IF you like a Georgian building, then Dublin is the place to be.
The streets of the Irish capital are lined with the most handsome Georgian structures, four-storey buildings that were thrown up between 1720 and 1840 during the reign of the four British kings named George.
At the time Dublin was considered to be the second most important city in the British Empire - London was the first, but there was so much international business being conducted in this Irish settlement during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that it became a hub of trade and commerce - and a building boom took place
All the Georgian buildings you see in Dublin today were built on vacant land during this time, rather than replacing structures that had gone up in earlier decades and been knocked down to make way for progress.
When Dublin was first settled by the Vikings, and later the Normans, the inhabitants lived in a small settlement inside a great wall, and didn't feel the need to expand because they were close to the River Liffey which offered adequate port facilities.
But during the Georgian boom, when the city was a centre for trade, a deep-water port was needed so the settlement grew towards the coast with the elegant structures of the time going up to accommodate upper and middle-class families.
Unlike Victorian, which followed the era of the four Georges and was known for its fancy details, Georgian architecture was defined by its simple lines and uncluttered facades.
Most buildings were four storeys tall, with three or four windows across the front of each house, and there were reception rooms on the two lower floors and living rooms on the next two levels.
The ground floor would accommodate the informal reception rooms, where the residents would conduct business or meet with unimportant guests, while the first level housed the grand formal reception room that was the place to welcome important visitors.
This space, which ran across the front of the building and had three of the house's tallest windows to capture most of the day's light, was at the top of a grand staircase so valued visitors would ascend the steps and make an entrance when they arrived.
The adults occupied the bedrooms on the third floor, and the children and the servants on the top floor, and a second network of steps at the rear of the structure so the help wouldn't invade the family's living area as they worked.
When you stand at one end of a Dublin street, and peer along the Georgian facades, the buildings looks the same with uniform lines of windows and only the detail of the wrought-iron balconies making one dwelling unique from those around it.
And the windows get smaller as the floors get higher, with the glass on the first level being the tallest - to let sunlight into the important reception rooms - and those on the top storey bedrooms the smallest.
This was done to reflect the ceiling heights of the rooms that sat behind the windows, and not only did the spaces get less important as you climb, but the spaces were build to be smaller and easier to heat in the middle on a cold day.
- Posted from my iPad