The City Hall, Dublin (), originally the Royal Exchange, is a civic building in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It was built between 1769 and 1779, to the designs of architect Thomas Cooley, and is a notable example of 18th-century

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

in the city. Originally used by the merchants of the city, it is today the formal seat of

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

Location

City Hall is located on a slope on Dame Street, at the southern end of Parliament Street, on Dublin's southern side. It stands in front of part of

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin. It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...

, the centre of British government in Ireland until 1922.

History

Image Floor Mosaic of City Hall of Dublin

The building occupied the site of what was formerly Cork House, the home of the Earl of Cork until his death in 1643, as well as Lucas's Coffee-House. Prior to that point, the site was occupied by the church of St. Mary del Dam from which

Dame Street Dame Street (; ) is a large thoroughfare in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. History The street takes its name from a dam built across the River Poddle to provide water power for milling. First appears in records under this name around 1 ...

gets its name. Parliament Street had been laid-out in 1753, providing a continuation of Capel Street on the north bank of the Liffey, across the newly widened Essex Bridge. Originally built as the ''Royal Exchange'', the structure was designed by Thomas Cooley, who had won a design competition run for the project between 1768 and 1769. The foundation stone was laid by the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

, George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend on 2 August 1769 and was officially opened for business in 1779. The function of the building was to act as a form of

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...

and to provide a meeting place for Dublin's businessmen. It was also close to the old Custom House making it convenient for overseas merchants. The cost of building the exchange was met by the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...

, and this is reflected by the initials "SPQH", standing for "Senatus PopulusQue Hibernicus", meaning "The senate and people of Ireland" (an Irish version of

SPQR SPQR or S.P.Q.R., an initialism for (; ), is an emblematic phrase referring to the government of the Roman Republic. It appears on documents made public by an inscription in stone or metal, in dedications of monuments and public works, and on ...

). The city government had previously been located in the mediæval

Tholsel Tholsel was a name traditionally used for a local municipal and administrative building used to collect tolls and taxes and to administer trade and other documents in Irish towns and cities. It was at one stage one of the most important secular ...

at the corner of Nicholas Street and Christchurch Place, approximately 300 metres to the west where the

Peace Park A transboundary protected area (TBPA) is an ecological protected area that spans boundaries of more than one country or sub-national entity. Such areas are also known as transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or peace parks. TBPAs exist in ma ...

is now located as well in various other forms and locations including the '' Thingmount'' near present-day Suffolk Street. In the late 18th century, meetings were held at what is now City Assembly House on South William Street. In 1815 the metal balustrade of the exchange fell, owing to the pressure against it by a crowd, which led to the death of nine people, with many more injured. This led to crowd restrictions in the building. In the 1850s,

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660–1661, even more si ...

bought the Royal Exchange and converted it for use by the city government. The changes included the construction of partitions around the ambulatory, the addition of a new staircase from the rotunda to the upper floors, and the sub-division of the vaults for storage. On 30 September 1852, the Royal Exchange was renamed ''City Hall'' at the first meeting of Dublin City Council held there. The

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

name "Royal Exchange" was retained, corresponding to the current

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

s of Royal Exchange A and B. A series of

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s were later added, representing the regions of Ireland. During the 1916 Easter Rising, the City Hall was used as a

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

for the

Irish Citizen Army The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a paramilitary group first formed in Dublin to defend the picket lines and street demonstrations of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) against the police during the Great Dublin Lock ...

. Sean Connolly seized the building using a key which he obtained as he worked in the motor department and had access to the building. There were 35 people based here, mostly women. It was in this area where the first casualty of the rising, a guard named James O’Brien, occurred at Dublin Castle and he was shot by Sean Connolly while on duty. In total, the entire siege lasted about 12 hours.

Structure

The exterior of the building is primarily made out of white

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

from a quarry in Dorset. The carved capitals were by Simon Vierpyl, and plasterwork by the

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

dore Charles Thorpe. The neo-classical building contains a central entrance hall or Rotunda, with a large dome supported by twelve columns which are surrounded by an ambulatory where merchants strolled and discussed business meetings. The twelve columns supporting the dome are high and the dome itself is another high above that. Patrick Wyse Jackson, curator of the Geological Museum in Trinity College, assessed the building in 1993 as part of his book ''"The Building Stones of Dublin: A Walking Guide"'' and made the following observation: :'' "...it is faced with Portland Stone and capped with a fine pattinated-copper green dome. Examination of the stone facing the River Liffey shows that it has deteriorated badly. It is blistered in places and supports a good population of algae and mosses. These plants tend to retain water, which accelerates the breakdown of the Portland Stone".''

Use

Some council meetings take place in City Hall. Dublin Corporation itself was renamed in the early 21st century as ''

'', previously the name of the assembly of councillors only. Most City Council staff work in the newer,

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

style, Civic Offices, controversially built from 1979 on the site of a national monument, the Viking city foundations on Wood Quay, a short distance away. There is an exhibition on the history of Dublin City, called "Dublin City Hall, The Story of the Capital", located in the vaults of the building.

Gallery

File:Dublin Castle gate.jpg, The gate to Dublin Castle which abuts City Hall c.1786-1820 File:DUBLIN(1837) p083 THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.jpg, View of the Royal Exchange, 1837 File:City Hall - Dublin - panoramio.jpg, City Hall in 2012, as seen from Lord Edward St File:City Hall steps, Cork Hill, Dublin - geograph.org.uk - 5679767.jpg, Steps facing Castle Street in 2014 File:City Hall, Dame St, Dublin (507124) (31880462484).jpg, The interior, 2015 File:City Hall, Dame St, Dublin (507123) (32584671521).jpg, Mosaic on the floor of the interior of the building, 2015 File:City Hall, Dublin - geograph.org.uk - 6021341.jpg, A corner of the building in 2018 File:City Hall (51112697077).jpg, The building decorated with a projection for St Patricks Day, 2021 File:Dublin City Hall Interior 1.jpg, The interior, set up for an event in 2022

References

Sources

External links

Dublin City Hall website

{{DEFAULTSORT:City Hall, Dublin Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Neoclassical architecture in Ireland

Local government in County Dublin Government buildings in the Republic of Ireland Dublin City Council Georgian architecture in Dublin (city)