Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(
www.taoiseach.gov.ie
;
Upper Merrion St; tours 10.30am-1.30pm Sat; 7 & 44 from the city centre)
F
This
gleaming Edwardian pile was the last building (almost) completed by the British before
they were booted out; it opened as the Royal College of Science in 1911. When the col-
lege vacated in 1989, Taoiseach Charles Haughey and his government moved in and spent
a fortune refurbishing the complex.
Among the improvements made at the time was a private lift from Haughey's office
that went up to a rooftop helipad and down to a limo in the basement.
Free 40-minute guided
tours
take you through the taoiseach's office, the Cabinet Room,
the ceremonial staircase with a stunning stained-glass window - designed by Evie Hone
(1894-1955) for the 1939 New York Trade Fair - and many fine examples of modern
Irish arts and crafts.
Directly across the road from here, and now part of the Merrion Hotel, 24 Upper Merri-
on St is thought to be the birthplace of Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), the first Duke of
Wellington, who downplayed his Irish origins and once said 'being born in a stable does
not make one a horse'. It is also possible that the cheeky bugger was born in Trim, County
Meath.
FITZWILLIAM SQUARE
( closed to public; 10, 11, 13B or 46A from city centre)
The smallest and the last of Dublin's
great Georgian squares was completed in 1825. It's also the only one where the central
garden is still the private domain of the square's residents. William Dargan (1799-1867),
the railway pioneer and founder of the National Gallery, lived at No 2, and the artist Jack
B Yeats (1871-1957) lived at No 18.
Look out for the attractive 18th- and 19th-century metal coal-hole covers. The square is
now a centre for the medical profession.
PARK
ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY (RHA) GALLAGHER GALLERY
GALLERY
( 01-661 2558;
www.royalhibernianacademy.ie
;
15 Ely Pl; 11am-5pm Mon-Wed, Fri & Sat, 11am-9pm Thu,
2-5pm Sun; 10, 11, 13B or 51X from city centre)
F
This large, well-lit gallery at the end of a se-
rene Georgian street has a grand name to fit its exalted reputation as one of the most pres-
tigious exhibition spaces for modern and contemporary art in Ireland - although it's
worked hard to shrug off a reputation for being a little dowdy and conservative in its
tastes.
