Restoring your period home: all you need to know

Technically, there is no such thing as a listed building in Ireland. Buildings of historic, architectural, cultural, scientific and artistic interest are called “protected structures”.

Before 2000, the protection of our historic homes was haphazard. Some local authorities “listed” private and public buildings for preservation and protection while others didn’t. But the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1999 and the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (Part IV Architectural Heritage) changed that. From then on, each local authority had to compile a list of buildings for the Record of Protected Structures, which councillors then approve or reject.

This local authority record is the most accurate register of Irish listed buildings. Your house or street might also feature on the Buildings of Ireland register (buildingsofireland.ie).  This is the live register of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage which is updated as local architectural surveys are carried out throughout the country.

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Plasterwork at 65-66 Mountjoy Square, Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

So after congratulating yourself that you own a building of merit, what does it mean to live in one?

"Your house becomes protected when it's added to the Record of Protected Structures," says Jacqui Donnelly, architectural conservation adviser at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. "This protection includes the exterior and interior of the house, the land and any structures within its curtilage, fixtures and features that form part of these structures and any specific feature in the grounds."

Historic houses can also be part of what’s known as Architectural Conservation Areas (ACA). These areas usually include certain streets that have a distinctive and intact historical resonance or are part of a so-called designed landscape.

“If your building is in an ACA, any work to the interior is exempt from needing planning permission but there may be restrictions on the type of work that can be carried out on the exterior of the building,” says Donnelly.

The problem for homeowners is that the protection of historic properties is wide-ranging and legally binding.

“The same weight of legislation applies to houses like Castletown and owners of redbrick houses in Ranelagh,” says Emmeline Henderson, conservation manager at the Irish Georgian Society. “People are often confused about what exactly is included in their “protected structure”.

So, for instance, boundary walls and historic wrought-iron railings with granite plinths are part of the historical fabric of a building, as are windows, shutters, floorboards, decorative plasterwork, ornate mantelpieces and original doors.

“Homeowners sometimes ask us if they need planning permission to paint their front door, which they don’t. They don’t need planning permission for decorative upgrading on their homes – painting or wallpapering – unless, of course, they discover original 18th century wallpaper on the walls,” says Henderson.

When it comes to structural works, owners of period homes need to be much more careful. Sometimes, it’s a matter of carefully thinking through any upgrades or renovations to your house before you begin.

Building conservation surveyor Frank Keohane says: “You are allowed to refit, put in new kitchens and bathrooms, renew wiring and plumbing if you follow existing plumbing and wiring routes.”

Owners of historic homes who plan to alter the size or function of a room are advised to check if they require planning permission before going ahead with the work.

“If you are subdividing a room, putting in an en-suite bathroom or moving a kitchen up to the diningroom level, you might need planning permission,” says Keohane.

“What conservationists don’t want is people taking out panel doors, shutters and taking up pine floorboards. Often, people will say they don’t like the colour of varnished pine floorboards. But you can change the varnish. From the 1800s onwards, wooden floors were exposed, sanded and limed, giving them a greyish, stone colour.”

Character of the house

Experts advise new owners of protected structures to get to know and appreciate the original details and early additions and extensions of their homes before working on them. Making contact with the conservation officer at their local authority is also a good first step to finding out what needs to be protected and what doesn’t.

“Owners of protected structures are obliged to protect their building from active damage or neglect,” says Donnelly. “They are obliged to apply for planning permission for any work that will materially affect the character of the structure.

“You can’t apply to demolish a protected structure. You can’t get outline planning permission for works to a protected structure. Your planning application must show the protected structure and how its character will be affected by the plans.”

All planning applications for protected structures are sent to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Heritage Council, the Arts Council, Fáilte Ireland and An Taisce. Protected structures are, however, exempt from building energy rating (BER) Certificates.

Before embarking on renovations, owners can request a section 57 declaration from their local authority which will clearly state what type of work will and will not affect the character of the house. This declaration is available free of charge but takes about 12 weeks to obtain. Owners can also apply for section 5 declaration to see what is exempted from planning permission requirements and what is not. While this declaration costs €80, the advantage is that it is usually ready in four weeks.

Conservation officer

Henderson agrees that contact with the conservation officer at the local authority is the best first step for owners of protected structures.

“It’s free conservation advice given in an informal positive way. Usually, a conservation officer will talk you through all aspects of your building and then give you a written statement which you can refer back to in the future.”

And remember: if you are seen to be flouting the law, your local authority can issue an enforcement order obliging you to reinstate historic elements to your home that you’ve removed. Also be aware that it’s often your nearest neighbours who are the most ardent conservationists and who make the anonymous calls to the county or city council to take you to task.

"Local authorities hear about a lot of unauthorised works from neighbours blowing the whistle," says Henderson. The learning curve: Restoring Georgian houses on Mountjoy Square Bernadette Manning and Ann Pendergrast bought numbers 65 and 66 Mountjoy Square about five years ago. The two Georgian buildings on the west side of the square had been occupied by Discount Electrical on the ground floor and were derelict on the upper floors.

“They were still set out in tenements and hadn’t been lived in since the 1960s,” says Manning. So the buildings had to be made structurally sound before embarking on current restoration work.

“We had to pin the walls and floors back onto each house. The floors and staircases were slanting inwards on both houses and we needed a jack in the basement to lift the floors and staircases inch by inch over a year,” she explains.

This structural engineering work made both houses stable before they were re-roofed. “Both houses had red tiles on their roofs which were too heavy and contributed to the problem. We have had the house re-roofed with Bangor slates which cost about four times the amount of normal slates,” explains Manning.

They found the cost of sourcing conservation grade materials and the difficulty finding builders who will work sensitively with a period house the most onerous elements of the project.

“You can’t use big building firms because they just want to do the job fast. Tendering doesn’t work either. We’ve sacked a lot of workers but everyone we’ve got now has been recommended by people. We should have looked for specialists from the start which would have saved us time and money.”

One of the specialist jobs the couple has undertaken is the wrought iron railings at the front of both houses. “We received a grant to restore the railings but it only paid for the architect to make the application. I think these grants are an exercise in giving money to architects as they aren’t enough to pay for having the work done,” she says.

The couple have employed an architect, a conservation architect and a consultant engineer during the restoration project but they have personally sourced contractors for specialist work on windows, plasterwork and restoring the staircases.

Manning says she found Dublin City Council Planning Department “reasonable” but conservation experts proved more challenging. “We aren’t trying to do anything illegal and are trying to restore these buildings as best we can. However, we found Dublin City Council specialists challenging.

“We wanted to convert number 66 to four luxury apartments with amenities in the basement but the conservation architects prevented us from doing that so we are leaving the building as it is for the moment, having made it structurally sound.”

Meanwhile, the focus is on number 65. Manning and Pendergrast run a company on the ground floor, with living quarters on the second and third floors. The fine decorative plasterwork on the first floor still requires most attention.

“We currently have someone in to French polish the banister on the stairs. The front door has been stripped, filled and painted and a new fanlight fitted (the original was long gone). And, we are looking for someone to restore the plasterwork on the ceiling,” she says. “We love having all this work done.”

Karin O’Flanagan, another home-owner on Mountjoy Square recommends that anyone renovating a period house take time and choose their professionals carefully.

“You need to do your research very well and be very sure of your professional advisors and conservation builders. Look for examples of their work and get recommendations.”

O’Flanagan also advises would-be restorers to read Period Homes: A Conservation Guidance Manual by Frank Keohane, and the Department of Heritage publication, Architectural Heritage Protection: Guidelines for Planning Authorities “from cover to cover before embarking on any project”.

The next part of this series on Restoring Your Period Home will look at energy efficiency in period properties