became common to re-point the facades with sand and cement render.

For the new hotel, we have applied a natural lime render to stock brick for the facade. However, different to wigging or tuck pointing we have not expressed the joint. This ‘slurry’ render on a stock brick has texture and variation of tone and will age beautifully. For further articulation, we added re-constituted stone horizontal banding, The brick façade has been carefully proportioned, paying due regard to principles common in Georgian houses.

The hotel has restaurants at ground and roof levels and includes a fitness centre and spa.