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Former Hibernian Bank,now H&M store, 2013.Photograph courtesy of Swire Chin, Toronto.
The former Union Bank, latterly the Hibernian Bank, building was designed by William George Murray (1822-1871), in association with Thomas Drew (1838-1910), and construction began in 1864. [1] Originally it was built with just four bays on College Green and two bays on Church Street.
The Bank of Ireland was formed in 1783. The Hibernian Bank was founded as The Hibernian Joint Stock and Annuity Company in April 1825, and later changed its name to The Hibernian Bank. A group of Dublin businessmen apparently formed the company in response to anti-Catholic discrimination by the Bank of Ireland. The bank aimed itself primarily at the Dublin business community. It opened its only branch in Dublin on 20 June 1825 with 1063 shareholders, many of them London based. The Hibernian Bank was taken over by the Bank of Ireland in 1958. [2]
William George Murray joined the architectural firm of his father, William Murray. William George Murray, the Dictionary of Irish Architects tells us, was architect to the Dundalk, Enniskillen & Londonderry Railway Company, for whom he built the railway station in Enniskillen, Fermanagh as well as many others. He was also architect to the South Dublin Union. [3] Thomas Drew was also an architect in the same firm, and he worked with Murray on the original building for the Union Bank. The Union Bank failed after just six months, and the building was bought by the Hibernian Bank.
William George Murray also designed the Royal College of Physicians on Kildare Street in Dublin after the previous building had been burnt in a fire. Murray also designed many more banks, including the Provincial Bank on College Green (now part of the Westin hotel), and insurance offices.
Thomas Drew was employed by the Hibernian Bank to add more bays to each side, from 1873-76. Thomas Drew later became President of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and President of the RIAI, and held the Chair of Architecture in the new National University of Ireland. He married a sister of William G. Murray, Anne Adelaide, in 1871. Among his most important building, Archiseek tells us, are the Ulster Bank branch on Dame Street (the interior of which has been destroyed), the Trinity College Graduates Memorial Building, Rathmines Town Hall, and St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. [4]
The building features a wonderful “chateau-esque” tower topped with ornate wrought iron railings and finials. It has another tapering belltower-type turret at the other side which is actually a chimneystack.
Former Hibernian Bank,with its “chateau-esque” roof.Former Hibernian Bank, 2022.The belltower-like turret feature is a chimney stack.
It is built chiefly in limestone, in the Italian Gothic style, with arcades, and has four storeys. The ground storey has deeply moulded arches splaying from octagon piers, and the corner toward College Green is squared off and one entrance door is positioned there on the ground floor, in an arched opening with Corinthian pilasters, under an ornately carved triangular pediment. There is another ornate door entrance at the other end of the building on Dame Street.
The Appraisal in the National Inventory gives us a summary:
“This exuberant former bank commenced operation as the Union Bank in 1864, designed by William G. Murray, assisted by Thomas Drew... It is constructed in an Italian Gothic Revival idiom with arcading to the main floors. The bosses and colonnettes of polished pink granite, and capitals and roundels of Portland stone by C.W. Harrison, create a strong contrast with the pale grey limestone that dominates the façade. The quality and profusion of ornament is particularly striking, with many very fine details, such as the carved timber door, the chimney structure, the carved tympanums and the aedicule [niche or pediment] to the roof of the corner bay. It is located within a group of significant historic bank buildings which line the north and south sides of College Green. The former banking hall has been recently converted for use a large retail outlet.” [5]
Former Hibernian Bank,now H&M store, June 2022: The ground storey has deeply moulded arches splaying from octagon piers.
The ground floor windows have hood mouldings with foliate stops, and limestone sills.
Former Hibernian Bank,now H&M store, June 2022: the corner toward College Green is squared off and one entrance door is positioned there on the ground floor, in an arched opening with Corinthian pilasters, under an ornately carved triangular pediment.
The Inventory description continues: “…Shouldered-arch door opening to elliptical-arch recess to corner bay, with carved Corinthian pilasters with engaged marble colonnettes, double-leaf battened timber door with trefoil-headed upper panels, and having carved limestone voussoirs [wedge shaped stones forming an arch] and moulded keystone and triangular pediment with carved tympanum bearing lettering ‘Hibernian Bank’, and egg-and-dart cornice.” [5] “Tympanum” comes from the word drum, like the eardrum of the ear, so is like a drum-skin, and in architecture it means the surface between the lintel of a doorway or window and the arch above it.
The National Inventory describes the doorway at the other end of the building on Dame Street: “Shoulder-arch door opening to west end of main facade, with Corinthian pilasters to reveals having engaged marble Corinthian colonnettes, limestone step, overlight, exquisitely carved timber panelled door, and voussoirs with keystone above, set within open-bed pedimented porch supported on hanging-posts, with carved panels to spandrels, and lettering ‘Hibernian Bank 1824’ to frieze.” [5]
The first floor has more deep semicircular arches divided by columns of polished red granite topped with ornately sculpted capitals. The windows in the first floor are square headed. On the arcading on the first floor level the arches over the windows contain the initials of the banks – the older bays have the initials of the Union Bank and the newer bays, the Hibernian Bank. The windows of the first storey have slightly pointed arched hood mouldings with carved limestone masks to the stops.
The second floor has semi-circular headed openings and the storey above has round dormer windows in the roof. The stone carving was done by C.W. Harrison of Great Brunswick Street. The dressings are in Portland stone, with the finer carving in Caen stone. [6]
The original occupants, the short-lived Union Bank, are remembered by the intertwined “UBI” monogram over the first floor windows.Newer bays can be identified by different carved initials over the windows.
The south elevation to St. Andrew Street was added in 1925-8 by Ralph Byrne.
The National Inventory tells us:
“College Green facade (north) has seven bays; Church Lane facade has nine bays, two at north end being similar to main facade and of same date, three to south end being similar at ground and first floors and built 1925-8, other four-bay section being different and built 1873-6; and five-bay facade to St. Andrew Street (current main entrance) built 1925-8.” [5]
The description continues: “Limestone balconette to first floor of middle bays of Trinity Lane elevation, supported on corbels, window openings to same floor being set within square-headed frame; same bays have paired square-headed window openings to second floor, with gablet above having limestone copings with finial, and carved tympanum. Three south end bays of Trinity Lane elevation and all bays of St. Andrew Street elevation have diminutive round-headed window openings to second floor; first floor has elliptical-arch double-height openings with decorative cast-iron balconettes to middle of each opening, with timber casement windows having margined upper lights with fanlights.” [5]
Trinity Lane Elevation: “Limestone balconette to first floor of middle bays of Trinity Lane elevation, supported on corbels…first floor has elliptical-arch double-height openings with decorative cast-iron balconettes to middle of each opening, with timber casement windows having margined upper lights with fanlights.” [5]
The former bank now houses a branch of the clothing shop H&M.
The interior has a vaulted ceiling, which was traditionally left lit up at night for display. It has a semicircular recess on one side. The arched ceiling is very ornate. Archiseek describes it as “arched and groined, and springs from a stone cornice all around; it is covered with coffered panels arranged in a kind of diaper, with rich centre flowers in each.” Note that a “groin” is described by Alistair Rowan in his Buildings of Ireland: Northwest Ulster, as a sharp edge at the meeting of two cells of a cross-vault, and coffering, he tells us, are sunken panels, square or polygonal, decorating a ceiling, vault or arch [see my entry of architectural definitions, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/04/18/architectural-definitions/ ]
Former Hibernian Bank, 2022.Former Hibernian Bank, 2022.Former Hibernian Bank, 2022.Former Hibernian Bank, 2022.Initials of the Union Bank.Initials of the Hibernian Bank.
24. Trinity Innovation Centre, former Bank, Foster Place, Dublin (Open House 2013)
1. 9/9A Aungier Street, Dublin(Open House 2014)
No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin
When remedial works were undertaken the age of this building was discovered. It was first realised it was older than thought when planners appraising development changes noticed the way the fireplace sticks so far out into the room.
No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old, what it probably looked like on outside, see lower second picture.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, DublinNo. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old, exposing flooring method, with original pine floor support.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old, not original woodwork, probably later, decorative.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years oldNo. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old, original walls and beams inside niche.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old – layers of wallpaper.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old. It was first realised it was older than thought when planners appraising development changes noticed the way the fireplace sticks so far out into the room.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old, marks made by builders to let them know which beam fits into which joint, of the Baltic pine flooring, see the “v” carved into beam and joint.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old, original fireplace.No. 9/9a Aungier Street, Dublin, 350 years old.
2. Belvedere House, 6 Great Denmark Street, Dublin (Open House 2015):
Open House 2015, Belvedere House, Belvedere College, Dublin
We went into three rooms upstairs, up the beautiful staircase. We weren’t allowed photograph on the tour, unfortunately, in the Apollo Room, Venus Room and Jupiter Room.
Belvedere House is a detached symmetrical five-bay four-storey Georgian townhouse over exposed basement, completed 1786, designed by Robert West who, in addition to being a stuccodore was also an architect and property developer, for George Augustus Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere. The house was built for £24,000 on what would have been rural green fields with a view of the Custom House, the bay and distant mountains. It is alleged that the house is haunted by Mary Molesworth, the first lady of Belvedere, mother to George Rochfort – we came across her at Belvedere in County Westmeath.
Rochfort was the son of the cruel Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere, who kept his wife under lock and key in the countryside after he believed she had an affair with his brother. Some believe that she was the inspiration for Charlotte Bronte’s “madwoman in the attic.” Robert Rochfort had the summer lodge, Belvedere, built in County Westmeath, now open to the public, which also has fine plasterwork. Robert O’Byrne writes that it was the 1st Earl who bought the property on Great Denmark Street. At first his son attempted to sell the property, but then he finished having the house built. Robert O’Byrne also tells us that it is similar to 86 St Stephen’s Green (Newman House, now housing the Museum of Literature of Ireland (MOLI), which was begun in 1765, and which is also attributed to Robert West.
North Great Georges Street itself was originally laid out in 1774 as a driveway leading to Belvedere House.
In 1841 the house was bought by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to accommodate their growing boys school which had started life ten years previously around the corner on Hardwicke Street, now known as Belvedere College.
One of the more outstanding features of the house is the stucco-work of Adamesque style popularised by Robert and James Adam. This can be seen in the ornamental surrounds, wherein pictures are framed in plaster rather than oil.
Dublin stuccodore and designer Michael Stapleton (1740-1801) was responsible for this work and further examples of his craftsmanship include the ceiling in the exam hall in Trinity College as well as some of the plasterwork in Powerscourt House in South William Street in Dublin and the Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park.
Open House, Belvedere House, Belvedere College, Dublin.
It seems odd that a house designed by Robert West, however, would have plasterwork by Michael Stapleton. Robert O’Byrne elucidates this for us:
“In 1967 C.P. Curran’s Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the 17th and 18th centuries noted in the collection of drawings left by stuccodore Michael Stapleton several items directly relating to the design of ceilings in Belvedere House. Accordingly, this work was assigned to Stapleton. However, the fact that West was responsible for designing the house complicates matters, and the consensus now appears to be that both he and Stapleton had a hand in the plasterwork. Conor Lucey (in The Stapleton Collection, 2007) suggests that Stapleton may have been apprenticed to, or trained with, West and the fact that he was named the sole executor of the latter’s will in 1790 indicates the two men were close. The source material for the stucco work is diverse, that in the stair hall deriving in part from a plate in Robert Adam’s Works in Architecture, but the first-floor rooms feature a wider range of inspiration, much of it from France and Italy.”
Open House 2015, Belvedere House, Belvedere College, Dublin – excuse the shakey camera – I need to visit again!
We were given a leaflet, which tells us:
“The ground floor rooms were intended for everyday and business use and therefore are minimally ornamented. However when one ascends they will encounter Stapleton’s stucco-work that depicts scenes from Greek and Roman mythology.On the half-landing the Bacchanalia is celebrated. The left panel depicts Bacchus with his thyrsis and staff, the right panel is Ceres with her cornucopia. The central oval shows Cupid being demoted by the three Graces. The arched window is ornamented with symbols of the authority of ancient Rome. The tall pilasters on each side have the Green anthemion (honeysuckle) motifs.
“At the top of the stairs the panel between the two doors on the right show Juno seated on a cloud with her peacock. The panel on the centre wall is Aurora in her chariot pulled by winged horses. Under this plaque “The New Bride” from an ancient marble popular in 18th century Rome. All the five doors have the same over-door: Silenus, the tutor of Bacchus. On the ceiling, Eros is depicted gazing at Psyche as she sleeps. Next is an Apollo head with winged lions and lastly, Cupid with a flower.
“The door immediately to the right of the stairs leads to the Apollo Room, named after the featured frieze of Apollo the music-maker holding court with attendent putti playing a variety of instruments. The adjoining Diana Room depicts Diana, patron of the chase, in a chariot drawn by stags. The design is taken directly from Pergolesi, however, Stapleton added the outer circle of flowers.
“Finally the Venus Room’s flanking panels have lunettes representing astronomy, architecture and sculpture. Notice the beautiful over-doors in all three rooms, each with the head of the principle subject.”
Notice that Venus was taken down by the Jesuits as she was nude, and it is supposedly in the National Gallery.
3. Blackhall Place (formerly Blue Coat School) Dublin, 2019.
Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.A taller tower was initially planned.
Archiseek tells us that the first Blue Coat School or King’s Hospital was erected in Oxmantown Green between 1669-1673. It was officially named the Hospital and Free School of King Charles II. Orphans were nominated to attend the school by the Alderman or the parish, with funding coming from voluntary donations and from ground rent of St. Stephen’s Green. This building was demolished to make way for the new building, pictured above. The current building was started in 1773. Ivory resigned in disgust before it was finished, due to lack of funds, and only a stub was built instead of his tower, and the stub was removed in 1894 and a dome constructed.
The description of the tour tells us:
“The last of Dublin’s Palladian public buildings, the granite and Portland stone Blue Coat School replaced earlier premises, which had been established by King Charles I in 1671 to care for the sons of impoverished citizens. Construction began in 1773 to designs by Thomas Ivory, however funding issues led to a reduced building programme and Ivory’s departure. In 1894, a copper-clad cupola designed by Robert Stirling was added. Today, the building is home to the Law Society of Ireland, which has taken great care to retain many fine interior features.“
Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.
The building now houses the Law Society. It was built as a traditional country house composition with a central block, two wings and connecting passages. The wings have decorations intended to mirror the central tower.
Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Stephen Trotter, Judge of the Prerogative Court, by Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781), brought from Duleek, County Louth.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.
The interior contains plasterwork by Charles Thorpe and carvings by Simon Vierpyl.
Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.back ofBlackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.back of Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Collins Barracks, behind Blue Coat School/Blackhall Place, 2019.Collins Barracks behind Blackhall Place, 2019.Back ofBlackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.back ofBlackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.Side ofBlackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.side of Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.side of Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.side of Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.side of Blackhall Place, Dublin, or The Blue Coat School, by Thomas Ivory, 2019.
4. City Assembly Hall, Dublin (2012 Culture Night)
The Octagon Room of the City Assembly Hall, Dublin, in September 2012, after renovation by the Irish Georgian Society.2012: City Assembly Hall, Dublin.2012: City Assembly Hall, Dublin.2012: City Assembly Hall, Dublin.2012: City Assembly Hall, Dublin.City Assembly Rooms lantern light and balcony September 2021.2012: inside the octagon room in the City Assembly Hall, Dublin.2012: City Assembly Hall, Dublin.Upper room in City Assembly Hall, Dublin, September 2021.
5.Department of Industry and Commerce, Kildare Street (Open House 2019)
Department of Industry and Commerce, Open House 2019: The tall round-headed window passes up through the floors to a keystone of representing Eire, with “jazzy” interstitial panels.The carved lintel of the doorway represents the celtic god Lugh releasing aeroplanes into the air!
The architect was J. R. Boyd Barrett, who won a competition to built it in 1936. It has a stripped Classical design with an Art Deco entrance bay addition. The external relief sculptures are by Gabriel Hayes. The tall round-headed window passes up through the floors to a keystone of representing Eire, with “jazzy” interstitial panels [Archiseek]. On the Schoolhouse Lane side the keystone represents Brendan the Navigator. The main entrance has a heavy cast bronze gates, and the carved lintel of the doorway represents the celtic god Lugh releasing aeroplanes into the air!
On the Schoolhouse Lane side the keystone represents Brendan the Navigator.Department of Industry and Commerce, Open House 2019.Department of Trade and Commerce, Open House 2019.Department of Trade and Commerce, Open House 2019. The relief carvings here represent stylised images of industry and commerce.
The interiors were also designed by Boyd Barrett and everything from the ashtrays, fireplaces and door handles were specially designed. The interiors feature polished woods and metals and patterned linoleum floors, and the ceilings are deeply coffered.
Department of Trade and Commerce, Open House 2019. The interiors were also designed by Boyd Barrett and everything from the ashtrays, fireplaces and door handles were specially designed. Department of Trade and Commerce, Open House 2019.Department of Trade and Commerce, Open House 2019.
6. Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth Street (Dublin 2010)
The Freemason’s Hall was built on the site of the townhouse of their first Grand Master, the Earl of Rosse. The building was completed in 1866, designed by Edward Holmes of Birmingham. The architect used three orders on the facade: Doric (lower), Ionic (centre) and Corinthian (upper). The pediment contains the Masonic square and compass.
The inside is an exuberant smorgasbord of themes. The Royal Arch Chapter Room has an Egyptian theme. The Prince Mason’s Chapter Room is Gothic Tudor. The Knights Templar Room is designed as a medieval chapel.
The Irish Builder 1877 described the interior: The main hall “is larger than St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle…Along each side are six pillars with Corinthian capitals, and there are two of the same style at each end. These are painted to represent white enamel. The capitals are gilt, the pedestals and lower part of the wall are painted a rich chocolate colour; between the pillars the wall spaces are painted a light dun colour, each space being formed into a large panel by a matted gilt moulding with a deep margin of grey. The pillars support a richly designed and gilt entablature. From this spring five semi-circular arches on each side. These arches contain a series of ten cartoons, illustrative of the building of Solomon’s Temple. The ceiling is intersected by beams, which divide it into five panels, and is painted blue, and studded with gold stars. The intersecting beams, together with the architrave and cornice, are cream colour and white, relieved with gold. The predominating colour in the painting of the hall is blue, in order to meet Masonic requirements, that colour being associated with the lower ranks of the order, and the hall being used for general meetings; but other tints are introduced in sufficient abundance. The cartoons have been painted in sepia by Mr. Edward Gibson, Great Russell Street, London, son of Mr. James Gibson of Mary Street, Dublin, by whom the entire of the rest of the hall was designed and finished...”
Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.Open House 2011, 25 Eustace Street.
“It was built circa 1730 by Luke Gardiner [1690-1755] as his own residence. The design of the original building has been attributed to Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. The building is a three storey, eight bay over basement house with a Venetian window between the second and third bays at first floor level. Two major interiors of the 1730’s survive, the upper part of the original main stair hall and a rear room on the ground floor. The first floor reception rooms were embellished with Rococo plasterwork circa 1760. Luke Gardiner was succeeded on his death in 1755 by his son, the Right Honourable Charles Gardiner PC, MP, Surveyor General of Customs and Ranger of the Phoenix Park [The original house was extended to the west c.1755 by Charles Gardiner]. Following his death in 1769, his son, the right honourable Luke Gardiner MP succeeded. He was created Baron Mountjoy in 1779, Viscount in 1795 and killed in the Battle of New Ross, County Wexford in 1798. He was succeeded by his son Charles John Gardiner, Second Viscount Mountjoy, created Earl of Blessington in 1816.
Luke Gardiner, M.P., (d.1755), Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and building developer in Dublin Engraver John Brooks, Irish, fl.1730-1756 After Charles Jervas, Irish, c.1675-1739, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
The Earl died in 1829 without male heirs and the house was leased to a succession of lawyers becoming the Queen’s Inn Chambers in the late 19th century. It was acquired in the early 20th century by the French Order of Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul to provide relief to distressed females. The work of the order continues today and the building is actively used for a variety of community and social services projects.
The 2001 Europa Nostra Restoration Fund Grant generously contributed to the restoration of the decayed decorative Rococo ceiling on the first floor. The restoration works were also co-funded by a grant from Dublin City Council.”
Open House, 2011, 10 Henrietta StreetOpen House, 2011, 10 Henrietta StreetHenrietta Crofts, Duchess of Bolton (1682-1730) as shepherdess, by James Maubert. Henrietta Street was named in her honour. Vicereine 1717-1720. She was the daughter of James Crofts (Scott), 1st and last Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II. She married Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton.
The Archiseek website quotes The Irish Builder, July 15 1893:
“This magnificent mansion was erected about the year 1725, by the Rt. Hon. Luke Gardiner, grandfather of the 1st Viscount Mountjoy, ancestor of the Earl of Blesinton, and may be described as the Manor House of Henrietta-street. The reception-rooms are seven in number, and the cornices and ceilings are finished in a rich and antique style.
The ball-room is a noble apartment; the architraves of the doors and windows are adorned with fluted Corinthian columns sur mounted by pediments. The drawing-room, to the left of the ante-room on the first floor, possesses a beautifully carved oak cornice, the effect of which is peculiarly striking. The front staircase is spacious and lofty; the walls are panelled, and the ceiling is handsomely ornamented. The principal dining room, looking into the garden, is square, with fine stuccoed ceiling, and walls in square panels stuccoed, the squares broken off at the angles by curves. The architraves of the parlour doors are as rich as carving could make them. There is a mock key-stone or block of wood that for elegant and elaborate carving in relief cannot be surpassed. The stuccoed ceilings are in panels with enriched fillets, quite palatial, and only in the ball room are seen arabesques in the centre. The window of the ball-room, which is over the porte-cochère, has three opes, the centre ope being arched, and this is the only architectural adornment externally. Mountjoy House had originally a fine porte-cochère, or covered carriage entry, arched with cut stone, on the park side, next to the present King’s Inns buildings.” [1]
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
Open House, 2011, 10 Henrietta StreetOpen House, 2011, 10 Henrietta StreetOpen House, 2011, 10 Henrietta StreetOpen House, 2011, 10 Henrietta Street. What looks like stucco work in this room is actually papier mache.
Robert O’Byrne tells us about the use of papier-mache instead of plaster for some decorative work. He tells us:
“When the house was first built, it featured a double-height entrance containing stairs leading to the first-floor. However, some years after the death of Luke Gardiner in 1755 his son Charles reordered this space to create a single-storey entrance hall, behind which a new staircase hall was instated. Probably around the same time a number of rooms were given new ceilings in the rococo manner. These decorations are important because in the majority of cases they are made not of plaster but papier-mâché. The use of this medium is unusual but not unique – a number of other examples survive elsewhere in the city and in Carton, County Kildare – but it seems strange to find it here. One of the attractions of papier-mâché was its relative cheapness (relative to stuccowork, that is) but the Gardiners were certainly affluent to afford anything they wished. On the other hand, its great merit is easier (and cleaner) installation than plaster, so perhaps this is why papier-mâché was preferred for the redecoration of existing rooms.
It was not used, on the other hand, for the saloon, or ballroom (now used as a chapel), which in its present form looks to have been either added or extended at the time when Charles Gardiner was re-fashioning other spaces in the house.” [2]
Open House, 2011, Henrietta St, window by Harry Clarke
9. 12 Henrietta Street, Dublin – private, sometimes open during Open House Dublin
12 Henrietta Street, October 2022.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.
12 Henrietta Street was first occupied by Sir Gustavus Hume (1677-1731), MP, privy councillor and courtier to King George I. He was the third son of the prominent Ulster-Scot Sir John Hume of Castle Hume (2nd Baronet), County Fermanagh and of Sidney, daughter and co-heiress of James Hamilton of Manor Hamilton, County Leitrim and became 3rd Baronet of Castle Hume (now demolished) when his father died as his two elder brothers predeceased their father. Castle Hume was architect Richard Castle’s first known commission in Ireland. It was pulled down in the 1830s and the materials reused to build Ely Lodge nearby.
view from window of 12 Henrietta Street, Dublin, 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us it is:
“Terraced three-bay three-storey house over exposed basement, built c.1730, by Luke Gardiner as pair with No. 11, heavily remodelled c.1780…This house was built as a pair with No. 11, possibly to the designs of Edward Lovett Pearce. It was initially leased to Henry Boyle, Speaker of the House of Commons. Later, the house was leased to the 2nd Earl of Shannon in 1780, and subsequently gutted with the removal of a floor to provide a truly grand piano nobile. The building retains most of the interior detailing from that remodelling including stucco decoration by Charles Thorp, with remnants from the earlier scheme. The house has been undergoing a painstaking programme of conservation works and forms an important part of what has been described as ‘Dublin’s Street of Palaces’ while the ongoing conservation work will contribute to the improving fortunes of this remarkable streetscape. Laid out by Luke Gardiner in the 1720s, Henrietta Street is a short cul-de-sac containing the finest early Georgian houses in the city. It was named after Henrietta Crofts, the third wife of Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton and Lord Lieutenant in 1717-21, the street developed in a piecemeal fashion and set the trends of scale and design in domestic architecture.”
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
In 1733 William Stewart (1709-1769), 3rd Viscount Mountjoy and later 1st Earl of Blessington, moved to 12 Henrietta Street.
12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Dublin, 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Dublin, 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Dublin, 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Open House October 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Dublin, 2019.12 Henrietta Street, Dublin, 2019.
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
14 Henrietta Street, 2022.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, July 2013.
11. Iveagh House (80 and 81 St. Stephen’s Green) – Department of Foreign Affairs(Open House 2014)
Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, October 2014.Portland stone facade (1866) by James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924) disguises an early eighteenth century townhouse by Richard Castle (d. 1751) for Robert Clayton (1695-1758), Bishop of Cork and Ross. The original house, three windows wide, is on the left of the portico.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, the original owner,Robert Clayton (1695-1758), Bishop of Cork and Ross.
The Archiseek website tells us:
“Iveagh House is now the Department of Foreign Affairs as it was donated to the Irish State by the Guinness family in 1939. Originally two houses, nos 80/81 St Stephen’s Green, no 80 was originally designed by Richard Cassels [also spelled “Castle”] in 1736. After both houses were bought by Benjamin Guinness in 1862, he acted as his own architect and produced the current house.
“The Dublin Builder, February 1 1866: ‘In this number we give a sketch of the town mansion of Mr. Benjamin Lee Guinness, M.P , now in course of erection in Stephen’s Green, South, the grounds of which run down to those of the Winter Garden. As an illustration so very quiet and unpretending a front is less remarkable as a work of architectural importance than from the interest which the name of that well-known and respected owner gives it, and from whose own designs it is said to have been built. The interior of the mansion promises to be of a very important and costly character, and to this we hope to have the pleasure of returning on a future occasion when it is more fully advanced. The works, we believe, have been carried out by the Messrs. Murphy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral notoriety, under Mr. Guinness’s own immediate directions, without the intervention of any professional architect.’ “
Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, October 2014.
The building was donated to the Irish government by Benjamin Guinness’s grandson Rupert, the 2nd Earl of Iveagh, in 1939 and was renamed Iveagh House.
Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, October 2014.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s GreenIveagh House, St Stephen’s GreenIveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, October 2014.Painting by De Chirico.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, October 2014.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, October 2014.Iveagh Gardens, the part kept by the Guinness’s as part of Iveagh HouseMahogany doorframe and door, Iveagh House, Stephen’s Green. The architect took advantage of the tax on mahogany not imposed in IrelandThe Sleeping Faun, bought by the Guinness’s, for almost the same price as the house! Donated by the Guinnesses along with the house to the state.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, medieval wooden carving, picturing Homer’s Illiad scenes.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s GreenIveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, “Modesty.”Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, original fireplace.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, originally the study.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, originally the study. Medieval wood carvings of scenes from Homer’s Illiad, and crest of Lord Iveagh who donated the house to the state. Original fireplace.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, The Music Room.The Music room ceiling, in Iveagh House.Iveagh House, St Stephen’s GreenIveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, probably originally the room of the Lady of the houseIveagh House ballroomIveagh House ballroom.Original curtains and seats in ballroom in Iveagh House.Iveagh House ballroom.Fireplace built for ballroom in Iveagh House to host a Royal visit to the Guinness’s, the room was built specially to have the guests, for £30,000. JFK was hosted at a reception here and had his picture taken in front of the fireplace, and his daughter Caroline Kennedy had her picture taken there years later.Ballroom stucco in Iveagh House, made from moulds but then finished by hand to make look like fully hand-done.Minstrals’ gallery in Iveagh House ballroom, made of the new at the time material, aluminium.Ceiling of Iveagh house ballroom, in Wedgewood blue.
12. Iveagh Trust Apartment, Iveagh Buildings(Open House 2014)
Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.
The Iveagh Trust buildings were commissioned by the Earl of Iveagh in 1901. The architects were Joseph and Smithem, London architects. The centrepiece of the buildings, built to house people who lived in the slums about St. Patrick’s cathdral, was the Iveagh Baths.
Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.The range, in Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Child of Prague and St. Christopher in the alcove.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8. Religion was more dominant in peoples’ lives in those days than it is generally in Irish people today!Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8, picture of Nelly and her family.Iveagh Trust flat, Iveagh Trust buildings on Patrick Street, Dublin 8.
13. Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin – private, home of the Mayor of Dublin (Open House 2015)
Mansion House, Dublin 2015. Originally there were statues along the parapet, which was later balustraded.
The Buildings of Ireland website featured the Mansion House as one of its Buildings of the Month, and tells us that The Mansion House, Dawson Street, is the oldest freestanding house in the city and the only surviving mayoral residence in Ireland.
The Mansion House owes its origins to Joshua Dawson (1660-1725), a member of the Guild of Merchants and at the time the second-wealthiest man in Ireland, who in 1705 purchased a tract of poor marshy ground east of the medieval core of Dublin and within two years had laid out a new street which he named Dawson Street. Work on a suitable townhouse began in 1710 and it is clear that the house was intended as the centrepiece of the new street.
The house, a rare example of a Queen Anne-style house, was substantially refronted in 1851 when the original brick finish was plastered, the windows were given robust classical frames, and the parapet was remodelled about a central pediment carrying the Coat of Arms of the City. The elaborate cast-iron canopy (1886) was designed by Daniel J. Freeman (1856/7-1902), City Architect (fl. 1879-93).
Mansion House, March 2015.The Drawing Room, Mansion House, March 2015.It contains portraits of Earl Whitworth, the Earls of Hardwicke and Westmoreland, John Foster the last Speaker of the House of Commons and Alderman Alexander [3].
The death of Queen Anne in 1714 abruptly disrupted Dawson’s ambitious plans. Fearing that her successor would not be so favoured towards him, Dawson agreed on the 18th of May, 1715, to sell the house to Dublin Corporation at a cost of £3,500 in addition to a yearly ground rent of forty shillings and a loaf of double-refined sugar weighing six pounds due each Christmas. As a condition of the sale, Dawson agreed to build an additional room which could be used for civic receptions: the now-famous Oak Room.
The Oak Room was the venue of the annual City Ball throughout the eighteenth century. On such occasions the Lord Mayor dispensed generous hospitality, aided in no small part by a yearly grant of twenty thousand oysters from the civic oyster beds. The Oak Room continues to play a central role in the life of the Mansion House today. [4] It contains portraits of Charles II, George II, Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of Richmond.
The Oak room contains crests for all of the Mayors.Mayor John Gormley’s crest – the mayors pick symbols that they feel are suitable to represent them.I don’t know what this means for Mayor Moyers!Mansion House, March 2015.The “Sheriff’s Room” with portraits of the Duke of Northumberland, Lord Townshend, John Duke of Bedford and Aldermen Sankey, Thorpe and Manders. [3]Mansion House, March 2015.
The extension of the property continued well into the nineteenth century and included the Round Room completed in just six weeks in 1821 for the reception of King George IV. Designed by John Semple (d.1840) in the “exotic” style, an apparent nod to the monarch’s Hindu-Gothic Brighton Pavilion, it was remodelled 1892 by J. G. Ashlin, and was the venue for the first sitting of Dáil Éireann in January 1919.
The improvement of the Mansion House continued into the early twentieth century when, in anticipation of a royal visit by Queen Victoria, new ceilings were installed in the entrance hall and drawing room to designs by Charles James McCarthy (c.1857-1947), City Architect (fl. 1893-1921). The stained glass window over the principal staircase dates from the same period and carries the signature of Joshua Clarke and Sons of North Frederick Street. The Dublin City coat-of-arms again features as the centrepiece in a frame including the shields of the four provinces of Ireland and the names of prominent supporters of Home Rule. Topped and tailed by a Garland of Peace and a Cornucopia of Prosperity, the window is today known as “The Peace Window”.
14.Marsh’s Library, Dublin (2013)
Marsh’s Library 1975, photograph from National Library and Archives.[5]
Marsh’s Library was built in 1701, designed by William Robinson who was surveyor general from 1670-1700, and who also designed the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The Library was set up as the first public library in Ireland, by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713).
Narcissus Marsh, Provost of Trinity ca. 1690, then Archbishop of Dublin.Entrance to Marsh’s library.
The interior of the library remains unchanged from when it was set up. It is no longer a public library, unfortunately, as the books are too delicate for general handling, but one can request to look up books in the catalogue, and it operates as a sort of museum open to the public for a fee. It contains dark oak bookcases topped with lettered gables and a mitre. The library contains the original reading cages – a reader would be locked in so that he or she could not steal the books.
Marsh’s Library, Feb 26, 2012Marsh’s Library librarians. The first Librarian, Elias Bouhereau, was a Huguenot refugee from France.Garden of Marsh’s library, Heritage Week tour 2013.Garden of Marsh’s library, Heritage Week tour 2013.Garden of Marsh’s library, Heritage Week tour 2013.Garden of Marsh’s Library, Heritage week tour 2013.
15. 10 Mill Street, Dublin (Open House 2017)
10 Mill Street in October 2010 before renovations.
10 Mill Street was built in the 1720s by the Brabazon family, Earls of Meath. In the early 19th century it was converted into a school by the Christian Brothers and later used by several charitable groups. It was remodelled in 1894 by architect George P. Beater as a Methodist mission house and school. [Archiseek]
10 Mill Street in October 2010 before renovations.
After renovations:
10 Mill Street after renovations.10 Mill Street after renovations.Inside 10 Mill Street, Dublin 8. Original panelling, paint only partially stripped.Inside 10 Mill Street, Dublin 8. Panelling restored.Inside 10 Mill Street, Dublin 8. Fireplace left in situ.Inside 10 Mill Street, Dublin 8. Old piece of banisters.Inside 10 Mill Street, Dublin 8. Panelling made to look like the original. Staircase suspended from ceiling.Inside 10 Mill Street, Dublin 8.
14. Pigeonhouse Power Station and hotel (2021)
The old Pigeonhouse Hotel.The old Pigeonhouse Power Station.
15. Rates Office, formerly Newcomen Bank, Dublin (2013)
Rates Office, formerly Newcomen Bank, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Collection National Library of Ireland, flickr constant commons.
Built in 1781 by Thomas Ivory. The original building was half the size, and Ivory’s half was built in mirror image with a portico built to link the two halves. [archiseek]
In 1722 Simon (or William?) Gleadowe (d. 21 August 1807) married into the Newcomen family of Carriglass House in County Longford and took their name. He started the Newcomen Bank. He was knighted to become 1st Baronet Newcomen in 1781 and elected to the Irish Parliament. He voted for the Act of Union and his wife Charlotte was rewarded with a Peerage to become Viscountess Newcomen. Their son inherited her title and became Thomas Gleadowe-Newcomen, 2nd Viscount Newcomen (1776-1825), and he also inherited the Newcomen Bank. The bank had a series of failures and closed in 1825, and Thomas shot himself and died in his office. After his death the title became extinct.
The Open House description tells us:
“An elegant block in Portland stone, the building stands at the corner of Cork Hill and Castle Street, doubled in length on Cork Hill by an 1862 addition. Ivory’s original plan comprised three rooms with a large stair hall, with the site’s irregular boundaries concealed by the use of oval rooms. The interior has been recently renovated and retains fine decoration, with highlights including the larger first-floor oval room and the highly decorated ceiling over the stair hall.”
City Hall, opposite the Rates Office.Doorway in Rates Office shows the thickness of the wall, and the oval shape of the room.
16. Royal Irish Academy Dublin (2013)
17. Royal College of Physicians, Dublin (2013)
Royal College of Physicians, Heritage Week 2013.
Designed by William George Murray who also designed the Hibernian Bank. It was built in 1861 to replace the College of Physicians previous premises which had burned down at this location. The facade eroded and was completely replaced 100 years later in 1960. A description in the 1862 Irish Builder describes it:
“Entering from the portico, the outer hall or vestibule leads by a spacious flight of five steps to the inner hall, in which the main staircase is placed. On the right and left of this hall are the entrances to the council and examination rooms, registrar’s apartments, back stairs, reading room etc. The college hall is at the rere of the building, and is entered from the first landing of the main staircase, which here divides into a double flight, returning to the right and left.
This noble apartment, 58 feet by 30 feet and 30 feet high… is divided into five bays in length and three in breadth by Corinthian pilasters elevated on a panelled daedo, and surmounted by the ordinary frieze and cornice from which springs a quadrant coved ceiling with semi-circular arches over each bay groined into it. This hall is lighted by five lofty windows at the rere, and also three circular dome-lights in the ceiling…“
The room with the ceremonial mace also contained glass cases with memorabilia and diary of Napoleon from his days on St. Helena, as his physician was an Irishman. He gave his physician his toothbrush and diary as a memorial, telling him the diary would make him rich! He chose this physician on hearing him talk. The physician agreed to be the doctor but said he would not spy for the British. They became friends. He had to bleed Napoleon several times as Napoleon fell ill, and the lancet used is also in the glass case.
Royal College of Physicians, Heritage Week 2013. Casey, p. 482: “The stair hall is an impressive double-height space with a coved and traceried ceiling and central lantern. Fine cast-iron lamp standards and balustrade to the stair. Corinthian pilaster order to the upper walls, beneath which are extraordinary shallow pilaster strips with odd bases which must surely be a C20 intervention. At the head of the stairs on the first-floor landing paired Corinthian columns flank the balustrade and a central [483] door to the library, a plain five-bay room which fills the entire street frontage, originally contrived as a separate library and museum.”Ceiling of Royal College of Physicians, Heritage Week 2013.Patrick Dun’s Library, Royal College of Physicians, Kildare St, Dublin – celebrating its 300th year in 2013!Patrick Dun’s Library, Royal College of Physicians, Kildare St, Dublin, Heritage Week 2013.Patrick Dun’s Library, Royal College of Physicians, Kildare St, Dublin, Heritage Week 2013.
18. Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin (Open House 2011)
William Dease sculpture, one of the founders of the Royal College of Surgeons, Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.
The Royal College of Surgeons was built in two phases, first by architect Edward Parke, who built what is now the last three bays on the south side and five bays deep on York Street. This was subsumed later by architect William Murray, who added four bays to the north and moved the pediment to the new centre of the building, on St. Stephen’s Green. The facade has large round-headed windows separated by freestanding columns. The pediment has the royal arms, and is topped with three statues: Athena (goddess of Wisdom and War), Asclepius (god of Medicine) and Hygiea (Goddess of Health), all by John Smyth [Archiseek]. It has a rusticated basement storey.
The interior, as listed in Lewis’s guide in 1837, contains a large board room, a library, an apartment for general meetings, an examination hall, several committee rooms and offices, lecture theatres and three museums, two of which have galleries.
There is a top-lit gallery with Adamesque plasterwork.
Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, RoyalCollege of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.My father looks at the fireplace, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.Open House, 2011, Royal College of Surgeons.
19. St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin(Culture Night 2012)
The Archiseek website tells us that in the early 1880s, seven feet below street level, under a bakery, the chapter house of St. Mary’s Abbey was discovered. St. Mary’s Abbey was a Cistercian Abbey founded by the Benedictine monks in 1139. It was dissolved in 1530 and fell into disrepair and its existence is reflected in the street names surrouding it: Mary Street and Abbey Street. The Chapter House is the only part remaining, and was built in 1190! [6]
The Chapter House of St Mary’s Abbey, which was built in 1190.
It was in the Chapter House, which could be rented out, that at a meeting of the Privy Council in 1534, “Silken Thomas” FitzGerald objected to the King, who had imprisoned his father. Thomas thought his father had been executed.
20. Tailor’s Guild Hall, Dublin(Culture Night 2013)
Tailor’s Guild Hall, 2013
Tailor’s Hall was built in 1706 and is the only Guild Hall from the medieval guilds still in existence in Dublin. It is two storeys over basement and the hall inside is lit by tall round-headed windows on both sides, and has two floors of smaller rooms. It is now the headquarters for An Taisce. It was originally the meeting hall for the Guild of Merchant Tailors, from 1706-1841.
It was used in 1792 as the meeting place for the Catholic Committee during their campaign against Penal Law, and for this the building earned the nickname of “Back Lane Parliament.” Later still, it was used as a meeting place for the United Irishmen around 1798.
From Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin, 2005, p. 367: “1703-1707, Richard Mills overseer. The Tailors’ Guild Hall is a tall shallow red brick building with a steep roof and dormer windows, a large gabled chimneystack and stair compartment projecting from the rear or N. wall. The entrance front is the long S elevation, reached by a stone arch and forecourt from Back Lane. In the 18th century the Hall was concealed behind houses on High Street and Back Lane and preceded only by the narrow arched pathway and a basement area. This unusual sequestered position is explained by the fact that the site was formerly occupied by a Jesuit chapel and college, endowed in 1629 by the Countess of Kildare. Seized by the Crown in 1630, it was subsequently repossessed by Lord and Lady Kildare and returned to the Jesuits who remained here for an unknown period prior to 1706…Tailors’ Hall is substantially early 18C. However, curiosities in the design and [p.368] structure suggest that it may incorporate something of the fabric of the 17C chapel.
The most striking feature of the facade is its asymmetry. Four tall narrow round-headed windows lighting the assembly hall fill almost two-thirds of the facade. To their right the facade is of two storeys and three bays with the entrance on the left next to the hall framed by an elegant rusticated limestone door surround of 1770. The basic arrangement reflects a pragmatic medieval-based system of hall and upper chamber, common in London livery halls of the late C17… A granite base-mould divides the brick masonry of the principal floor from the basement walling, which is largely of Calp with a band of brick forming the slightly cambered heads of the basement windows.”
Tailor’s Guild Hall, Heritage Week 2013. Twisted barley bannisters, hand carved, turned on lathe.Casey, p. 368: “the finest feature of the interior is the staircase, which is an elaborate open-well type with a low moulded handrail, barley sugar banisters and later square newels.”Tailor’s Guild Hall, Heritage Week 2013: p. 368, Casey: “an elegant double-height brightly lit hall with a fine early C18 Ionic reredos at the W end bearing the name of guild masters, a handsome marble chimneypiece…and at the east end a bowed draught lobby with a curious Gothic pelmet and above it a Late Georgian Neoclassical wrought-iron balcony reached from the room above the entrance hall.”Tailor’s Guild Hall, Heritage Week 2013.
21. Trinity Innovation Centre, former Bank, Foster Place, Dublin (2013)
Innovation Centre of Trinity, Foster Place.
Before the formation of AIB (Allied Irish Bank), this was known as the Royal Bank. A Neo-Classical porch was added by George Papworth in 1850. The banking hall was added by Charles Geoghegan in 1859 at the rear of the building. It has a coffered barrel vaulted space top-lit and supported by cast iron Corinthian columns. The building has a double-height entrance hall. The bank closed in 2002 and the building is now owned by Trinity College Dublin.
Innovation Centre of Trinity, Foster Place.
The description of the day’s event tells us:
“Behind a neat stucco facade (with a neo-classical porch added by George Papworth circa 1850) and a double-height entrance hall, the interior includes what has been described as Dublin’s finest Victorian banking hall. A curving mahogany counter wraps most of the floor area, previously as a barrier between the bank clerks and customers. The space is in excellent condition, lit from above by a coffered and glazed barrel vault, supported by elegant cast-iron columns. For those who love pattern and ornament, the friezes and the plasterwork on the columns and their capitals will be particularly enjoyable.”
Open House 2013, Innovation Centre in Trinity College Dublin.
I have a bigger project than this section 482 houses blog. It helps, when writing about big houses, to know what is out there. So I have studied Mark Bence-Jones’s 1988 publication in great detail,A Guide to Irish Country Houses, and have conducted research with the help of the internet.
For my own interest, and I am sure many of my readers will appreciate, I am compiling a list of all of the “big house” accommodation across Ireland – finding out places to stay for when Stephen and I go on holidays, especially when we go to see the section 482 houses!
I am also discovering what other houses are open to the public. There are plenty to see which are not privately owned or part of the section 482 scheme. In fact many of the larger houses are either owned by the state, or have been converted into hotels.
This Monday, 8th June 2020, Ireland moves to the next phase of the government’s Covid-19 prevention plan, and we are allowed to travel 20km from our home, or to places within our county. Big houses won’t be open for visits, but some will be opening their gardens – already my friend Gary has been to the gardens of Ardgillan Castle for a walk. Stephen and I went there before lockdown, meeting Stephen’s cousin Nessa for a walk. The castle was closed, but we were blown away by the amazing view from the garden, and walked down to the sea.
Ardgillan Castle, Balbriggan, County Dublin, and its view, June 2020.Nessa at the sea on our visit to Ardgillan Castle, June 2020.
Here is my list of houses/castles to visit in Dublin. Some are on section 482 so are private houses with very limited visting times; others are state-owned and are open most days – though not during Covid-19 restriction lockdown – they might be open from June 29th but check websites. Some have gardens which are open to the public now for a wander.
“Original home to the Overend family, today Airfield House is an interactive tour and exhibition which brings visitors closer to this admired Dublin family. Here you’ll view family photographs, letters, original clothing and display cases with information on their prize-winning Jersey herd, vintage cars and their much loved Victorian toys and books.
We focus not just on the way of life the family lived at Airfield, but also on their fantastic charitable work for organisations such as St John Ambulance and The Children’s Sunshine Home (now The Laura Lynn Foundation) to name but a few.
Every Wednesday through to Sunday at 11.30am and then again at 2.30pm we offer visitors guided house tours.“
The name was changed from Bess Mount to Airfield circa 1836. It is a working farm, in the middle of suburban Dundrum! The house was built around 1830. [1] It was built for Thomas Mackey Scully, eldest son of James Scully of Maudlins, Co Kildare. Thomas Mackey Scully was a barrister at Law Grays Inn 1833 and called to the bar in 1847. He was a supporter of O’Connell and a member of the Loyal National Repeal Association. In 1852 the house went into the Encumbered Estates, and was purchased by Thomas Cranfield.
The Stillorgan History and Genealogy website tells us that Thomas Cranfield married Anne Keys in 1839. Thomas was a stationer and printer of 23 Westmorland Street. In 1847 he became the first mezzotint printer in Ireland producing copies of a works by Irish artists such as William Brocas. He received an award from the RDS for his print from a portrait of the Earl of Clarendon. He moved to 115 Grafton Street and received a Royal Warrant in 1850. The family moved to Airfield in 1854. Thomas was also an agent for the London Stereoscopic company and moved into photography. He disposed of his business in 1878 to his son and his assistant George Nutter. I recently heard Brian May member of the former rock band Queen discussing his interest in stereoscopic photography, which was fascinating. I wonder has he been to Airfield? It’s a pity there is nothing about it in the house. Thomas moved to England in 1882 after the death of his son Charles.
“Thomas’s father was interesting also: the website tells us: In 1753, Dr Richard Russell published The Use of Sea Water which recommended the use of seawater for healing various diseases. Circa 1790 Richard Cranfield opened sea baths between Sandymount and Irishtown and by 1806 was also offering tepid baths. Originally called the Cranfield baths it was trading as the Tritonville baths by 1806. Richard Cranfield born circa 1731 died in 1809 at Tritonville Lodge outliving his wife by four years to whom he had been married for over 60 years. He was a sculptor and a carver of wood and had a share in the exhibition Hall in William Street which was put up for sale after his death. He was also the treasurer for the Society of Artists in Ireland. He worked at Carton House and Trinity College. His son Richard took over the baths.“
The Stillorgan History and Genealogy website continues. When the Cranfields left Airfield, it was taken over by the Jury family of the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin. William Jury born circa 1805 was a hotel proprietor. He and his second wife went to live at Tolka Park, Cabra and William became proprietor of the Imperial Hotel in Cork and in Belfast and also had an interest ‘Jurys’ in Derry. In 1865 William, together with Charles Cotton, (brother of his wife Margaret) and Christian Goodman, (manager of the Railway Hotel in Killarney) purchased The Shelbourne from the estate of Martin Burke. They closed The Shelbourne in February 1866, purchased additional ground from the Kildare Society, and proceeded with a rebuild and reopened on 21.02.1867. John McCurdy was the architect and Samuel Henry Bolton the builder. The four bronze figures of Assyrian muses/mutes installed at the entrance of the Shelbourne Hotel were designed by the Bronze-founders of Gustave Barbezat & CIE of France.
William’s wife Margaret took over the running of the hotel after the death of her husband. She travelled from Airfield each morning bringing fresh vegetables for use in the hotel. She left Airfield circa 1891.
Four of their sons followed into the hotel business. Their fourth son, Charles, took over the running of The Shelbourne and died on 08.08.1946 in Cheshire aged 91 years.
The Overends seem to have taken over Airfield from 1884. Trevor Thomas Letham Overend born 01.01.1847 in Portadown 3rd son of John Overend of 57 Rutland Square married Elizabeth Anne (Lily) Butler 2nd daughter of William Paul Butler and Letitia Gray of Broomville, Co Carlow. Trevor died on 08.04.1919 and Lily died on 21.01.1945, both are buried at Deansgrange. Their daughters were left well provided for with no necessity to work and instead devoted themselves to volunteer work.
The website continues: “We focus not just on the way of life the family lived at Airfield, but also on their fantastic charitable work for organisations such as St John Ambulance and The Children’s Sunshine Home (now The Laura Lynn Foundation) to name but a few.“
“Airfield Ornamental Gardens Airfield gardens came to prominence under the leadership of Jimi Blake in the early 2000’s. Like all progressive gardens the garden in Airfield is an ever-evolving landscape. The gardens were redesigned in 2014 by internationally renowned garden designer Lady Arabella Lenox Boyd and landscape architect Dermot Foley. The colour and life you see in our gardens today are the result of the hard work and imagination of our Head Gardener Colm O’Driscoll and his team who have since put their stamp on the gardens as they continue to evolve. The gardens are managed organically and regeneratively with a focus on arts and craft style of gardening.
Espaliered trees at Airfield, April 2019.
Airfield Food Gardens Certified organic by the Irish Organic Association this productive 2-acre garden supplies the onsite café and farmers market with fresh seasonal produce. Food production is only one element of this dynamic food garden. Education is at the core of this space. Annual crop trails, experimental crops and forward-thinking growing methods are implemented throughout the garden. Soil is at the heart of the approach to growing and and on top of being certified organic the garden is managed under “no dig” principals. These regenerative approaches result in a thriving food garden that is a hive of activity throughout the growing season.”
Gardens at Airfield, April 2019.Gardens at Airfield, April 2019.
“The Walled Garden was originally a Victorian-styled kitchen garden that used to supply the fruit, vegetables and cut ower requirements to the house. It is 1 hectare (2.27 acres) in size, and is subdivided by free standing walls into five separate compartments. The walled garden was replanted in 1992 and through the 1990’s, with each section given a different theme.“
The walled garden at Ardgillan, February 2022.
“The Victorian Conservatory was originally built in 1880 at Seamount, Malahide, the home of the Jameson family, who became famous for their whiskey all over the world. It was built by a Scottish glasshouse builder McKenzie & Moncur Engineering, and is reputed to be a replica of a glasshouse built at Balmoral in Scotland, the Scottish home of the British Royal Family. The conservatory was donated to Fingal County Council by the present owner of Seamount, the Treacy family and was re-located to the Ardgillan Rose Garden in the mid-1990s by park staff.
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG) approached Fingal County Council in early 2014 to participate in a pilot project to develop and enhance skill sets in built heritage conservation, under the Traditional Building Skills Training Scheme 2014. The glass house/ conservatory at Ardgillan was selected as part of this project. The glass house has been completely dismantled because it had decayed to such an extent that it was structurally unstable. All parts removed as part of this process are in safe storage. This work is the first stage of a major restoration project being undertaken by the Councils own Direct Labour Crew in the Operations Department supervised by David Curley along with Fingal County Council Architects so that the glasshouse can be re-erected in the garden and can again act as a wonderful backdrop to the rose garden. This is a complex and difficult piece of work which is currently on going and we are hopeful to have the glasshouse back to its former glory as a centrepiece of the visitor offering in Ardgillan Demesne in the near future.“
Contact: Peter O’ Callaghan Tel 087-7179367 www.bewleys.com Open: all year except Christmas Day, 9am-5pm Fee: Free
The Bewleys business began in 1840 as a leading tea and coffee company, started by Samuel Bewley and his son Charles, when they imported tea directly from China. Charles’s brother Joshua established the China Tea Company, the precursor to Bewleys.
The Buildings of Ireland publication on Dublin South City tells us: “Rebuilt in 1926 to designs by Miller and Symes, the playful mosaics framing the ground and mezzanine floors are indebted to the Egyptian style then in vogue following the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The interior, originally modelled on the grand cafés of Europe and Oriental tearooms, was restructured in 1995 but retains a suite of six stained glass windows designed (1927) by the celebrated Harry Clarke (1889-1931). Four windows lighting the back wall of the tearoom are particularly fine and represent the four orders of architecture.“
The side door of Bewleys.
Recently Paddy Bewley died, the last of the family directly involved with the running of the cafe and coffee business of Bewleys. Paddy was responsible for starting the coffee supplying end of the Bewley business.
Paddy, like those in his family before him, was a Quaker, and he lived by their ethos. The Bewley family migrated from Cumberland in England to County Offaly in 1700. Their association with coffee and tea dates back to the mid nineteenth centry, when they began to import tea from China.
The Georges Street cafe opened in 1894. The business of the cafes was created largely by Joshua Bewley’s son Ernest, with the Grafton Street branch opening in 1927, complete with the Harry Clarke stained glass windows. His three sons Victor, Alfred and Joe took over: Victor ran the business, Alfred backed the bakes and Joe ran Knocksedan farm with its prize-winning Jersey cows. It wase Ernest who imported the first Jersey cows to Ireland. I remember looking forward to the jersey cow milk when we’d visit when I was young.
In 1986 Patrick Campbell acquired the company of Bewleys, forming the Campbell Bewley Group, and Paddy Bewley continued to work for the company.
In 1996, Paddy Bewley signed up the company to purchase Fair Trade coffee only, guaranteeing that producers of coffee and their communities would be paid a good price for their beans, irrespective of market fluctuations. In 2008 the company’s roasteries and headquarters in Dublin became 100% carbon neutral. (notes from Paddy Bewley’s obituary in the Irish Times, Saturday January 8th 2022).
There has been much discussion lately about the beautiful Harry Clarke windows in the Grafton Street Bewleys – are they part of the building, or removeable art? I believe they are not actually the windows but can be removed. It is being discussed because it’s not clear who owns them. Bewleys has changed ownership and the building is not owned by the business now.
6. Cabinteely House [formerly Clare Hill, or Marlfield], Cabinteely, Dublin
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 52. [Nugent, Byrne 1863, Ormsby-Hamilton sub Ormsby] A C18 house built round 3 sides of a square; with well-proportioned rooms and good decoration. Built by what genial Irishman on the C18 English political scene, Robert, 1st and last Earl Nugent, on an estate which belonged to his brother-in-law, George Byrne, and afterwards to his nephew and political protege, Michael Byrne MP. The house was originally known as Clare Hill, Lord Nugent’s 2nd title being Viscount Clare; but it became known as Cabinteely House after being bequeathed by Lord Nugent to the Byrnes, who made it their seat in preference to the original Cabinteely House; which, having been let for a period to John Dwyer – who, confusingly, was secretary to Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare – was demolished at end of C18 and a new house, known as Marlfield and afterwards a seat of the Jessop family (1912), built on the site. The new Cabinteely House (formerly Clare Hill), afterwards passed to the Ormsby-Hamilton family. In recent years, it was the home of Mr. Joseph McGrath, founder of the Irish Sweep and a well-known figure on the Turf.”
Cabinteely House, photograph from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website.
The National Inventory attributes it to architect Thomas Cooley. It is described as: Detached nine-bay (three-bay deep) two-storey country house, built 1769, on a quadrangular plan originally nine-bay two-storey on a U-shaped plan; six-bay two-storey parallel block (west). Sold, 1883. “Improved” producing present composition” when sold to George Pim (1801-87) of neighbouring Brenanstown House. The Inventory also lists other owners: estate having historic connections with Robert Byrne (d. 1798, a brother to above-mentioned Michael Byrne MP) and his spinster daughters Mary Clare (d. 1810), Clarinda Mary (d. 1850) and Georgina Mary (d. 1864); William Richard O’Byrne (1823-96), one-time High Sheriff of County Wicklow (fl. 1872) [he inherited the house after his cousin Georgiana Mary died]; a succession of tenants of the Pims including Alfred Hamilton Ormsby Hamilton (1852-1935), ‘Barrister – Not Practicing’ (NA 1901); John Hollowey (1858-1928); and Joseph McGrath (1887-1966), one-time Deputy Minister for Labour (fl. 1919-2) and co-founder of the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake (1930). [4]
Cabinteely House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Cabinteely House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Cabinteely House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Cabinteely House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.The gardens in front of Cabinteely House, August 2015.Cabinteely House, photograph from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website.Cabinteely House, photograph from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website.Cabinteely House, photograph from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website.Cabinteely House, photograph from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website.The gardens in front of Cabinteely House, August 2015.
Charlemount House. Photograph from flickr constant commons, National Library of Ireland.
The architect of Charlemount House was William Chambers, and it was built in 1763. The Archiseek website tells us:
“Lord Charlemont [James Caulfeild, 1st Earl, 4th Viscount of Charlemont] had met and befriended Sir William Chambers in Italy while Chambers was studying roman antiquities and Charlemont was on a collecting trip. Years later Charlemont had hired Chambers to design his Casino on his family estate at Marino outside Dublin. When the need arose for a residence in the city Charlemont turned again to Chambers who produced the designs for Charlemont House finished in 1763. The house now the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art consists of a single block of five bays with curved screen walls to either side. The house breaks up the regularity of this side of Parnell Square as it is set back from the other houses…Charlemont house was sold to the government in 1870 becoming the General Register and Census Offices for Ireland and later the Municipal Gallery for Modern Art – a development that Charlemont would undoubtedly would have approved.” [5]
Robert O’Byrne tells us that inside is work by Simon Vierpyl also.
Open dates in 2023: Feb 2-6, Mar 6-10, Apr 6-10, May 1-10, June 1-10, July 1-10 August 12-21, Nov 2-5, Dec 2-6, 2pm-6pm Fee: adult/OAP €6, child/student €3
Clonskeagh Castle, photograph courtesy of myhome.ie
The website tells us it is a castellated dwelling built c. 1789 as a suburban retreat for Henry Jackson, ironfounder, a prominent member of the United Irishmen. It has been granted a determination by the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht that the house and its attendant grounds are intrinsically of significant architectural and historical interest. The house was converted into flats in the 20C and has been the subject of an ongoing programme of restoration by the present owners, to its original use as a family home.
“A wealthy individual of liberal politics, Jackson became a prominent member of the United Irishmen, a movement animated by the French Revolution. Drawn to the writings of Thomas Paine, the author of The Rights of Man, he named the building Fort Paine.
Jackson was involved in preparations for the 1798 Rebellion, and his foundries were engaged to manufacture pikes for combat, and also iron balls of the correct bore to fit French cannons, in anticipation of an expected invasion. His son-in-law Oliver Bond was also heavily implicated in these plans.
In the event, Jackson was arrested before the ill-fated Rebellion, and imprisoned in England. After some time he was released on condition that he went into exile in America. He died in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in 1817.“
The Stillorgan Genealogy and History website tells us:
“The name Clonskeagh comes from the Irish Cluain Sceach – the meadow of the white thorns. The house is a detached three storey with ‘a tower’ at each corner of the front and a set back Victorian style porch with limestone columns approached by a flight of six steps. Three bay between towers above the Doric porch. It originally had three gatelodges (main gate, west gate and inner gate) and was approached via a long carriage drive from the Clonskeagh Road by way of twin gatelodges and a castellated archway.” [https://www.youwho.ie ]
The Clonskeagh Castle website continues: “In 1811 the Castle was purchased by George Thompson, a landed proprietor, who had a post in the Irish Treasury, and it remained in the ownership of that family until the early twentieth century. It is interesting to note that whereas Henry Jackson was fired by the objective of Irish independence, the last Thompson family member to occupy the house was vehemently insistent on the preservation of the Union.
During the War of Independence (1919-1921) the Castle was occupied by the British military, and was used for some time to incarcerate Irish Republicans.
The original Jackson residence was built on an elevated site, following a fashion for mock castles in the Georgian period. It was initially approached by an avenue that is now Whitethorn Road, with elegant gardens surrounding it (the land for which is now occupied by apartments). This was a more compact construction than now greets the visitor and did not include the two towers at what is now the front of the building. In fact, the Thomson alterations turned the house back to front, as the original entrance had been on the southern side. One result was to render the fine hallway rather dark, and work is now nearing completion to allow light to penetrate from the south.
The recent works have also included restoration of the major portions of the parapet roof in accordance with best conservation practice; withdrawal of earth from the curtilage of the building, which had been piled up over at least a century giving rise to dampness in the walls; and restoration of rooms in what had been the servants’ quarters to create a small apartment.
These works have been executed by Rory McArdle, heritage contractor, under the supervision of award-winning architect Marc Kilkenny, with frequent reference to the conservation experts at Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Fionan de Barra, architect, also provided valuable consultation at the early stages of the project.
The owners have been particularly privileged to have had the benefit of research and guidance of the distinguished architectural historian, Professor Alistair Rowan.”
Postal address Woodbrook, Bray, Co. Wicklow contact: Alfred Cochrane Tel: 087-2447006 www.corkelodge.com
Open dates in 2023: June 1-30, Mon-Sat, July 4-28, Tue-Fri, Aug 7-27, 10am-2pm
Fee: €8 paid voluntarily in honesty box to benefit Our Lady’s Hospice.
“The house was built in the 1820’s to designs by William Farrell as an Italianate seaside villa. A Mediterranean grove was planted with a Cork tree as its centrepiece. In the remains of this romantic wilderness, the present owner, architect Alfred Cochrane, designed a garden punctuated by a collection of architectural follies salvaged from the demolition of Glendalough House, an 1830’s Tudor revival mansion, built for the Barton family by Daniel Robertson who designed Powerscourt Gardens.”
“There is more fun at Corke Lodge” writes Jane Powers, The Irish Times, where ” the ‘ancient garden’ of box parterres is punctuated by melancholy gothic follies, and emerges eerily from the dense boskage of evergreen oaks, myrtles, and a writhing cork oak tree with deeply corrugated bark. Avenues of cordyline palms and tree ferns, dense planting of sword-leaved New Zealand flax, and clumps of whispering bamboos lend a magical atmosphere to this rampantly imaginative creation.”
Believe it or not, I did my Leaving Certificate examinations in this building! I was extremely lucky and I loved it and the great atmosphere helped me to get the points/grades I wanted!
Dalkey Castle in Dalkey in the suburbs of south Dublin, photograph by Brian Morrison, 2014, from Tourism Ireland. (see [2])
The website tells us: “Dalkey Castle is one of the seven fortified town houses/castles of Dalkey. The castles were built to store the goods which were off-loaded in Dalkey during the Middle Ages, when Dalkey acted as the port for Dublin. The castles all had defensive features to protect the goods from being plundered. These are all still visible on the site: Machicolation, Murder Hole, Battlements and arrow-loop windows. In Dalkey Castle, you will see a fine example of barrel-vaulted ceiling and traces of the wicker work that supported it. Niches have been exposed on the walls where precious goods may have been stored. The Castle is an integral entrance to both the Heritage Centre and Dalkey Town Hall.
Dalkey Castle was called the Castle of Dalkey in the Middle Ages. Later, in the mid to late 1600s it was called Goat Castle when the Cheevers family of Monkstown Castle were the owners.
In 1860s the former living quarters, upstairs, became a meeting room for the Dalkey Town Commissioners. It continued as a meeting room until 1998 when it was incorporated into Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre. Today, part of the Living History tour takes place there. There is a re-creation of the stocks that were across the street where the entrance to the church is today.“
This is a popular pub, and one of the oldest family owned pubs in Dublin.
“Located on one of Dublin’s most famous streets – Baggot Street, Doheny and Nesbitt public house is surrounded by renowned landmarks – The Dail (House of Parliament), Grafton Street, Trinity College, Stephen’s Green and Lansdowne Road.
Otherwise known in literary and debating circles as the ‘The Doheny & Nesbitt School of Economics’ is situated a few hundred meters from the old Huguenot cemetery on Merion Row (1693). Probably the most photographed pub in Dublin, Doheny & Nesbitt is considered an institution for convivial gatherings a sanctuary in which to escape the ravages of modern life, and a shrine to everything that is admirable in a public house.
As a Protected Structure and unique example of Victorian pub architecture, the Doheny & Nesbitt public house demonstrates that skilful conversation can rest easily alongside modern commercial demands.
Most of the pub’s original features, both inside and outside remain intact. Its distinct Brass sign ‘Tea and Wine Merchant’, as well as the frieze boasting ‘Doheny & Nesbitt’ have spawned countless posters, postcards and guide books paying homage to this asset of Ireland’s capital city
If Ireland invented the pub, then Dublin’s finest showpiece is that of Doheny & Nesbitt. The main bar retains the original counter, and almost all of the original fittings date from the 19th century.
The pub’s carved timber, aged wooden floors and ornate papier-mâché ceiling, recently restored, are universally admired.
Its snugs and mirrored partitions are perfect for scheduled conversation, and one can easily muse on Ireland’s past Writers (Yeats, Behan, and Shaw) and Politicians debating and plotting in these hallowed surroundings.
Writers and Politicians from the nearby Dail or House of Parliament still frequent this pub, as do journalists, lawyers, architects and actors, along with a myriad of visitors from around the globe.
What attractions contribute to this pub’s character are debated by many; its perfect pint of stout, its array of Irish whiskeys, it’s comforting dark mahogany and glass furnishings, its reverence for the barman – customer relationship. What is in no doubt is that it is hot on the hit – list of tourists’ and locals’ itineraries – a ‘must-visit’ whilst in Dublin.
The building itself dates back hundreds of years, but was born as a public house in the 1840’s under the lease of a William Burke, who ran it as ‘Delahuntys’ for almost 50 years. In 1924, Messrs Philip Lynch and James O’Connor took it over for around 30 years, before passing it onto a Mr Felix Connolly. Ned Doheny & Tom Nesbitt, two Co. Tipperary men took over the reins of the public house at a later date up until its present owners, brothers Tom and Paul Mangan.
Interestingly the embossed lettering on the mirror to the rear of the main bar, originally bore the name O’Connor, but was later altered to Connolly and remains so to this day. Although the owners of this public house have come and gone, good sense has always prevailed that the landmark of Doheny & Nesbitt should remain just so.
Doheny & Nesbitts public house may reflect the characteristics of a bygone age, but this is no museum piece. An increased patronage has secured a Victorian replica bar to the rear, which is complemented by modern conveniences such as large plasma screen TV’s to cater for the pub’s many sports enthusiasts, and lunches to refresh tourists, workers and shoppers alike.”
See the website for opening times. It is also available for hire, and we attended a party there!
party in Drimnagh Castle
The website describes the Castle: “Drimnagh Castle is the only castle in Ireland to retain a fully flooded moat. Its rectangular shape enclosing the castle, its gardens and courtyard, created a safe haven for people and animals in times of war and disturbance. The moat is fed by a small stream, called the Bluebell. The present bridge, by which you enter the castle, was erected in 1780 and replaced a drawbridge structure.
Above the entrance of the tower, as the visitor comes through the large gateway is a ‘murder hole’. Rocks, stones, boiling water or limestone were poured down upon the head of any enemy attempting to break in. The main castle to the right of the tower was built in the 15th century, and the tower was built in the late 16th. The porch and stairways were built in the 19th century and the other buildings are 20th century.
The undercroft was built as a storage room for food; it also doubled up as a refuge if the castle was attacked. The fireplace and bread and smoking oven are recreations of the kitchen that was here in the 19th century. The narrow stairs leading up to the next floor are unique in that they turn to the left, unlike most Norman castles which turn to the right.“
The undercroft, Drimnagh Castle.The Great Hall, Drimnagh Castle.
“The great hall was originally an all-purpose living room/sleeping quarters in the 13th century. During the day tables and benches were placed in the centre of the floor for dining. At night straw or reed matting was laid on the floor and the occupants of the castle slept on this covering.“
“The tower was built in the late 16th or early 17th century. The tower is approximately 57 feet high and commands a great view of the surrounding countryside. Most of the castles at Ballymount, Terenure and Rathfarnham could have been seen from the top of the battlements.“
Photograph of Dalkey Castle from around 1900, from National Library archives, from flickr constant commons.
The website tells us: “In 1215 the lands of Drymenagh and Tyrenure were granted to a Norman knight, Hugo de Bernivale, who arrived with Strongbow. These lands were given to him in return for his family’s help in the Crusades and the invasion of Ireland. De Bernivale selected a site beside the “Crooked Glen” , the original Cruimghlinn, that gives its name to the townland of Crumlin, and there he built his castle. This “Crooked Glen” is better known today as Landsdowne Valley, through which the river Camac makes its way to the sea. The lands around Drimnagh at this time were rising and falling hills and vast forests stretching to the Dublin mountains. All through the 13th, 14th and 15th century the area around the castle was sparsely populated and a document shows that only around 11 people lived in the area during the 18th century.“
In The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy Meath, volume 1, by Art Kavanagh, published in 2005 by Irish Family Names, Dublin 4, he tells us that as a result of the foray into Ireland by the Bernevals in 1215 with Prince John, they were granted lands in Dublin in the Drimnagh, Kimmage, Ballyfermot and Terenure areas, where they settled until Cromwellian times. In Cromwell’s time Drimnagh and its lands were granted to Colonel Philip Ferneley, while Drimagh Castle itself was granted to a Major Elliot.
“Drimnagh has seen its fair share of raids and attacks by the O’Toole Clans through the years and there is record of two of the Barnewall’s of Drimnagh being killed in a skirmish near Crumlin. There are many undocumented raids and battles. In the 19th century, after these tumultuous times Drimnagh saw the arrival of industries like the paper mill at Landsdowne valley and other enterprises. Small Inns and lodges were built to house travellers on there way to Tallaght or further afield. Some of these are still in business today, such as the Red Cow and The Halfway House. Buildings of note in the area around the early 19th century were the Drimnagh Lodge, The Halfway House, Drimnagh Castle.
After the 19th century we see more and more expansion out towards the Drimnagh area, but it was in the 20th century were we see housing estates and industrial estates springing up around Drimnagh. For more modern historical info please visit the Drimnagh Residents Associations excellent page on its history.
After many years of activity, history and folklore the castle became uninhabited in the 1960’s, and fell into disuse and only housed countless pigeons, and other fowl. Over the next thirty years or so the Irish weather took its toll on the once great structure and caused untold damage. One day in 1985, a man named Peter Pearson, swung by a rope over the moat into the castle grounds. Having an interest in restoring old buildings, he set about trying to get the castle repaired to its former glory. He also discovered that the castle was potentially destined for destruction, which thankfully was prevented from happening. Many individuals and organisations were involved in the early stages including An Taisce, FAS, CYTP, and the Drimnagh and Crumlin community.“
The restoration work started in June 1986 and over 200 workers were involved in the repair work, including stonemasons, woodcarvers, metal workers, plasterers, tilers and artists. The restoration of the the roof was inspired by Dunshoughly Castle in Fingal, and was built using Roscommon Oak which is renowned for its great durability and strength. The roof was constructed in the courtyard and was then raised onto the castle at a cost of 50,000 Punts. The floor of the great hall was re-tiled with tiles taken from St Andrews Church, Suffolk Street.
The restoration work was completed in 1991 and was opened to the public by the then President of Ireland Mary Robinson. Since then the castle has hosted banquets, weddings, book launches and many more events. The castle is now maintained by a small group of dedicated FAS workers who keep the castle looking great for future generations to come.“
The early years of the Barnewalls at Drimnagh Castle
“The Barnewalls were an Anglo-Norman family who had great links with royalty of England, one being Alanus de Berneval who fought alongside William the Conquerer at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Another Alanus de Berneval sailed with Richard de Clare (Strongbow) in the conquest of Ireland in 1172, landing at Bannow Bay in Wexford. Alanus and his relations were slaughtered in Bearhaven, bar one Hugh de Berneval who was studying law in London at the time. In 1215 Hugh de Berneval was granted lands in Terenure and Drimnagh and also a sizeable dowry by King John. Hugh de Berneval established a castle in Drimnagh and this is where the Berneval family were in residence for more then 400 years.
The Barnewall’s (anglicised from De Berneval) were not just owners of land in Drimnagh, but owned land and fortified castles all over Ireland, such as Crickstown and Trimblestown. They were involved in many events in Irish history and held positions in Irish Parliament and in military campaigns against the Irish. Above right, you will see the Barnewall family crest, with its powerful warrior symbols, and its Latin inscription, “I would rather die than dishonour my name”. You can see a reproduction of this crest over the fireplace in the Great Hall in the now restored castle
In 1078 William the Conqueror, having pursued the insurgent Saxons to the Roman wall, returned to York in triumph, and there bestowed upon Roger de Barneville the manor of Newton in Cleveland, and various other lands which his descendants possessed until the 14th century. Roger, together with his brother Hugh, on the declaration of the Holy War at the Council of Clermont in 1095, hastened to receive upon their habits the consecrated cross. In the following year they joined the banner of Duke Robert, wintered in Apulia, and early in 1097 sojourned for some days at Constantinople, where in the Blanchernal palace, De Barneville and the rest of the Duke of Normandy’s retainers did homage to the Emperor Alexius, and received for this acknowledgement the most expensive presents. The subsequent achievements of De Barneville against the Sultan Kilidge Anslan, the Solyman of Tasso, appear in glowing eulogies from Latin historians. Roger ultimately fell before the walls of Antioch. His third son Roger was one of the military retainers of Robert de Bruce, and finally became a monk in the abbey of St. Sauveur le Vicomte.
In 1170 Jordan de Barneville was one of the knights bound to render military service for his possessions in the Duchy of Normandy, which he lived to see subdued by Philip Augustus, to whom, in 1204, he vowed allegiance. At the close of the 12th century, the family is traced in the records of Essex, Suffolk, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire, Middlesex, and a highly respectable branch at Hockworthy in Devonshire.
About the same time some of their members came to Ireland, where they won great possessions at Beerhaven, but by conspiracy of the Irish, headed by the O’Sullivans, were all slain, except one young man, who then studied the common laws in England; Hugh alias Ulfran de Barneville. On his return, King John, in 1215, granted the lands of Drymnagh and Tyrenure in the Vale of Dublin to Hugh.
Barnewalls Genealogy
Alanus de Berneval, who left two sons, Hugo and Regenald, was succeeded by the eldest, Hugo, who received two marks as the King’s gift for his expenses on going to Ireland, on 23rd August 1212. The King’s mandate, sent to Geoffry de Marisco, directed that Hugh de Berneval should have seisin of his land at Drumenagh and Terenure in the vale of Dublin, 12 December 1216. He d.s.p. before 24th January 1220 – 1221, when a mandate for seisin of his lands was granted to his brother and heir, Reginald.
Reginald de Berneval, was restored to the lands in Drimnagh and Terenure on January 24th 1228. and had a grant of £20 per year for his maintenance on the King’s service (mandate dated 28th September 1234). He was succeeded by his son, Ulphram. Ulphram (or Wolfram), was constable of Dublin Castle, 12 December 1279 – 1281, sheriff of Dublin 1284 – 1289. He was a witness, in 1289, to a deed between Hugh Tyrell and the Prior and Convent of the All Saints, near Dublin. He married Mary, only daughter and heiress of Sir William Molyneux, Kt of Molagh, co. Meath, and was succeeded by his son, Reginald. Reginald paid five shillings for Drumenagh, as subsidy to the King for the war against the Scots in 1299. He married a daughter of Sir Conway Clifford, Kt. and was succeeded by his son, Reginald.
Reginald de Berneval, of Drumenagh. In 1309 he gave thirty shillings for the army of Loxenedy, and in 1313 he paid his service for the expedition to the Castle Keyvening, under Piers Gaveston. He died in 1331, seised of a water mill, dovecote, and profits of the courts of Drumenagh and Terenure, co. Dublin, when he was succeeded by his son, Ulphram.
Ulphram de Berneval, of Drumenagh, had livery of his estates, 2nd September 1331, (16) Edward III. He married Sarah daughter of Berford of Moynet, and was succeeded by his son, Reginald.
Reginald de Berneval, of Drumenagh, contributed towards the expedition to Mallow, under Walter de Bermingham in 1372, and in 1374 paid royal service to the expedition to Kilkenny under William of Windsor. He married Jannetta, daughter of Cusac of Killeen, and left two sons.
Ulphram (or Wolfram), succeeded to Drumenagh. He was living seised of the Manor of Ballythermot, in 1400. His descendants continued to reside at Drumenagh until the reign of James 1, when his line terminated in an heiress, Elizabeth, daughter of Marcus Barneval of Drumenagh, who married James Barnewall of Bremore, and sold the property, 1st February 1607, to Sir Adam Loftus, Kt. of Rathfarnham.“
The castle’s gardens have been developed, with a Parterre:
“A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. It is not necessary for a parterre to have any flowers at all. French parterres originated in 15th-century Gardens of the French Renaissance. The castle parterre is a simple symmetrical design of four squares, divided into four triangular herb beds. The centre point of the squares feature a clipped yew tree while the centre point of each herb bed features a shaped laurel bay tree.
One of the most important household duties of a medieval lady was the provisioning and harvesting of herbs and medicinal plants and roots. Plants cultivated in the summer months had to be harvested and stored for the winter. Although grain and vegetables were grown in the castle or village fields, the lady of the house had a direct role in the growth and harvest of household herbs.
Herbs and plants grown in manor and castle gardens basically fell into one of three categories: culinary, medicinal, or household use. Some herbs fell into multiple categories and some were grown for ornamental use.” The website tells of some of these plants.
The gardens also have an alley of hornbeams:
“The common English “hornbeam tree” derives its name from the hardness of the wood, and was often used for carving boards, tool handles, shoe lasts, coach wheels, and for other uses where a very tough, hard wood is required. The plant beds either side of the trees, feature snowdrops, bluebells, tulips, daffodils, some ferns and hellebores.
Hornbeam leaves are popular for their use in external compresses to stop bleeding. Their haemostatic properties also help in the quick healing of wounds, cuts, bruises, burns and other minor injuries. A yellow dye is obtained from the bark.“
contact: Paul Harvey Tel: Paul 086-3694379 www.fahanmura.ie Open dates in 2023: Apr 3-9, 10-14, May 8-14, 15-21, June 6-10, July 4-8, Aug 12-25, Sept 5-9, Oct 2-6, 9am-1pm Fee: adult €5, student €2, OAP/child free
Fahanmura, Photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Fahanmura is a Modern Movement House from the 1940 period. The website tells us:
“It’s easy to confuse Art Moderne with Art Deco, but they are two distinctly different styles. While both have stripped-down forms and geometric designs, the Art Moderne style will appear sleek and plain, while the slightly earlier Art Deco style can be quite showy. Art Moderne buildings are usually white, while Art Deco buildings may be brightly colored. The Art Deco style is most often used for public buildings like theaters, while the Art Moderne style is most often found in private homes.
The sleek, rounded Art Moderne style originated in the Bauhaus movement, which began in Germany. Bauhaus architects wanted to use the principles of classical architecture in their purest form, designing simple, useful structures without ornamentation or excess. Building shapes were based on curves, triangles, and cones. Bauhaus ideas spread worldwide and led to the Moderne or International Style in the United States. Art Moderne art, architecture, and fashion became popular just as Art Deco was losing appeal.”
Fahanmura, Photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The website tells us: “Fernhill is a former substantial family residence on 34 hectares of land at Stepaside. Fernhill Park and Gardens is Dublin’s newest Public Park, and forms an important component of the historic landscape on the fringe of Dublin City and an impressive example of a small estate dating back to around 1823. The former estate is a unique collection of heritage buildings, gardens, parkland, woodland and agricultural land. The elevated nature of the site, overlooking Dublin Bay on the threshold between the city and the Dublin mountains, lends a particular magic to the place. Fernhill is also home to a unique plant collection, made up of acid-loving plants such as Rhododendrons, Camelias and Magnolias, among others.“
The Stillorgan Genealogy and History website tells us:
“The original house was a single-storey (possibly a hunting lodge) built circa 1723. By 1812 it was substantial family residence with additional out buildings surrounded by gardens, woodlands, parkland and farming land on an elevated location overlooking Dublin Bay. The house itself is a series of rambling interconnecting blocks of one and two stories transcended by a three storey tower which has developed and evolved over the years.
The gardens were planted with exotics such as magnolia and Chilean firetrees but it is also home to an extensive daffodil collection. Originally on 110 acres it now now on about 82 acres. The land was owned by Sir William Verner and part was leased to Joseph Stock. Alderman Frederick Darley purchased the lease from Verner in 1812 and his son William purchased the property outright in 1841.” Another son was the architect Frederick Darley (1798-1872).
20. Georgian House Museum, 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Merrion Square, Dublin 2 – virtual visit only
from 2013 visit to 14 Henrietta Street14 Henrietta Street, Dublin City_Courtesy Liana Modonova 2021. (see [2])
14 Henrietta Street is a social history museum of Dublin life, from one building’s Georgian beginnings to its tenement times. We connect the history of urban life over 300 years to the stories of the people who called this place home. The website tells us:
“Henrietta Street is the most intact collection of early to mid-18th century houses in Ireland. Work began on the street in the 1720s when houses were built as homes for Dublin’s most wealthy families. By 1911 over 850 people lived on the street, over 100 of those in one house, here at 14 Henrietta Street.
Numbers 13-15 Henrietta Street were built in the late 1740s by Luke Gardiner. Number 14’s first occupant was The Right Honorable Richard, Lord Viscount Molesworth [1670-1758, 3rd Viscount Molesworth of Swords] and his second wife Mary Jenney Usher, who gave birth to their two daughters in the house. Subsequent residents over the late 18th century include The Right Honorable John Bowes, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Lucius O’Brien, John Hotham Bishop of Clogher, and Charles 12th Viscount Dillon [1745-1814].
Number 14, like many of the houses on Henrietta Street, follows a room layout that separated its public, private and domestic functions. The house is built over five floors, with a railed-in basement, brick-vaulted cellars under the street to the front, a garden and mews to the rear, and there was originally a coach house and stable yard beyond.
In the main house, the principal rooms in use were located on the ground and first floors. On these floors, a sequence of three interconnecting rooms are arranged around the grand two-storey entrance hall with its cascading staircase. On the ground floor were the family rooms which consisted of a street parlour to the front, a back eating parlour, a dressing room or bed chamber for the Lord of the house, and a closet.
Henrietta Street, Dublin, photographer Fionn Mc Cann for Failte Ireland (see [2])
On the first floor level, the piano nobile (or noble floor), were the formal public reception rooms. A drawing room to the front is where the Lord or Lady would host visitors, along with the dining room to the back. The dressing room or bed chamber for the lady of the house, and a closet were also on this floor. Family bedrooms were located on the floor above the piano nobile, and the servants quarters were located in the attic. A second back stairs would have provided access to all floor levels for family and servants alike.
These grand rooms began as social spaces to display the material wealth, status and taste of its inhabitants. Dublin’s Georgian elites developed a taste for expensive decoration, fine fabrics, and furniture made from exotic materials, such as ‘walnuttree’ and mahogany.
After the Acts of Union were passed in Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, all power shifted to London and most politically and socially significant residents were drawn from Georgian Dublin to Regency London. Dublin and Ireland entered a period of economic decline, exacerbated by the return of soldiers and sailors at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
This marked a turning point for the street – professionals moved in, and Henrietta Street was occupied by lawyers. Between 1800 and 1850 14 Henrietta Street was occupied by Peter Warren, solicitor, and John Moore, Proctor of the Prerogative Court.
From 1850-1860 the house was the headquarters of the newly established Encumbered Estates’ Court which allowed the State to acquire and sell on insolvent estates after the Great Famine.
In the 19th century the rooms of the house took on a different more utilitarian tone. Fine decoration and furniture gave way to desks, quills and paperwork with the activities of commissioners, barristers, lawyers, and clerks who moved into the house.
Family life returned to the street in the early 1860s when the Dublin Militia occupied the house until 1876, when Dublin became a Garrison town, with their barracks at Linenhall.
Dublin’s population swelled by about 36,000 in the years after the Great Famine, and taking advantage of the rising demand for cheap housing for the poor, landlords and their agents began to carve their Georgian townhouses into multiple dwellings for the city’s new residents.
In 1876 Thomas Vance purchased Number 14 and installed 19 tenement flats of one, three and four rooms. Described in an Irish Times advert from 1877:
‘To be let to respectable families in a large house, Northside, recently papered, painted and filled up with every modern sanitary improvement, gas and wc on landings, Vartry Water, drying yard and a range with oven for each tenant; a large coachhouse, or workshop with apartments, to be let at the rere. Apply to the caretaker, 14 Henrietta St.’
In Dublin, a tenement is typically an 18th or 19th century townhouse adapted, often crudely, to house multiple families. Tenement houses existed throughout the north inner city of Dublin; on the southside around the Liberties, and near the south docklands.
Houses such as 14 Henrietta Street underwent significant change in use – from having been a single-family house with specific areas for masters, mistresses, servants, and children, they were now filled with families – often one family to a room – the room itself divided up into two or three smaller rooms – a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom. Entire families crammed into small living spaces and shared an outside tap and lavatory with dozens of others in the same building.
By 1911 number 14 was filled with 100 people while over 850 lived on the street. The census showed that it was a hive of industry – there were milliners, a dressmaker (tailoress!), French polishers, and bookbinders living and possibly working in the house.
With the establishment of the new state, improvements to housing conditions in Dublin became a priority. In 1931 Dublin Corporation appointed its first city architect Herbert Simms to improve the standard of housing in the city. Simms and his team created new communities outside the city centre, amidst greenery and fresh air, this was the dawn of the suburbs. The development of these new communities signalled the end of tenement life in Dublin.
The last tenement residents of number 14 left in the late 1970s by which time the building was virtually abandoned by its owners after the basement and third floor (attic) had already become uninhabitable. During this period of neglect the processes of decay accelerated, leading to the rotting of structural timbers, loss of decorative plasterwork, and vandalism, leaving the house close to imminent collapse.
Dublin City Council began a process to acquire the house in 2000, and as a result of the Henrietta Street Conservation Plan and embarked on a 10-year long journey to purchase, rescue, stabilise and conserve the house, preserving it for generations to come.
In September 2018 14 Henrietta Street opened to the public.“
I am a fan of Mary Wollestonecraft, and am delighted with the connection to the house next to this address, 15 Henrietta Street:
“In 1786, on the far side of the wall in number 15, Mary Wollstonecraft was governess to Lord and Lady Kingsborough’s children. As tutor to Margaret King she instilled a wish for equal rights and republican ideals in her charge. She had an aspiration to be treated equally in a society where she was expected to fend for herself as most ladies of the ascendancy had to when suitors were not to be had or dowries were scarce. Governesses to wealthy families held a precarious middle ground between servant and family friend. In 1792 she would publish an important feminist treatise, A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
Wollstonecraft gives us a look at a Dublin where women were expected to abide by what she regarded as oppressive social rules: “Dublin has not the advantages which result from residing in London; everyone’s conduct is canvassed, and the least deviation from a ridiculous rule of propriety… would endanger their precarious existence”.”
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
23. Hibernian/National Irish Bank, 23-27 College Green, Dublin 2– section 482
all year, except Dec 25, Mon-Fri, 9.30am-8pm, Sun, 10am-7pm Fee: Free
Former Hibernian Bank,now H&M store, 2013.Photograph courtesy of Swire Chin, Toronto.
The Dublin South City Buildings of Ireland booklet tells us:
“HIBERNIAN BANK (1864-71; 1873-6) 22-27 College Green An idiosyncratic bank designed by William George Murray (1822- 71) with Gothic and Italianate arcades converging on a Châteauesque tower. The original occupants, the short-lived Union Bank, are remembered by the intertwined “UBI” monogram over the first floor windows.”
The original occupants, the short-lived Union Bank, are remembered by the intertwined “UBI” monogram over the first floor windows.
24. Howth Castle gardens, and Transport Museum Dublin
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses.[originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978; Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.]
p. 155. “Gaisford-St. Lawrence/IF) A rambling and romantic castle on the Hill of Howth, which forms the northern side of Dublin bay; the home of the St. Lawrences for 800 years. Basically a massive medieval keep, with corner towers crenellated in the Irish crow-step fashion, to which additions have been made through the centuries. The keep is joined by a hall range to a tower with similar turrets which probably dates from early C16; in front of this tower stands a C15 gatehouse tower, joined to it by a battlemented wall which forms one side of the entrance court, the other side being an early C19 castellated range added by 3rd Earl of Howth. The hall range, in the centre, now has Georgian sash windows and in front of it runs a handsome balustraded terrace with a broad flight of steps leading up to the entrance door, which has a pedimented and rusticated Doric doorcase. These Classical features date from 1738, when the castle was enlarged and modernized by William St. Lawrence, 14th Lord Howth, who frequently entertained his friend Dean Swift here; the Dean described Lady Howth as a “blue eyed nymph.” On the other side of the hall range, a long two storey wing containing the drawing room extends at right angles to it, ending in another tower similar to the keep, with Irish battlemented corner turrets. This last tower was added 1910 for Cmdr Julian Gaisford-St. Lawrence, who inherited Howth from his maternal uncle, 4th and last Earl of Howth, and assumed the additional surname of St Lawrence; it was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, who also added a corridor with corbelled oriels at the back of the drawing room wing and a loggia at the junction of the wing with the hall range; as well as carrying out some alterations to the interior. The hall has C18 doorcases with shouldered architraves, an early C19 Gothic frieze and a medieval stone fireplace with a surround by Lutyens. The dining room, which Lutyens restored to its original size after it had been partitioned off into several smaller rooms, has a modillion cornice and panelling of C18 style with fluted Corinthian pilasters. The drawing room has a heavily moulded mid-C18 ceiling, probably copied from William Kent’s Works of Inigo Jones; the walls are divided into panels with arched mouldings, a treatment which is repeated in one of the bedrooms. The library, by Lutyens, in his tower, has bookcases and panelling of oak and a ceiling of elm boarding. Lutyens also made a simple and dignified Catholic chapel in early C19 range on one side of the entrance court; it has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and an apse behind the altar. Howth Castle is celebrated for the custom, continuing down to the present day, of laying an extra place at meals for the descendent of the chieftan who, several centuries ago, kidnapped the infant heir of the Lord Howth at the time in retaliation for being refused admittance to the castle because the family was at dinner, only returning him after the family had promised that the gates of the castle should always be kept open at mealtimes and an extra place always set at the table in case the kidnapper’s descendants should wish to avail themselves of it. Famous gardens; formal garden laid out ca 1720, with gigantic beech hedges; early C18 canal; magnificent plantings of rhododendrons.”
Howth Castle 1940, Dublin City Library and Archives (see [6]). The English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens restyled a 14th century castle built here, overlooking Dublin Bay.Howth Castle 1966, Dublin City Library and Archives (see [6]).Marriage plate Howth Castle, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Howth Castle, Dublin City Library and Archives (see [6]).Howth Castle on the day we visited for the sale of its library.The National Inventory tells us that this part of Howth Castle is “six-bay two-storey over basement late-medieval house, c.1650. Comprising four-bay two-storey central block flanked by single-bay five-storey square plan crenellated turrets. Renovated 1738, with openings remodelled and terrace added. Renovated, 1910, with interior remodelled.”Reproduction of a painting of Howth Castle and its gardens in the 18th century, courtesy of the “In Harmony with Nature, The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” exhibition curated by Robert O’Byrne.Howth Castle, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Howth Castle library, National Library of Ireland, from constant commons on flickr.The National Inventory tells us about this tower: “Attached single-bay three-storey rubble stone gate tower, c.1450, with round-headed integral carriageway to ground floor. Renovated 1738.”At the background end of this photograph is what the National Inventory describes: “Attached four-bay three-storey medieval tower house with dormer attic, c.1525, with turret attached to north-east. Renovated c.1650. Renovated and openings remodelled, 1738. Renovated with dormer attic added, 1910.”
“It is with great sadness that we report the death of Pat Herbert, the founder and curator of The Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio, sadly he passed away on the 18th of June, 2020.
The museum has been a very special place since it first opened its doors in 2003. Pat had begun collecting radios and all things connected with communications, when he was working in the construction industry in London in the 1950’s. His collection grew over the years and found its rightful home in the Martello Tower which has a long history with the story of radio in Ireland. Pat had an encyclopedic knowledge on the history of radio and was also a great storyteller. He generously allowed the setting up of the amateur station EI0MAR in the Martello Tower and was always fascinated with the contacts made throughout the world over the airwaves.”
“The isle of Lambay is the family seat of the Revelstoke branch of the Baring family and home to Lambay Irish Whiskey. It is owned and protected today by the Revelstoke Trust and daily management lies in the hands of Alex Baring (7th Baron Revelstoke), with support from the wider family.
Nestled in the Irish Sea just four miles off the coast of County Dublin, the island is a square mile in extent (630 acres), making it the largest island off the east coast of Ireland and the largest privately owned island in North-West Europe.
It is a paradise of fine architecture, birds, flowers, cattle, seals, fallow deer and even a mob of wallabies! The island is internationally important as a Natura 2000 site designated for its breeding seabirds and as home to the largest breeding colony of North Atlantic Grey Seals on the east coast of Ireland. It holds a remarkable place in European natural history as the site of a pioneering biological investigation undertaken by the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger in 1906, as a mutual project with Cecil Baring, during which they found several new species including three earthworms, a bristletail and a mite.
Entirely off-grid and unattached to the mainland by so much as a cable or pipe, the island is partially run on green energy generated by solar panels and a wind turbine that are rigged up to a complex battery system that baffles us at the best of times, but does the job! The natural spring gives us fresh drinking water year round, which is also used in our very own island whiskey, aged in old cognac casks where they can breathe in the salty sea air.”
“In 1181 the island was granted to the Archbishops of Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral. By 1467 it was described as “a receptacle for the King’s enemies, to the annoyance of the mainland,” and a licence was granted to build a fort to protect against invasions by the Spanish, French and Scots. Sir John Challoner is thought to have actioned the licence in the early 1500s. The conditions were that Challoner would within six years build a village, castle and harbour for the benefit of fishermen and as a protection against smugglers. He was to inhabit Lambay “with a colony of honest men”. He was a very active man who worked four mines for silver and copper and bred falcons on the island’s many cliffs.
In 1611 the island moved from the Church into the private hands of the Ussher family for 200 years, during which time it was used as a Prisoner of War camp for over 1,000 Irish soldiers during the Williamite war after the Battle of Aughrim. From 1805 the leasehold passed through several hands, including those of Sir William Wolseley and the Talbot family of Malahide.
In 1903 Cecil Baring (later the 3rd Baron Revelstoke) and his beautiful wife Maude Lorillard saw an advert in The Field for an “island for sale” in the Irish sea. It caught their eye for several reasons (which you will read about below) and within the year, on the 1st April 1904, Lambay was theirs for the princely sum of £5,250.
From “In Harmony with Nature, The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” in the Irish Georgian Society, July 2022, curated by Robert O’Byrne.
“Lambay’s history under the Baring family took a turn for the deeply romantic and, with the arrival of Cecil (Baron Revelstoke III) and his wife Maude in 1904, the island fell under an enchantment that still mesmerises visitors to this day.
Maude was the younger daughter of the American millionaire tobacco manufacturer, Pierre Lorillard, who owned Tuxedo Park in New York. A lively and active woman, she escaped the constraints of home before her 18th birthday by marrying Tommy Tailer, a wealthy New York socialite, in 1893. Tommy was a partner in the New York branch of Baring Brothers and, through this connection, met one of the family members of the bank – this was Cecil...
By the end of the 1890s, Maude’s marriage to Tommy Tailer fell apart after he was unfaithful to her. Cecil left New York in 1901 and it was then that Maude realised she had loved him all along. A maverick for her time, she secured a divorce from Tailer and in November 1902, was remarried in London to Cecil.
Such was the scandal of Cecil marrying a divorcee (and an American one, at that!), that he was encouraged to step down from his responsibilities at the bank. It was this yearning to escape from the critical public eye, mixed with Cecil’s passion for island ecologies, that led the betrothed couple to seek the peace and solitude of Lambay.
In early 1904, with Maude heavily pregnant, Cecil went to investigate Lambay; he found a small line of cottages occupied by coastguards, a chapel, a walled garden, a dilapidated old fort and a magnificent wealth of wildlife. It was an intoxicating mixture.
The first task facing the Barings was the repair of the castle and they refitted a heavy lugger, the Shamrock, to carry the necessary materials to the island. The Shamrock (version 3.0) is still in use today as Lambay’s main cargo boat and is used to transport the sheep and cattle as well as bulkier materials and equipment for the off-grid energy system.
Lambay Castle, Lambay Island. Photograph from Country Life.The east court of Lambay Castle. (see [8])
A full year elapsed before the castle was habitable and it was not until June 1905 that it was furnished. Immediately thereafter, Cecil convened a congress to examine the flora and fauna of the island, the findings of which were published in The Irish Naturalist (1907).
He also tried to introduce new species, including mouflon sheep, chamois goats, kinkajous and rheas. Today, there is a large population of wallabies on Lambay, but these were brought here in the 1980s by Cecil’s son Rupert Revelstoke, who had enjoyed having two pet wallabies in the 1950s.
Now captivated by the island, the Barings determined to undertake more ambitious changes to the castle. They invited Sir Edwin Lutyens, renowned architect of the Arts & Crafts movement, to visit in August 1905.
Lutyens was utterly delighted by Lambay and the couple, and the visit sparked a warm friendship between the three of them that would last throughout their lives. Lutyens extended the Castle masterfully and by 1910 it was a beautiful refuge for Cecil and Maude, surrounded by an impressive circular wall, which Lutyens nicknamed “The Ramparts Against Uncharity“.
Cecil and Maude had 12 blissful years together with their little family on Lambay but alas, in 1922, a still young Maude died of cancer, leaving Cecil with two daughters, Daphne and Calypso, and their little son Rupert. Her body was brought back from London to the island for burial. Lutyens, who was then busy with war memorials and the government buildings of New Delhi, designed a large monument for her grave, set in against the rampart walls and facing towards the Castle. The mausoleum is today one of the most pleasant and peaceful spots on the island. Prefacing Cecil’s epitaph, a beautiful poem about his wife, is the word ‘Quiet’, both an imperative to the reader and a description of the monument’s setting.“
Lambay Castle, Lambay Island. Photograph from Country Life.The castle and west forecourt of Lambay Castle. (see [8])
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us that the castle is “constructed with small doors and small casements so that the inhabitants seem, on rough days, to be sheltering like monks.” The interior has vaulted ceilings, stone fireplaces and a curved stone staircase, while much of the furniture chosen by Lutyens is still arranged just as he intended.
He also adapted and enlarged a number of other early structures and integrated them into an ingenious coordinated layout for the whole island, combining the farm, gardens and plantations as a single composition, in collaboration with the horticulturalist and garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.
The walled kitchen garden pierces the Rampart Wall to the South and there is the mausoleum of the Revelstokes, designed by Lutyens in 1930, on the opposite side of the enclosure. He also designed the White House overlooking the harbour on the western shores of the island, as a holiday home for the couple’s two daughters and their families.
From “In Harmony with Nature, The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” in the Irish Georgian Society, July 2022, curated by Robert O’Byrne.
28. Lissen Hall, Lissenhall Demesne, Swords, Dublin – open by appointment
The Historic Houses of Ireland tells us about Lissen Hall:
“Looking over the Meadow Water near the expanding village of Swords, Lissen Hall presents a tranquil mid-Georgian façade that is typical of rural Leinster. In fact country houses have become a rarity in the suburb of Fingal, formerly North County Dublin, which reuses an ancient place name for one of Ireland’s newest administrative regions. A pair of end bows disguise the fact that Lissen Hall is part of a far earlier building, possibly dating from the very end of the 17th century. The newer five-bay front is a typical mid-Georgian concept, with a tripartite door-case surmounted by a Serlian window.
The arrangement is repeated on the upper storey, where the central window is flanked by a pair of blind sidelights, and the façade continues upwards to form a high parapet, now adorned with a pair of stone eagles. The building’s other main decorative features, a pair of attached two-storey bows with half conical roofs, have many similarities with Mantua, a now-demolished house that faced Lissen Hall across the Meadow Water in former times. At Mantua, which was probably slightly earlier, the silhouettes of the bow roofs prolonged the hip of the main roof in an uninterrupted upward line. It is difficult to imagine how this arrangement could have been achieved at Lissen Hall without compromising the outer windows on the top floor.
The principal rooms are not over large but the interior of the mid-Georgian range is largely intact and original, with good joinery and chimneypieces. Architectural drawings from 1765 can be seen in the house, which at that time was owned by John Hatch, MP for Swords in the Irish Parliament in Dublin.
Lissen Hall has only been sold once in 250 years. It passed from John Hatch to the politically influential Hely-Hutchinson family, one of whose seats was Seafield House in nearby Donabate. In 1950 Terence Chadwick purchased the house and park from the Hely-Hutchinsons and the house was subsequently inherited by his daughter Sheelagh, the wife of Sir Robert Goff.”
Malahide CastleThe Castle from the Pleasure Garden, photograph by George Munday, 2014, Tourism Ireland. (see [2])
The Archiseek website tells us:
“The estate began in 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the “lands and harbour of Malahide”. The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and it was home to the Talbot family for 791 years, from 1185 until 1976, the only exception being the period from 1649-1660, when Oliver Cromwell granted it to Miles Corbet [Lord Chief Baron of Ireland] after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland; Corbet was hanged following the demise of Cromwell, and the castle was restored to the Talbots. The building was notably enlarged in the reign of Edward IV [28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483], and the towers added in 1765.
The estate survived such losses as the Battle of the Boyne, when fourteen members of the owner’s family sat down to breakfast in the Great Hall, and all were dead by evening, and the Penal Laws, even though the family remained Roman Catholic until 1774.
Malahide Castle and Demesne was eventually inherited by the seventh Baron Talbot and on his death in 1973, passed to his sister, Rose. In 1975, Rose sold the castle to the Irish State, partly to fund inheritance taxes. Many of the contents, notably furnishings, of the castle, had been sold in advance, leading to considerable public controversy, but private and governmental parties were able to retrieve some. Rose Talbot, the last surviving member of the Talbot family died at Malahide House, Tasmania in 2009.“
Malahide Castle by Brian Morrison, 2015, for Tourism Ireland (see [2])
“The original stronghold built on the lands was a wooden fortress but this was eventually superseded by a stone structure on the site of the current Malahide Castle. Over the centuries, rooms and fortifications were added, modified and strengthened until the castle took on its current form.
The Talbots are reputed to have been a diplomatic family and during the eight centuries between 1185 and the 1970s, their tenure at Malahide Castle was broken for only a brief interlude between 1649 and 1660 when their lands were seized by Cromwellian soldiers and the castle was occupied by Myles Corbet, Lord Chief Baron of Ireland.
The final [seventh] Baron de Malahide, Lord Milo Talbot, lived in the castle until his death in 1973. His sister Rose inherited the estate and subsequently sold it to the Irish State in 1975. Since then, Malahide Castle has continued to play an important part in Ireland’s political and social landscape, hosting international leaders and summits, and welcoming thousands of local and international visitors each year.”
It is described in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as a five bay three storey over basement medieval mansion from 1450, renovated and extended around 1650, and again partly rebuilt and extended in 1770 with single-bay three-storey Georgian Gothic style circular towers added at each end of the front elevation. It was further extensively renovated in 1990.
Mark Bence-Jones describes it in his Guide to Irish Country Houses:
p. 198. “(Talbot de Malahide, b/PB) The most distinguished of all Irish castles, probably in continuous occupation by the same family for longer than any other house in Ireland. It also contains the only surviving medieval great hall in Ireland to keep its original form and remain in domestic use – at any case, until recently.“
The Wooden Room Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])
The Oak Room is the oldest room in the castle, and has carved timber panelled walls of different periods and nationalities. According to tradition, Mark Bence-Jones tells us, the carving of the Coronation of the Virgin above the fireplace of this room miraculously disappeared when the castle was occupied by the regicide, Myles Corbet, during the Cromwellian period, and reappeared when the Talbots returned after the Restoration.
It was John Talbot (d. 1671) who lost Malahide Castle to Miles (or Myles) Corbet. John was married to Catherine Plunkett, daughter of Lucas 1st Earl of Fingall and Susannah Brabazon daughter of Edward Brabazon, 1st Lord Brabazon and Baron of Ardee. Their son Richard (1638-1703) regained ownership of the castle.
Richard married Frances Talbot (d. 1718) daugher of Robert Talbot 2nd Baronet Talbot, of Carton, Co. Kildare.
Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1984, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6]) According to tradition, Mark Bence-Jones tells us, the carving of the Coronation of the Virgin above the fireplace of this room miraculously disappeared when the castle was occupied by the regicide, Myles Corbet, during the Cromwellian period, and reappeared when the Talbots returned after the Restoration.
Mark Bence-Jones continues:
“The opposite side of the castle to the great hall, dating from C16 or early C17, originally contained four tapestry-hung rooms; but this range was gutted by fire 1760. It was rebuilt ca 1770, probably by the same architect or builder who designed C18 wing at Ballinlough Castle, Co Westmeath [or Meath]; the then owner, Richard Talbot [1736-1788], being married to Margaret, daughter of James O’Reilly of Ballinlough, who, after her husband’s death, was created Baroness Talbot of Malahide. Externally, the rebuilt range was given a Georgian Gothic character, a slender round corner tower being added at each end of it. Inside, two magnificent drawing rooms were formed out of the space which had been previously occupied by the four smaller rooms; with ceilings of splendid rococo plasterwork which can be attributed stylistically to Robert West.“
The Ballinlough website tells us that the work was probably carried out by amateur architect Thomas Wogan Browne, who lived at Castle Brown, which is now the home of Clongowes Woods College, where my husband went to school. Thomas Wogan Browne (d. 1812) was a cousin, as Richard Talbot’s mother was Frances Wogan, daughter of Nicholas Wogan of Castle Browne and his wife Rose O’Neill, and her sister Catherine married Michael Browne, and was the mother of Thomas Wogan Browne. [9]
Malahide Castle dining room 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])
The Great Hall has an important collection of Jacobite portraits, on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland. It has corbel heads of King Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483), which are original.
Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle January 2018.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The doorway between the two rooms has on one side a doorcase with a broken pediment on Ionic columns. The walls of the two drawing rooms are painted a subtle shade of orange, which makes a perfect background to the pictures in their gilt frames.
Opening off each of the two drawing rooms is a charming little turret room. A third round tower was subsequently added at the corner of the hall range, balancing one of C18 towers at the opposite side of the entrance front; and in early C19, an addition was built in the centre of this front, with two wide mullioned windows windows above an entrance door; forming an extension to the Oak Room and providing an entrance hall below it.”
Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])
The library wing dates to the seventeenth century and is hung with eighteenth century leather wall hangings.
Malahide Castle January 2018.
The pair of drawing rooms were rebuilt c.1770 after a fire in 1760. They contain rococo plasterwork and decorative doorcases. The castle also has turret rooms.
Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle drawing room 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1980, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1984, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1980, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1980, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 2018.Malahide Castle January 2018.Malahide Castle January 2018.Malahide Castle 1984, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])
contact: Terry Prone Tel: 01-6449700 Open dates in 2023: March 4-Sept 24, Sat & Sun, National Heritage Week, Aug 12-20, 9am-1pm Fee: adult €6, student/OAP €2, child free
contact: Ruth O’Herlihy, Tel: 087-2163623 Open dates in 2023: Jan 9-13, 16-20, 23-27, 30-31, Feb 1-3, May 2-6, 10-13, 15-18, 27, June 6-10, 12-17, 19-24, Aug 12-20, 9am-1pm Fee: adult €5, OAP/child/student €2
Meander, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes it:
“Detached four-bay two-storey mono-pitched house, built 1939, on an asymmetrical plan with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor abutting single-bay two-storey mono-pitched higher projection; five-bay two-storey rear (south) elevation with single-bay two-storey projection on a shallow segmental bowed plan….A house erected to a design by Alan Hodgson Hope (1909-65) representing an important component of the twentieth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one ‘exploring Scandinavian modernism rather than Mediterranean modernism‘ (Becker 1997, 117), confirmed by such attributes as the asymmetrical plan form; the cedar boarded surface finish; the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with some of those openings showing horizontal glazing bars; and the oversailing roofline: meanwhile, a cantilevered projection illustrates the later “improvement” of the house expressly to give the architect’s children a room to wallpaper (pers. comm. 12th April 2016). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the plywood-sheeted interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a house ‘which has grown and matured together with its garden to make an ensemble appealing more to the senses than to the mind’.”
Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, November 2022.
“No. 45 Merrion Square, the home of the Irish Architectural Archive, is one of the great Georgian houses of Dublin. Built for the speculative developer Gustavus Hume in the mid-1790s and situated directly across Merrion Square from Leinster House, this is the largest terraced house on the Square and is the centrepiece of its East Side.
Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, November 2022.
Light-filled, spectacularly-proportioned, interconnected rooms on the piano nobile of this Georgian palazzo offer a range of venues and facilities: meeting rooms for up to 20 people; multimedia lecture facilities for up to 55, dining space for up to 80, and receptions for up to 250. Whether the event is a meeting, a conference with breakout sessions, or a private or corporate reception, the Irish Architectural Archive’s beautifully graceful spaces provide Georgian elegance in the heart of Dublin.”
Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, November 2022.Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, November 2022.Babel by Aidan Lynam.
“Standing four stories over basement, and five bays wide, No. 45 is the largest of the terraced houses on Merrion Square. The house was built circa 1794 for the property developer Gustavus Hume. The architect may have been Samuel Sproule who, in the early 1780s, was responsible for the laying out of much of Holles Street, of both Mount Streets and of the east side of Merrion Square. The first person to live in the house seems to have been Robert la Touche who leased the building in 1795. In 1829 the house was sold to Sir Thomas Staples. It had been built in an ambitious and optimistic age, but in the Dublin of the late 1820s its huge size was somewhat anachronistic and certainly uneconomical, so Sir Thomas had the building carefully divided into two separate houses. Sir Thomas died aged 90 in 1865, the last survivor of the Irish House of Commons.
On his death, both parts of the house passed to Sir John Banks, Regius Professor of Medicine in Trinity College, who, like his predecessor, leased the smaller portion of the divided building, by now numbered Nos. 10 and 11 Merrion Square East. Banks himself lived in No. 11, the larger part, which he maintained in high decorative order. Banks died in 1910, and both parts of the building fell vacant and remained so until 1915 when the whole property was used to accommodate the clerical offices of the National Health Insurance Company. With single occupancy restored, the division of the building, renumbered 44 – 45 Merrion Square, began to be reversed, a process carried on in fits and starts as successive Government departments and agencies moved in and out over the decades. The last to go was the Irish Patents Office, relocated to Kilkenny in 1996.
The house was assigned to Irish Architectural Archive by Ruairí Quinn TD, Minister for Finance, in his budget of 1996. The Office of Public Works carried out an extensive programme of works to the house from 2002 to 2004, including the refurbishment of the historic fabric and the construction of new state-of-the-art archival stores to the rear.“
34. MOLI, Museum of Literature Ireland, Newman House, 85-86 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
86 St Stephen’s Green,Newman House, which belongs to University College Dublin and now houses the Museum of Literature of Ireland.
The website tells us:
“No. 85 St. Stephen’s Green was built in 1738 by Richard Cassels, architect of Powerscourt House and Russborough House, and is notable for its exquisite baroque plasterwork by the Lafranchini brothers. The adjoining townhouse at No. 86 was constructed in 1765 and features superb examples of rococo stuccowork by the distinguished Dublin School of Plaster Workers.
The building takes its name from the theologian and educationalist Dr. John Henry Newman, who was rector when the Catholic University was founded in 1854. UCD Newman House also boasts many literary and cultural associations. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins lived here during his time as Professor of Classics at the university, and James Joyce was a student here before graduating with a BA in 1902. Other famous Irish writers to have studied at UCD Newman House include Flann O’Brien, Kate O’Brien and Maeve Binchy.
Explore the stunning surroundings and turbulent history of Numbers 85 and 86 St Stephen’s Green on MoLI’s Historic House Tour.
These beautiful examples of Georgian opulence – with lavish stuccowork by the famous Lafranchini brothers – have served not only as a university and a museum, but also as the townhouse of Buck Whaley, one of Ireland’s most infamous playboys and adventurers.
Join your guide as they bring you on a journey through these hidden historic rooms, witness these architectural treasures up close, and learn about the many fascinating characters that have passed through over the centuries.“
86 St Stephen’s Green was constructed in 1765 and features superb examples of rococo stuccowork by the distinguished Dublin School of Plaster Workers.86 St Stephen’s Green.
86 St Stephen’s Green is a granite-faced townhouse built for Richard Chapel Whaley (d. 1796) who was called “Burn Chapel” Whaley due to his anti-Catholic sentiment. It is a kind of rough justice that his house is now owned by the Catholic university of Ireland, University College Dublin, and named for Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who famously converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, and by his example, encouraged many others to convert to Catholicism!
The grandness begins straight away when you enter MOLI – this stuccowork is behind the entrance desk, in 86 St Stephen’s Green.86 St Stephen’s Green.86 St Stephen’s Green.86 St Stephen’s Green.86 St Stephen’s Green.The violins in the cartouches are actually real violins, which were easier than sculpting them from scratch! The coved ceiling includes acanthus leaves and high-relief birds with outstretched wings.86 St Stephen’s Green.Rococo stucco work in Museum of Literature of Ireland (MOLI), 86 Stephen’s Green, Dublin.86 St Stephen’s Green.Ceiling of the yellow room, MOLI.That’s James Joyce near the tree on the left, second from the tree at the back.86 St Stephen’s Green.Our friend Claire accompanied with us on our tour, who was visiting us from Greece.
We then went outside to enter 85 St Stephen’s Green, next door. This is a smaller building, a Neo-Palladian urban palazzo designed by Richard Castle for Captain Hugh Montgomerie (d. 1741) purely for entertaining! It has a rusticated granite street front, a Venetian window overhead fromed by pedimented openings, and a balustraded parapet. The strict symmetry of the front belies an asymmetrical interior.
The two storey over basement on the left of Newman House is 85 St Stephen’s Green.85 St. Stephen’s Green was built in 1738 by Richard Castle, architect of Powerscourt House and Russborough House, and is notable for its exquisite baroque plasterwork by the Lafranchini brothers.Entrance hall of 85 St Stephen’s Green.Staircase of 85 St Stephen’s Green.Floating mahogany staircase in 85 St Stephen’s Green.This is the crest of the La Touche family, who later owned into 85 St Stephen’s Green.The Saloon in 85 St Stephen’s Green occupies the full width of the front. It has a high relief coved ceiling, a masterpiece by the Swiss Lafranchini brothers Paolo (1695-1776) and Filippo (1702-79).Newman House 1953, Dublin City Library and Archives.A layer of plasterwork has been added below the dentil cornice in this photograph, as we can see in the photograph above it. (see [6])At some point, the Jesuits took over 85 St Stephen’s Green. They did not like all of the naked women in the plasterwork so they gave the women “bodices.” Most were later removed when the plasterwork was restored but one bodice was left on, as you can see above, to show how they were done!The back part of 85 St Stephen’s Green is a later addition, including this room.
