Georgian Dublin

Georgian door in Dublin

The term Georgian Dublin has two intertwined meanings.

It describes a historical period in the development of Dublin city (capital of Ireland ) from 1714 (beginning of the reign of King George I of Great Britain and Ireland ) to 1830 (death of King George IV ). This time of the reign of the four Georgs (hence the name " Georgian ") produced a special and uniform architectural style that was used in newly constructed public buildings and private homes.
He also describes the buildings preserved in Dublin from the above. Time (many of the Georgian buildings were demolished over time) that still shows the architectural style today.

Although, strictly speaking, Georgian architecture could only emerge during the reign of the four kings with the name Georg, buildings in this style were built before 1714 and also after 1830. Gradually, Georgian architecture was replaced by other style names, e.g. E.g .: " Victorian " (after Queen Victoria ), replaced.

Dublin's development

In the Middle Ages , Dublin was a city with narrow winding streets. The first step towards the Georgian city was taken during the reign of King Charles II of England when the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde , gave orders to change the city. Although the city had always been on the River Liffey , most of the buildings (as in other medieval cities) faced the river. This allowed the sewage to be discharged directly into the river, which gradually developed into a sewer. When the city's quays were being renewed (including a road along the quays), Ormonde insisted that the fronts of the houses face the river. This measure alone changed the cityscape drastically: the Liffey was no longer a sewer hidden between houses, but became a central part of the city, framed by three- and four-story buildings (e.g. Four Courts ). The name Ormonde Quay comes from this time. As the city grew in size, population and prosperity, two changes were necessary:

The existing narrow medieval streets had to be changed extensively.
New areas had to be developed for residential buildings.

The redesign of Dublin's city center

A new body , the Wide Streets Commission ( Wide streets Commission ) has been established to the old medieval streets rebuild. They created a network of thoroughfares by either tearing down the old streets completely, widening them or by building completely new streets. In the northern part of the city, a number of narrow streets have been connected, straightened and greatly widened. The new street was called Sackville Street and is now Dublin's main thoroughfare under the name O'Connell Street . At its south end a new bridge (the O'Connell Bridge ) was built, which on the other side connected to the new streets Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street. Westmoreland Street led to the renamed Hoggen Green - now College Green as it adjoined Trinity College . The new Oireachtas building (designed by Edward Lovett Pearce ) also borders College Green . A widened Dame Street led from College Green past both Dublin Castle (which was under renovation) and the new Bank Royal Exchange building to Christ Church Cathedral .

18th century

While the redesign of the Wide Streets Commission fundamentally changed the street landscape in Dublin, a building boom resulted in a large number of buildings outside the city center. In contrast to the construction boom in Dublin in the 20th century (which are viewed as disastrously implemented), the new buildings in the 18th century were carefully controlled. The new development areas were divided into districts, each with its own building contractor. The scope of their construction activities was severely limited by strict controls and specifications regarding style, appearance and location. The control led to a large degree of uniformity in the buildings that characterize Georgian Dublin.

Originally, the renovations focused on the north side of the city. Among the first construction projects was Henrietta Street , a wide street with imposing palatial Georgian buildings on either side. At the end of the street a new building by James Gandon was built with the King's Inn (a training house for lawyers). Ultimately, the north side centered on two main squares: Ruthland Square (now: Parnell Square ) at the end of Sackville Street and Mountjoy Square . In last place was the Church of Ireland with the seat of the Archbishop of Dublin. Many of the streets in this area were named after the designers who designed them, e.g. B. Capel Street , Mountjoy Square and Aungier Street .

In the early years of the Georgian era, the north side was the place to live. All this changed with a building and an aristocrat when the Earl of Kildare , Ireland's highest nobleman, decided to build his new ducal palace on the "inferior" south side of the Liffey. It was a shock when his townhouse (Kildare House, renamed Leinster House when he received the title "Duke of Leinster"), by far the largest mansion of the nobility, was built and many envied him. The earl had foreseen that others would follow suit, and they did. Three new squares with adjoining residential buildings were created on the south side: “Merrion Square”, “ St. Stephen's Green ” and “Fitzwilliam Square”. Aristocrats, bishops, and the wealthy sold their homes in the north and moved to the south, although many of the buildings, especially Fitzwilliam Square, were smaller and less impressive than those on Henrietta Street. While the wealthiest people lived right on the squares, the "not so important" people resided in smaller, but still impressive buildings away from the squares, e.g. E.g. in "Upper Mount Street", "Lower Mount Street" or "Leeson Street".

Act of Union

As a result of the Act of Union in 1801, Dublin lost its independent parliament , whereupon hundreds of nobles and bishops left the city with their subordinates. Many members of the aristocracy, including the "Duke of Leinster" and the "Viscount Powerscourt", sold their palatial town houses "Powerscourt House" and "Leinster House". Although some visited Dublin regularly, many turned their backs on the city for good. The loss of their income and that of their servants hit the city's economic strength very hard.

While the “new” Georgian centers in the south continued to flourish, the Georgian squares in the northern part of Dublin became increasingly degenerate as the new owners almost crammed the houses with (poor) tenants. This went so far that entire families had to live in a single room. The buildings around "Mountjoy Square" in particular quickly fell into disrepair and remained so until the 1980s when they were partially used as backdrops for films about the post-war period.

Today's Georgian Dublin

In the years after independence in 1922, there was little sympathy in Ireland for Georgian Dublin, which was seen as a symbol of British rule and the “foreign” Protestant community. Many of the residents of the Georgian buildings had already moved to the new Victorian suburbs of Rathmines , Rathgar , Killiney or Ballsbridge , where gardens were also possible due to the space available, or had sold their houses. Until the late 1930s there were only inhabited houses in Fitzwilliam Square. All other houses were either empty or became company headquarters. Ironically, wealthy businessmen like Sir Tony O'Reilly began converting their business premises into living quarters again in the 1990s.

In the 1930s, plans were also discussed under Éamon de Valera to demolish all of Merrion Square on the grounds that the houses were "old-fashioned" and "un-national". Merrion Square was probably the most intact Georgian square in town at the time. With the beginning of the Second World War, the plans were postponed and "forgotten" after the war.

But even the war did not save the whole of Georgian Dublin from destruction. Mountjoy Square, once surrounded by the finest Georgian homes, was almost completely demolished by landowners and ended in a pile of rubble. The world's longest row of Georgian houses (from the corner of Merrion Square to Lesson Street Bridge) was split due to a decision by the Irish government in the early 1960s. Part of the row of houses was demolished and replaced by a modern office complex.

The decision in the late 1950s to demolish a number of Georgian houses on Kildare Place and replace them with a stone wall was publicly acclaimed by then Republican Minister Kevin Borland; the houses stood for everything he wanted to fight. He described the newly formed Irish Georgian Society , which wanted to protect the Georgian buildings of the city, as "belted earls". Attitudes changed dramatically by the 1990s. Strict building regulations protect the remaining Georgian buildings, although even today some landowners are still finding ways to circumvent these restrictions. A number of houses in disrepair, the owners of which were denied demolition, went up in flames and burned to the ground. Today politicians and town planners see part of the Irish cultural heritage in the Georgian city of Dublin that seems worth preserving.