Georgian & Governmental Quarter
The area that runs eastward from Kildare Street to Merrion Square and southward from the perimeter of Trinity College to Stephen’s Green and Baggot Street is replete with buildings of historic and architectural significance. Many of these have been latterly adapted for cultural use whilst others house important governmental functions.The area that runs eastward from Kildare Street to Merrion Square and southward from the perimeter of Trinity College to Stephen’s Green and Baggot Street is replete with buildings of historic and architectural significance. Many of these have been latterly adapted for cultural use whilst others house important governmental functions.
In 1745 the Earl of Kildare bought land in Molesworth fields to build a residence. Plots to either side were quickly bought up and the street, previously known as Coote Street, was renamed Kildare Street. When the Earl was promoted to Duke of Leinster his house was renamed Leinster House. It is said that the White House at Washington is largely a reproduction of its main features, though the American building has a semicircular colonnaded porch, which conceals the likeness. By the later part of the 18th Century Kildare Street was a fashionable residential street and by 1890 the National Library of Ireland, designed by Thomas Newenham had been built there.
The northern side of Merrion Square was begun in 1762. The lower stories of the houses are stone and the upper brick, the style being that universally extolled as Georgian. The interiors were magnificent, with some fine plaster ceilings and marble fireplaces. At first the houses were occupied by Peers and Members of Parliament. After the Act of Union (1801), however, they tended to move elsewhere, and were succeeded by Judges and Doctors and these in turn by modern offices for bodies such as the RIAI, the Arts Council and the FAI.
The National Gallery, which faces onto Merrion Square, was founded in 1854. The original building was an exact elevational copy of the Natural History Museum by Frederick Clarendon across Leinster Lawn. After a falling out with the Board of Trustees, the engineer turned architect Richard Griffith was replaced by Charles Lanyon who designed the magnificent interior staircase. Lanyon was then replaced by Francis Fowke whose galleries were so technologically advanced with regard to their lighting and ventilation that the NGI was one of the most advanced in Europe.
The foundation stones of the current Government Buildings, further up on Merrion Street, were laid by Edward VII in 1904. It was originally constructed as a College of Sciences and the Georgian houses on the site were demolished in 1913. The building was finally completed in 1922 after the end of British rule. The architect was Sir Aston Webb.