It sits in a recessed armorial plaque set into the north façade of a seventeenth-century house at 39 Main Street in Chapelizod, a village on the western edge of Dublin that retains, against considerable odds, the rough outline of its old market town character. The motto and date carved above the lion are there too, technically, though both have been obscured by successive coats of paint. Whatever family commissioned that carving, whatever pride or claim it was meant to announce to people crossing the triangular market square below, has been quietly plastered over.

The building occupies a corner plot on the eastern side of that triangular square, and whoever designed it was working around an awkward geometry. Rather than simply letting the corner cut across the pavement at a sharp angle, the ground floor was chamfered, meaning the corner itself was sliced off and rounded, with the upper storey carried above on an angled timber post. It is an old practical solution to a tight urban corner, and it gives the building an unusually soft profile for something of its age and solidity. The roof is a slate one, pitched to the east and hipped to the west, with paired square chimney-stacks sitting in the south-east corner. The eaves cornice carries dentils on edge, a decorative detail of small rectangular blocks repeated in a row, visible on the north façade though largely hidden on the west. The windows, fitted with replacement timber sashes and sitting flush to the wall surface, are arranged asymmetrically, and most openings are flat-headed; the exception is the first-floor window on the south side, which has a segmental arch.

Chapelizod sits just off the main road running west out of Dublin city along the Liffey, and the market square is easy to find on foot or by bus. The house itself is at street level and presents its north façade and chamfered corner to anyone walking from the square. It is worth pausing at that corner post and looking up to find the armorial plaque between the first-floor windows, even in its current over-painted state. The pebble dash render that covers the wall surfaces is a relatively modern intervention, and it obscures whatever original stonework or lime render lies beneath. The building is not formally open to the public, but its exterior, including the plaque and the chamfered corner, is fully visible from the pavement.