Scenes from DUBLIN CITY and surrounding area

 Dublin Scenes and Notes Index

6a. Dublin City Historic Buildings

The architecture of the Four Courts, General Post Office and Bank of Ireland

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The Four Courts

The Four Courts is the work of the architects Thomas Cooley and James Gandon from 1776 to 1802. The Four Courts and surrounding area was the scene of fierce fighting in the 1916 Easter Rising against the British authorities and the in the bitter Civil War of 1922. The Four Courts and surrounding areas were held by Commandant Ned Daly's 1st Battalion during the Easter Rising in 1916

The Four Courts on the banks of the River Liffey are still used for its original legal functions. The patched up columns (filled in bullet holes!) are the result of damage incurred in the 1922 civil war. The Four Courts (Irish: Na Ceithre Cúirteanna is Ireland's main courts building, the building being located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts house the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. Until 2010 the building also housed the Central Criminal Court.
 

The General Post Office

The General Post Office in O'Connell Street. The GPO was the centre of the 1916 rising. It was here that James Connolly and Padraig Pearse barricaded themselves inside and issued the Republic proclamation. The GPO, with its imposing ionic portico, was one of the last great buildings of the Georgian boom, but look for the bullet holes in the columns!

The Greek hexastyle portico of the General Post Office, was completed in 1818. The Royal Coat of Arms, similar to those at King's Inns and the Irish Houses of Parliament, was removed after independence. On the acroteria of the pediment of the GPO are three statues by John Smyth: Mercury is on the left, with his Caduceus and purse; Fidelity is on the right, with a hound at her feet and a key held in her right hand and Hibernia in the centre, resting on her spear and holding a harp.

 

The 'old' Bank of Ireland

The Bank of Ireland near College Green, was the original parliament building. It was the first great Palladian style building in Dublin, designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and built between 1729-1739. Its considered one of the best, perhaps the best? architectural gem of its period, of Dublin City.

The Bank Bar & Restaurant

Just across the road from the Bank of Ireland, on College Green, is the 'The Bank' Bar & Restaurant. It is a splendid building with an even more impressive interior.

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 Dublin Scenes and Notes Index

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