Mansion House, Dublin

Mansion House, Dublin

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Mansion House, Dublin

The Mansion House () on Dawson Street, Dublin, is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and has been since 1715.

Features
Visitors and occupants
History
References
External links

Features

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 Mansion House's most famous features include the "Round Room", where the First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 to proclaim the Irish Declaration of Independence. On 21 January 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.

Also notable is the large dining room, where the cabinet of the Irish Republic met on occasion under President Éamon de Valera.

Externally, the distinctive metal portico over the main door was erected for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1900.

Visitors and occupants

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

History

The Mansion House was built in 1710 by the merchant and property developer Joshua Dawson, for whom Dawson Street is named. Dublin Corporation purchased the house in 1715 for assignment as the official residence of the Lord Mayor. It retains this purpose to this day.

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 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]