Notable Building sights in Ireland
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A
Bank of Ireland
Facing Trinity College across College Green, this sweeping Palladian pile was built to house the Irish parliament and was the first purpose-built Parliament House in the world. The original building, the central colonnaded section that distinguishes the present-day structure, was designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce in the first half of the 18th century.
When the parliament voted itself out of existence through the 1801 Act of Union, the building was sold under the condition that the interior would be altered to prevent it ever again being used as a debating chamber. It was a spiteful strike at Irish parliamentary aspirations, but while the central House of Commons was…
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B
St Patrick's College
Officially known as Carlow College, the main building opened as one of Ireland's first seminaries in 1793. Today it specialises in humanities and social studies and has a student body of 800. The wide grounds, which also front Visual, have a sort of regal, grassy elegance and are dotted with modern sculptures.
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C
Leinster House
All the big decisions are made – or rubber-stamped – at Oireachtas na Éireann (Irish Parliament). It was built by Richard Cassels in the Palladian style between 1745 and 1748, and was considered the forerunner of the Georgian fashion that became the norm for Dublin’s finer residences. Its Kildare St facade looks like a townhouse (which inspired Irish architect James Hoban’s designs for the US White House), whereas the Merrion Sq frontage was made to resemble a country mansion.
The first government of the Irish Free State moved in from 1922, and both the Dáil (lower house) and Seanad (senate) still meet here to discuss the affairs of the nation and gossip at the…
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