Tyrone House is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

mansion townhouse built for

Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone (16 July 1694 – 4 April 1763), known as Sir Marcus Beresford, 4th Baronet, until 1720 and subsequently as The Viscount Tyrone until 1746, was an Irish peer, freemason and politician. Background He was the on ...

in 1740. It was constructed on lands bordering Marlborough Street (formerly Tyrone Street) in what was to become a fashionable part of North Dublin city off Sackville Street. It was the first substantial aristocratic house built on the North side of Dublin city. The house was situated overlooking Marlborough Bowling Green and Pleasure Gardens, which was then a fashionable enclave where the wealthy elite could socialize until it fell out of favour following the death of Lord Delvin in a duel in 1761.

History

The area surrounding the house became fashionable due to the existence of the Marlborough Bowling Green and Pleasure Gardens. As early as 1753, a musical evening and fireworks display is recorded as having occurred to raise funds for the construction of a wooden bridge across the Liffey to benefit the wealthy patrons south of the river. The 1st earl died at the house in 1763 and the house was left to his son, George Beresford, styled the marquess of Waterford in 1789. As a result, the house was often called Waterford House on maps during that period. Nearby Beresford Place was later named in honour of the first earl's grandson,

John Claudius Beresford John Claudius Beresford (23 October 1766 – 20 July 1846) was an Irish Tory Member of the UK Parliament representing Dublin City 1801–1804 and County Waterford 1806–1811. Early life Beresford was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Fr ...

upon its construction in the 1790s. In 1834 the house and five adjoining acres were sold for £7,000 to the National Education Commissioners. The house later became part of the Department of Education's campus which also encompasses the original model school as well as a facsimile of the altered version of Tyrone House, both of which were designed by

Jacob Owen Jacob Owen (28 July 1778 – 29 October 1870) was a Welsh-born Irish architect and civil engineer of the nineteenth century. His architectural work is most closely associated with Dublin, Ireland. He also contributed extensively to the ...

a few years after the purchase. As of 2022, the house has been partially restored to its former glory and is an administrative building which forms part of the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

's main campus. An illustrated image of the house often features as part of the logo on the headed notepaper and official correspondence issued by the department.

Tyrone Ghost Story

A well-known ghost story relates to the house concerning the appearance of Lord Tyrone as a ghost to prove the existence of life after death.

Design and construction

The house was built in 1740 to a design by

Richard Cassels Richard Cassels (1690 – 1751), also known as Richard Castle, was an architect who ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Althou ...

and was said to be his first stone-fronted free-standing house in Dublin. Later, the house was altered by

in 1835 adding a

prostyle Prostyle is an architectural term designating temples (especially Greek and Roman) featuring a row of columns on the front. The term is often used as an adjective when referring to the portico of a classical building, which projects from the m ...

tetrastyle A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

granite portico and removing the central front venetian window on the first floor while leaving much of the house unchanged. The house is mainly faced in granite ashlar with calp ashlar walls at the basement level while the house still features some of its original Portland stone sills. The elaborate interior stucco work is generally attributed to the Lafranchini brothers and contrasts with the severe limestone exterior. The house was surrounded by a high wall but these were replaced with the present iron railings when the house was developed by the Department of Education in 1836.

References

{{Castles in Dublin, state=autocollapse Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Georgian architecture in Ireland