The Open House Festival is the annual celebration of Dublin’s sumptuous architectural landscape. It is organised by the Irish Architecture Foundation and returns this weekend for another smashing line-up of free tours in some of the city’s most familiar and forgotten structural triumphs, many of which are rarely accessible to the public. Below are a few recommendations to get fanatics riled up to look at some downright good buildings.
14 Henrietta St
In what has been a ten-year renovation project by Dublin County Council, 14 Henrietta St has finally opened its doors to the public as the city’s newest museum and even won this year’s Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland award for conservation. Built as an aristocratic townhouse in the early 18th century, the building was years later divided into tenement flats and remained so until the last families’ departure in the 1970s. Rich in urban and socio-economic history, the museum will offer tours giving participants an insight into the living conditions of the dwelling as well as personal stories of from the era. Dodge the €6 admission fee for an in-depth look at an inner-city Dublin of yesteryear.
Trinity tours by TCD Architecture Society
This year, Open House is opening more buildings in Trinity than any year in recent memory. TCD Architecture Society (Arc Soc) will be leading tours of the Arts Building, the Museum Building, the Parsons Building, the Douglas Hyde Gallery and the Old Library. This is a great opportunity for people to experience a side of Trinity they’ve never seen before, and appreciate the beauty and history of buildings they pass by every day. Trinity’s storied history and the unique artistry of its architectural heritage will be on show every day this weekend. Check out Arc Soc’s Facebook page for location and times of their events.
Get plastered in Dublin Castle
Although it would be lovely if sculling cans in Dublin Castle were on the agenda, this event is not what you might expect. Prominent sculptor Doireann Ní Ghrioghair is hosting a workshop where attendees can experiment with historical building materials. The artist herself creates pieces which mimic edifices of antiquity adapted to reverberate our own psychological relationship with classical architecture. Hark back to languorous childhood afternoons eating play dough and mess around with plaster, latex and other fun moulding substances.
Advance booking is required.
9/9a Aungier Street
This post-medieval relic is a 350-year-old building rumoured to be the oldest house in the city. The domestic structure, which predates Georgian Dublin is situated on Aungier St, one of Dublin’s first planned streets. It has been left untouched, still bearing some of the original paint and plasterwork. It’s a dusty, hidden jewel of a Dublin long forgotten.
City Assembly House
The first public art gallery in Britain and Ireland, City Assembly House was built by The Society of Artists in 1771. It is an elegant dwelling, filled with rococo plasterwork and was the setting for many iconic moments in Irish history. The College Historical Society (the Hist) met here in 1794 and, in 1843, Daniel O’Connell delivered a famous speech condemning the Act of Union with Britain and defending the rights of his countrymen. For centuries, the house has played a central role in public life of Dublin city. Now it has recently been restored as a gallery space by the Irish Georgian Society, and there will be tours of the building, as well as access to the Knight of Glin exhibition and O’Connell Room.
