Public Buildings

During the eighteenth century, Dublin acquired all the architectural qualities of a capital city. The number of major public buildings in the city dating from this period is impressive. They are concentrated in a relatively small area because, though the growth of Dublin in that century was rapid, the extent of the built-up area remained modest by modern standards of urban growth.

To some extent, this development of the public image of Dublin must be seen as a political statement, the assertion of the constitutional rights of the Kingdom of Ireland. So the Parliament House, the building of which was begun in 1729 to the design of Sir Edward Lovett Pearse, was far grander than the buildings which housed the Parliament at Westminster at the time. The noble, classical Custom House (1781-92) proudly displaying the crowned harp of the Kingdom of Ireland and the Four Courts (1761-1802), both by the brilliant architect James Gandon (though the Four Courts included some earlier work), are monuments to the short period, from 1782-1800, when Great Britain finally acknowledged the legislative independence of the Irish parliament. Again, the state apartments in Dublin Castle have all the features of a royal palace, such as a gilded throne-room, and formal apartments.

Four Courts

The Four Courts in Dublin which were built in the late 18th Century.

Courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local Government

Four Courts
Courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local Government

Four Courts

The Four Courts in Dublin which were built in the late 18th Century.

Courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local Government

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These great stone buildings were erected in a classical style with domes, ornate decoration, symbolic sculpture and elegant architectural profiles. A very attractive quality of this architecture is the scale of the buildings. They are never so massive as to disturb the quality of the streetscape or the riverside. Good design rather than great mass establishes the special place of these masterpieces in the city. They emphasise rather than break the unity of the eighteenth century skyline. In addition to the Parliament House (now the Bank of Ireland), the Custom House and the Four Courts, the principal eighteenth century buildings of a public kind still surviving include much of Trinity College, parts of Dublin Castle, the Royal Exchange (now the City Hall) and, from just after the turn of the century, the King's Inns and Francis Johnston's General Post Office, completed in 1813.