Ireland's terraced homes: From Georgian elegance to modern appeal

The fascinating history and modern realities of terrace homes.

Strap on your crampons! The precipitous and visually irresistible Deck-of-Cards in Cobh, Co. Cork.

FROM the magnificence of Pery Square in Limerick to the quaintly stepped gables of the Deck-of-Cards in Cobh. From the gentility of Merrion Square to the modest rows of artisan houses that line many of our surviving 18th- and 19th-century streets. Terraces remain an important tranche of our built heritage and new build journey.

Row houses in Cork, Limerick, and Dublin all illustrate the impressive power of three- to five-storey symmetrical Palladian terraces. You can still imagine the wealthy, sweeping through the imposing canyons of Georgian town homes in carriages — a small village to the rear of servants’ quarters, mews, stabling, and shared, private garden squares. A family might be perched for their entire year in town or just staged in Dublin for the season, off-loading confused debutantes during engagement centred around Dublin Castle. Mercantile and brewery princes demonstrated their hard-won success with housing developments for workers across the social spectrum. Many larger market towns have rows of medium-density buildings put up by well-heeled Victorian and Edwardian families (who might own a whole block of homes).