Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [66]
On the southern side of the green is Newman House (Map; 716 7422; 85-86 St Stephen’s Green; adult/child €5/4; tours noon, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm Tue-Fri Jun-Aug), now part of University College Dublin. These two buildings have some of the finest plasterwork in the city. The Catholic University of Ireland, predecessor of University College Dublin, acquired No 85 in 1865, then passed it to the Jesuits. Some of the plasterwork was too detailed for Jesuit tastes, however, so cover-ups were prescribed. On the ceiling of the upstairs saloon, previously naked female figures were clothed in what can best be described as furry swimsuits. One survived the restoration process.
Attached to Newman University Church is the Newman Chapel, built between 1854 and 1856 with a colourful neo-Byzantine interior that attracted a great deal of criticism at the time. Today it’s one of the most fashionable churches in Dublin for weddings.
One of Dublin’s most beautiful parks is the landscaped Iveagh Gardens (admission free; dawn-dusk year-round), directly behind Newman House and reached via Clonmel St, just off Harcourt St. The imposing walls give the impression that they are private gardens, but they are one of the nicest places to relax on a summer’s day or before a show in the National Concert Hall.
MERRION SQUARE
St Stephen’s Green may win the popularity contest, but tranquil Merrion Square (Map; admission free; dawn-dusk) is our choice for favourite city park. Surrounding the well-kept lawns and beautifully tended flower beds are some of Dublin’s most exceptional Georgian frontages, with fine doors, peacock fanlights, ornate door knockers and foot scrapers (used by gentlemen to scrape mud from their boots before venturing indoors).
Despite the air of affluent calm, life around here hasn’t always been a well-pruned bed of roses. During the Famine, the lawns of the square teemed with destitute rural refugees who lived off the soup kitchen organised here. The British embassy was located at 39 Merrion Sq East until 1972, when it was burnt out in protest against the killing of 13 innocent civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
That same side of Merrion Sq once continued into Lower Fitzwilliam St in the longest unbroken series of Georgian houses anywhere in Europe, but in 1961 the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), in a myopic crime against history and aesthetics, knocked down 26 of the houses in order to build an office block that is now one of the city’s worst eyesores.
Enthusiasts should visit the Oscar Wilde statue at the northwestern corner of the square, as it is adorned with the witty one-liners for which Wilde was famous.
Just to prove that it was not entirely unmindful of Dublin’s priceless architectural heritage, the ESB had the decency to preserve one fine old Georgian house, No 29 Lower Fitzwilliam St (Map; 702 6165; www.esb.ie/education; 29 Lower Fitzwilliam St; adult/student/child €5/2.50/free; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat, 1-5pm Sun, closed late Dec) at the southeastern corner of Merrion Sq. It has been restored to give a good impression of genteel home life in Dublin between 1790 and 1820. A short film on its history is followed by a 30-minute guided tour for groups of up to nine.
The Liberties & Kilmainham
At the top of a small hill, just west of Dublin Castle, is the most impressive monument of medieval Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral. It stood firmly inside the city walls, unlike that other great place of worship, St Patrick’s, which lay just outside them. Beneath both of them, to the west, is the Liberties (Map), Dublin’s oldest surviving neighbourhood. The western end of the Liberties has a curious aroma in the air: it is the smell of roasting hops, used in the production of Guinness – Dublin’s black gold and, for many visitors, the epitome of all things Irish. Further along St James’s St is Kilmainham (Map), home to the old prison that was central to the struggle for Irish independence (now a city highlight) and an ancient