Mansion House, Dublin

The Mansion House (Irish: Teach an Ard-Mhéara, meaning House of the Head Mayor) on Dawson Street, Dublin, is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and has been since 1715. Its most famous features include:

The Mansion House - The portico to the front was erected for Queen Victoria's visit in 1900, to provide cover for the elderly Queen in her carriage.

• The Round Room of the House where the First Dáil assembled on January 21, 1919 to proclaim the Irish Declaration of Independence. On January 21, 1969 a special fiftieth anniversary joint session of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann assembled there and was addressed by the President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera.

• Its distinctive metal portico over the main door, erected for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1900;

• The large dining room, where the cabinet of the Irish Republic met on occasion under President Éamon de Valera

Its most famous occupants included Lords Mayor:

• Daniel O'Connell, nineteenth century nationalist leader
• Alfie Byrne (1930s), longest serving Lord Mayor in the 800 year history of the office
• Jim Mitchell (1976–77), the youngest Lord Mayor of Dublin, aged 29, in the history of the office

Famous visitors to the mayoral residence include:

• Queen Victoria
• Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace of Monaco
• Pope John Paul II

In the 1930s and 1940s, plans were made to demolish the building, and all other buildings on the block on which it is located (which covered an area on Dawson Street, Molesworth Street, Kildare Street and the North side of St. Stephen's Green), to enable the building of a new Dublin City Hall. However the decision of the Irish Government to erect a new Department of Industry and Commerce on a site on the block, on Kildare Street, led to the abandonment of the plans.

In August 2006, the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force claimed they had planted a bomb in the Mansion House in 1981, in an attempt to wipe out the Sinn Féin leadership at their party conference of that year.^[1] The claim led to a security alert at the house, as police and army searched for the 25-year-old bomb. ^[2]

External link

• Mayoral info website

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 53.340278° -6.258178°
  • WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
  • Street map from Google Maps
  • Satellite image from Google Maps

References

Irish parliament houses (1600s–present)
Chichester House (1600s–early 1700s)  · Blue Coat School (early 1700s–1729)  · Parliament House (1729–1800)  · Mansion House (1919), (1922)  · UCD (Earlsfort Terrace) (1919–1922)  · Royal College of Science (1921)  · Belfast City Hall (1921)  · Union Theological College (1921–1932)  · Leinster House (1922–present)  · Stormont (1932–1972) (1999–present)

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