ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the detailed construction of a number of Victorian houses in Dublin, which vary in their use of materials, from the uniformly rendered facades of Crosthwaite Park, to the red brick and cut granite fronts of Ailesbury Road. Drawing on current conservation practice, the chapter focuses on the three main building materials of brick, stone and timber, showing their role in forming the suburban house form. The chapter also investigates the sources of these materials and how they were transported to site. Revealing the wider supply routes that supported the building of Dublin's Victorian suburbs, the chapter unlocks some of the complex processes that brought the city's polychromatic facades to life. Many factors influenced the choice of building material in the Dublin suburbs. The juxtaposition of stone and brick differentiates Dublin's nineteenth-century suburban houses from their English equivalents.
