The term refers to a style of urban domestic architecture characterised by its stepped or curved gable facing the street, a form associated with Dutch and Flemish building traditions that arrived in Ireland during the late seventeenth century, partly through the influence of William of Orange's court and the craftsmen who travelled with it. What makes this particular entry in the record notable is how little is left to see, and how much we rely on scholarly reference to know it existed at all.

According to Bradley's study, cited in the 1984 edition of the relevant survey, two Dutch Billy houses once stood facing west onto Woodquay in Dublin's south city, and were dated to 1692. Woodquay is a street with deep historical layers beneath it, perhaps best known for the Viking-age archaeological remains uncovered there in the late twentieth century during contentious excavations before civic offices were built on the site. That two gabled merchant-style houses of this type stood here at the close of the seventeenth century adds another layer to a streetscape that was already ancient by then. The date of 1692 places them firmly in the post-Williamite period, when Dutch-influenced building fashions were spreading through prosperous urban centres in Ireland, particularly among merchant and professional classes who were rebuilding or developing city properties.

The houses no longer stand, and there is nothing on the ground today that marks their former presence. Woodquay itself runs along the south bank of the Liffey quays in the older part of the city, and visitors familiar with the area will know it primarily through the civic offices complex that dominates the site. The record of the buildings survives through Bradley's documentation rather than any physical trace, which means this is a site best approached through a library rather than a walk. Anyone with a particular interest in Dublin's vernacular urban architecture from the late seventeenth century might use this as a starting point for tracing the wider pattern of Dutch Billy survival and loss across the city.