Ár a s
a n
Uac htar Áin
A History of the President’s House
ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
∑
ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN A History of the President’s House
THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC WORKS 2013
First published in 2007 by The Office of Public Works 51 St Stephen's Green Dublin 2 New Edition 2013 © Office of Public Works 2013 Dublin, Ireland
ISBN 978 1 4064 2747 9 (paperback)
Edited by Elizabeth Mayes With contributions from Jacquie Moore, Margaret Gormley, Joe Joyce, Patrick Murphy, John McCullen, Dr Frederick O’Dwyer and Richard Stokes, And assistance from Mary Van Lieshout, Deirdre Nally, Sheila Clarke, Richie McCann, Finín Ó Murchú, Brian McCarthy, Grainne Mooney, Capt Michael Treacy, Mari Kennedy, Loughlin Quinn, Dr Stephen Lalor, Brian McAufield, Melanie Sexton and Comdt Dermot O’Connor (at Áras an Uachtaráin); Rachel Emmett, Jenny Lonergan, Robert Guihen, Mary Heffernan, Sharon Doyle, Robert Norton, Greg Farrell, Catherine Kelly, Penny Harris and Yvonne Jackson (at the Office of Public Works); Adrian Le Harivel, Dr Brendan Rooney, Louise Morgan (at the National Gallery of Ireland); Peter Murray (Crawford Art Gallery, Cork) Ray MacMánais Dr Anthony Malcomson Co-ordinated by Delia Hickey Photography by Harry Weir Photography Art direction and design by Liam Furlong at spacecreative.ie Irish translation service by eTeams (International) Ltd and Europus Teo. Printed by Hudson Killeen, Dublin
Visit www.president.ie to virtually explore Áras an Uachtaráin and more information on the Presidency of Michael D. Higgins
Frontispiece: General view of Áras an Uachtaráin, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8
CONTENTS
FOREWORD BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND
vii
INTRODUCTION
ix
CHAPTER I The Phoenix Park
2
CHAPTER II The Origins and History of the House
6
CHAPTER III Áras an Uachtaráin - Home of the Presidents since 1938
18
CHAPTER IV The State Rooms
22
CHAPTER V The Gardens
40
CHAPTER VI Art in Áras an Uachtaráin
50
ART ON PUBLIC VIEW IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
57
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF THE HOUSE AND GARDENS
60
THE OCCUPANTS OF THE HOUSE SINCE 1751
63
THE VICEROYS
66
THE PRESIDENTS OF IRELAND
70
BIBLIOGRAPHY
78
GLOSSARY
80
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- vi -
FOREWORD
Áras an Uachtaráin is ‘the home of the President’. A beautiful building in the ownership and care of the people of Ireland; a building which has played an important role in many seminal moments of our shared history. Across the decades the Áras has welcomed leaders, peacemakers and humanitarians to Irish shores; been host to great artists, writers, and actors from around the world; and celebrated the achievements of sporting legends, local heroes and the many other unique people who so regularly make us proud to be Irish. Today the Áras continues to open its doors to the many citizens each year who attend receptions, garden parties and official tours offered by staff who take a great pride in this lovely house; a house which is such an important part of our national heritage. The history of the Áras is rich and multi-faceted, reflecting the complex and varied past of a people and a nation which has transitioned through many different experiences to independence, constantly innovating and re-imagining itself, rising to new challenges, availing of new opportunities and looking to a shared future with optimism and courage.
This publication offers an overview of that history, while also inviting you to enjoy the many remarkable things the Áras has to offer to visitors today: the tranquillity of the sensory garden; the beauty of the paintings which adorn the walls; the trees planted by distinguished visitors over the centuries including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll, President Barack Obama and the many other people who have made official visits to this country over the years. I hope this book will be, for all who use it, a valuable encounter with our Irish heritage; and that it will help you experience not only a sense of the pride that we all share in the history and beauty of Áras an Uachtaráin; but also that it encourages you to draw on the great confidence that our proud and resilient national history suggests as we craft our shared future together.
Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland
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ร ras an Uachtarรกin - South Face
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INTRODUCTION
∑
This is the story of a unique and beautiful house which celebrates its rich and complex past. Áras an Uachtaráin (Irish for ‘The President’s House’) has developed from an 18th-century Park Ranger’s Lodge into the building, both graceful and functional, which has gained a special place in the hearts of the people of Ireland in the 21st century. Áras an Uachtaráin has known many different lives and witnessed much of the history of modern Ireland in the making. Official State business takes place here and it is also home to the President of Ireland, but part of its changing story is its increased openness to the public. The thousands of everyday citizens, who formerly could only glimpse the white-porticoed Palladian building through the trees as they passed along the main avenue of the Phoenix Park, are now warmly welcomed inside. The house belongs to them; they are invited to enjoy it and to discover more of its remarkable history which embraces both British rule and Irish independence. When the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, took office in 1938, the threat of demolition hung over this former Viceregal Lodge, which seemed at the time to be a symbol of empire and oppression. The house today stands testimony to the mature confidence of a people who know how to value their heritage and cultures in all their fullness and rich variety. Áras an Uachtaráin also welcomes many official visitors: heads of state and other dignitaries are received here by the President of Ireland. It is where ambassadors call to present their credentials.
The first sitting of each new Government takes place here; outgoing Taoisigh tender their resignation here and the new Taoiseach and Ministers receive their Seals of Office. The original house was built in 1751 by Nathaniel Clements, and is still virtually intact at the core of the building to this day. The house stands in the magnificent public expanse of the Phoenix Park, land once granted by Strongbow, the Norman invader, to the 12th-century Knights Hospitallers. It became the official residence of Viceroys, Lords Lieutenant and Governors General between 1782 and 1932. Extensive additions and alterations were carried out during the first half of the 19th century, and again in the 1950s. Over the years, the Office of Public Works (OPW) has continued to renovate, develop and improve the house and estate. Modern facilities for universal access, safety and security have been sensitively installed and maintenance and improvements in accordance with a 1998 development plan and 2003 accessibility report have been provided to the highest standard. All refurbishments by the OPW’s skilled craftsmen have been carried out with such regard for the historical character of the house that they have greatly enhanced its cultural ambience. The history of this house, its design, decoration and contents, and of the Phoenix Park in which it stands, captures and reflects Ireland’s own fascinating history, from Norman times through the age of British rule to the dynamic modern Ireland of today.n - ix -
James Malton, The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, 1791. Built from 1680 by order of the Viceroy, the Duke of Ormond, on the former lands of the Knights Hospitallers. (National Gallery of Ireland)
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CHAPTER I T HE P HOENIX PARK
∑
THE
STORY BEGINS IN THE
12TH
CENTURY, WHEN
STRONGBOW,
THE
GRANTED SEVERAL THOUSAND ACRES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER
ST JOHN
OF
INVADER,
LIFFEY TO THE PRIORY
JERUSALEM (THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS). THIS LATER FORMED THE BASIS OF THE PHOENIX PARK.
OF
NORMAN
IS THE LAND WHICH
occasional residence in a more pastoral setting, ‘in the summer months, when the Castle is somewhat noisome, by reason of the prison’. In 1618, a house called ‘The Phenix’, newly built on former Priory lands on the north side of the river Liffey was acquired for the purpose. ‘His Majesty’s House at the Phenix’, as it was officially referred to, was named for the spring well found at the site. ‘FionnUisce’ in Irish, meaning ‘pure water’, was rendered as ‘Phenix’, which later mistakenly became ‘Phoenix’ after the mythical bird. For nearly fifty years, from 1618 to 1665, Phoenix House was used by successive Lords Lieutenant, and during Cromwell’s rule, by his son, Henry, Governor of Ireland from 1658 to 1659, who made some additions to it. The Phoenix, the house which gave its name to the surrounding park, stood on Thomas’s Hill, on the site of the Magazine Fort, which replaced it in 1734.
THE PRIORY AND KILMAINHAM CASTLE 1542-1618 King Henry VIII confiscated the land in 1540, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the Priory itself became a Viceregal residence in 1542. It saw a brief period of restoration in 1557 under Queen Mary Tudor, but when Queen Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, her Viceroy, the Earl of Essex, resided at Kilmainham Castle, the former Priory. Kilmainham Castle was used as a residence for a number of years but then fell into decay and was eventually abandoned. PHOENIX HOUSE 1618-1665 In the 17th century, the grand state rooms in Dublin Castle became the residence of the Viceroys, or Lords Lieutenant. Within the Castle walls Parliament met, State records were kept and prisoners were held. There was a need for an -2-
Robert Girdler, Map of Kilmainham, 1655-56, showing Newtowne, later Newtown Lodge.
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After the restoration of the monarchy, King Charles II restored James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1661, and elevated him as first Duke of Ormond. Ormond, a dedicated royalist who had gone into exile in France with the King, began major works of building and improvement which led to the considerable expansion of Dublin and saw it develop from a medieval town into a handsome metropolis. He also restored his family seat at Kilkenny Castle and instigated the building of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, a home for retired and disabled soldiers, inspired by Les Invalides in Paris. (It now houses the Irish Museum of Modern Art.) CHAPELIZOD HOUSE 1665-1745 In the course of the 1660s, Ormond established the Phoenix Park as a royal deerpark, increasing the acreage of the Phoenix Demesne, the former Priory land, from 400 to more than 2,000 acres. In 1663, he acquired land at Chapelizod which included Chapelizod House, built by the Elizabethan soldier Sir Henry Power, Lord Valentia. Preferring this fine house and its rural situation to Dublin Castle, by now rather dilapidated, Ormond moved the Viceregal seat there two years later. After his victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, King William III stayed there and
from ‘Our Court at Chapelizod’ issued a proclamation for a day of prayer ‘for the future progress of our aims and a speedy enjoyment of peace and quietness in the land’. After this, it became known as the King’s House. It continued intermittently to be used as a Viceregal residence until the middle of the 18th century, when it became a military barrack and eventually passed into private ownership. NEWTOWN LODGE 1646-1751 The earliest known map of the area now occupied by the Phoenix Park is a tracing of a survey of the parish of Kilmainham, carried out by Robert Girdler in 165556. This shows three residences: Kilmainham Castle, Chapelizod House and Newtowne (sic), which stood on the site of the present Áras an Uachtaráin. Newtown Lodge, as it became known, is first mentioned in a document of 1646, when it was occupied by one Henry Jones. In the 1650s it was the home of Captain Roger Bamber, who later was put in charge of the Duke of Ormond’s hawks, the Park being used in its early years for hunting and sporting activities by the Viceregal court. The Park, walled in as a private deer park in the 1660s, was stocked with deer brought in from England, and the post of Park Ranger was created. Marcus -4-
Sir Peter Lely, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond
Trevor, Viscount Dungannon, Master of His Majesty’s Game and Parks in Ireland, was appointed to this position in 1668. His residence was to be Newtown Lodge.
Thomas Hudson, Philip Stanhope (1698-1773). 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Ormond ceased to be Viceroy in 1685, but later he came to the rescue of the Park he had created when King Charles II was about to make a grant of the Phoenix Park to his mistress, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. With the strong backing of Ormond, the Earl of Essex, then Lord Lieutenant, was able to persuade the King to change his mind and provide her with favour elsewhere. When Lord Chesterfield became Viceroy in 1745, he chose to reside not at Chapelizod House but at Dublin Castle. Chesterfield carried out major work on the development of the Phoenix Park, including the provision of the main road passing through the Park to Castleknock. In 1746, he erected the Phoenix Monument, a Corinthian column crowned with the mythical bird, thus perpetuating the mistaken notion that this is the origin of the name of the Phoenix Park. The inscription on the column noted that he had ordered ‘this wild and uncultivated land to be ornamented for the pleasure of the citizens’. The column, still crowned with its Phoenix, has recently been reinstated
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to a traffic island where one of the entrances to the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin joins the main road. From 1922 until the 1990s it stood some seventy metres off the road, beside the gate of the house. Most important of all, Lord Chesterfield opened the Park to the public. Apart from the gardens surrounding the various private residences, it is no longer an exclusive preserve, but a valuable recreational area for the ordinary citizen and a major enhancement of the city.n
CHAPTER II T HE O RIGINS
AND
H ISTORY
∑
NATHANIEL CLEMENTS AND THE PHOENIX LODGE 1751-1781 In 1751, Nathaniel Clements was appointed to the post of Park Ranger by King George II. His appointment was to last for his lifetime and that of his three sons, the eldest of whom later became the first Lord Leitrim. With his appointment came Newtown Lodge, the Park Ranger’s residence, and the ninety-two acres which surrounded it, an area enclosed to the east by a stone wall and a lake created by a dammed stream. It was on the site of this house that Clements built the Phoenix Lodge, the original two-storied house which would become the Viceregal Lodge and, in time, Áras an Uachtaráin. Nathaniel Clements was a Member of Parliament, a Treasury official, a banker and a developer of 18thcentury Dublin. Born in 1705, he was a protégé of Luke Gardiner, who was the developer of a major part of Georgian Dublin, a Member of Parliament and Deputy Vice-Treasurer for Ireland, a position
OF THE
H OUSE
which helped him to amass a considerable fortune, and in which he was succeeded by Clements in 1755. Like Gardiner, Clements was interested in architecture and was involved in the development of Henrietta Street, where he built at least five houses, including one for himself, and Sackville Mall (now Upper O’Connell Street). Clements was clearly a man on the move. The diarist and contemporary society observer, Mrs Delany, described his wife and him as starting off in life without much money, though both of good families. The basis of his political and financial success was his grasp of finance and attention to detail. ‘He was a favourite of Luke Gardiner’s’, she wrote in May 1759, ‘and has gathered together by degrees an immense fortune, if one may judge by the magnificence of his living’. However, his neighbour in Henrietta Street, Primate George Stone, once noted (albeit at a time when they were at odds over political issues) that he was ‘incapable, if it were
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J J Barralet (1747-1815) The Lord Lieutenant's Residence, c.1782. (National Gallery of Ireland) In 1782, the house was sold to the government and became a residence for the Viceroy.
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necessary, of speaking three sentences in public’.
paid by the Government; the final bill was probably in the region of £7,500.
Gardiner once referred to Clements in a letter as ‘an architect’ and he was clearly involved in the development of buildings. He has been credited with designing the house himself. However, it is more likely that the ideas for the new building came from a mixture of sources, including the contemporary ideas of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and his associate Richard Castle, books of plans, and professional architects. Among the latter may have been John Wood of Bath, who drew up plans for a house of the same dimensions although the interior differed significantly from the finished building.
Clements himself had to provide his own furnishings and, as a well-known bon viveur, does not appear to have stinted on them. He was fond of socialising and had influential contacts in London, including the King’s mistress. As soon as the work began he bought no less than four dozen dinner plates and eight pairs of platters, meat dishes and mazarines from a silversmith in London. Nor did Clements neglect the grounds of his new home. Dublin newspapers reported in 1754 that ‘a great variety of curious small figures and statues were landed at the custom house, to ornament the fine gardens of Nathaniel Clements Esq. in Phoenix Park’.
The house, completed in 1757 and almost certainly far above budget, had three storeys in front, including a mezzanine. Its main features included the north-facing entrance which had a dramatic semi-circular window over the front door. The entrance hall was full height and had a vaulted coffered ceiling. At the back of the building, which was two storeys, the three main reception rooms faced south across the Park to the Dublin mountains. By 1763 the total cost of the building up to then was put by Clements at £7,355 15s 1d, which was
Some contemporaries were not greatly impressed by his new lodge, however, the engraver Thomas Milton described the house some years later as: ‘nothing more than a neat, plain, brick building and the rooms within are conveniently disposed. The offices project on either side, and are joined to the House by circular sweeps.’ John Rocque’s map of Dublin and environs, published in 1757, included the completed house and demesne,
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Jacob Owen’s designs for the Ballroom at Áras an Uachtaráin (detail)
showing that many of the features of the present estate, such as the walled gardens and walks, were established by then. Clements died in 1777 and his eldest son, Robert, the future Earl of Leitrim, inherited the house. THE VICEREGAL LODGE 1782-1802 Irish School, 18th century The Viceregal Lodge (detail) (National Gallery of Ireland)
In 1782, the Government decided to purchase the house and the other lodges in the Phoenix Park to provide official residences for the Irish administration. The Lords Lieutenant had had two other homes in the Park over the previous decades, at Phoenix House and Chapelizod House, as well as using Dublin Castle. Most had spent little time in Ireland but the growing power of the Irish Parliament meant that they were now required to be in residence for most of their period in office. The Phoenix Lodge was bought, as a summer residence for the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Carlisle, from Robert Clements by the Barrack Board, acting as trustees for the Crown, for the relatively high price of £25,000. The price included all fixtures and fittings and was paid in four installments, starting with £10,000 in July 1782 and followed by three annual payments of £5,000. At the same time, two other houses in the Park were bought by the Government: Bailiff’s
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Lodge (built in 1774) and Ashtown Castle, later to become the official residences of the Chief Secretary (government minister) and UnderSecretary (chief civil servant) for Ireland. The building’s new role as the Viceregal Lodge did not get off to an auspicious start. The Duke of Portland, the first Lord Lieutenant to live there, thought it a white elephant: Lady Moira, writing to her daughter, the Countess of Granard, in May 1782, reported that the Duke disliked the house, thought it would not ‘lodge his family’, and that the purchase of it was ‘a shameful job’. There was an attempt to get rid of it by presenting it as a gift to Henry Grattan, the leader of the Irish Parliament, who wisely turned it down on the grounds that it might be seen to compromise his political independence. Portland’s successor, the Duke of Rutland, died there of fever in 1787 at the age of thirtyfour. Although he had contracted the infection during a tour of the country, rather than at the house, this was seen as a bad omen and further diminished its appeal. The main problem was that the house was too small, with only one reception room of any size. No expansion was undertaken
G M Sutherland The Gardens of Viceregal Lodge, September 1863
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until after the Act of Union of 1801, which created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the arrival in that year of a new Viceroy, the 3rd Earl of Hardwicke.
John Partridge, Queen Victoria, 1840
Although the status of Dublin was diminished by the Act of Union and the loss of its Parliament, the development of the city continued apace with the addition of fine buildings and the laying out of handsome streets and squares. The Lord Lieutenant, as the King’s representative, resident in Ireland, became a more prominent figure; the Viceregal Lodge became the centre for fashionable society. In 1802, Lord Hardwicke added to the house two new wings, of three bays each and slightly set back, probably to a design by the Board of Works’ architect, Robert Woodgate. Francis Johnston, Woodgate’s successor, added the Doric portico to the entrance on the north front in 1807-08 and, in 1815-16, the Ionic columns to the southern side of the building, as well as plastering over the original brick walls (of Thomas Milton’s description) and painting the building white in the Regency fashion. The southern portico with its graceful white columns is the best known image of
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the house and has given rise to a myth that the White House in Washington was modelled on it. However, the White House had been designed by the Irish architect, James Hoban, more than twenty years before the addition of the portico. The portico added a touch of grandeur to the building, reflecting its new importance in Irish affairs. In 1821, King George IV became the first monarch to visit Ireland since the Battle of the Boyne. He was also the first monarch to stay at the Viceregal Lodge. As one writer reported: ‘His Majesty, during his sojourn in Ireland, made this his constant residence, though he held his court at Dublin Castle, since which period it is most generally styled the Royal Lodge, the demesne of the Lodge is entered between two gate-lodges of a very elegant and chaste design.’ VICTORIAN EXTENSIONS AND ALTERATIONS 1821-1900 Royal visits were often the spur to further development of the house and estate. Queen Victoria visited four times during her lengthy reign. Preparatory work for the Queen’s first visit in 1849 included building a State Dining Room in a new addition at the East Wing. The façade was subsequently balanced in 1854 by a new room at the western end of the house.
The State Reception Room c.1911
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An early 20th-century photograph of the front, or north, entrance to the Viceregal Lodge, with the Doric portico added in 1808. (National Library of Ireland)
These developments, designed by Jacob Owen, the chief architect of the Board of Works, gave the house a comprehensive series of reception rooms, one of which is An Grianán, now the President’s private drawing room. For Victoria’s second visit, in 1853, on the occasion of the Great Exhibition on Leinster Lawn, the house and the Phoenix Park were connected to the public gas supply. The Phoenix Park lamps are today the only surviving gas public lighting in the city. The interests of individual occupants also left their mark on the building. For instance, the Earl of Eglinton, Lord Lieutenant in 1852 and again in 1858, had one of the agricultural outhouses beside the building adapted as an indoor tennis court known as the Racquet Hall. Against a background throughout the country of poverty and religious and agrarian dissent, elegant and fashionable society in 19th-century Ireland continued to centre around the Viceregal Lodge and Dublin Castle. The tragedy of the Famine in the years leading up to 1850 in contrast to this extravagance is highlighted in an open letter to the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Clarendon, in the pages of The United Irishman at that time: ‘This city is now full of mirth and state dancing, for the Viceroy is in his festive season … Fat dames smirk in his
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drawing rooms and young girls in gay attire tell of the obeisant gratitude of their sires. No whisper of death, no shadow of desolation breaks over that crowd.’ The Viceregal Lodge was not always detached from the agrarian and political ferment of the country as the 19th century progressed. In 1882, for instance, the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Spencer (known as the Red Earl because of the colour of his beard), was reading some papers beside an open window facing the main road when he heard shrieking. The Chief Secretary, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and the UnderSecretary, T H Burke, whom Spencer had met in Dublin Castle earlier, were being stabbed to death by members of the Invincibles just outside the Lodge. ‘I seem to hear it now; it is always in my ears,’ Spencer wrote later. ‘This shriek was repeated again and again.’ THE VICEREGAL LODGE 1900-1921 Little work was done by way of expansion in the early years of the 20th century. The visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1903 showed up the house’s shortcomings with regard to ancillary accommodation for servants and officers of the royal court. Electricity was introduced to the house in 1908, several
years before the visit of King George V in 1911. For this visit, a new bedroom wing was built on the west side of the house, the site of an early 19th-century service wing, designed by H G Leask and M G Burke of the Office of Public Works. In the Queen Anne style, it is recessed from the main garden front. During this time the struggle for Irish self-government continued by parliamentary means. Even as King George V was visiting the Viceregal Lodge, proposals were being debated at Westminster for Home Rule legislation. The following decade brought rapid political change: the Great War of 191418; the 1916 Rising; the partition of Ulster and, in 1921, the Truce between the IRA and the British Army and the Anglo-Irish Treaty. When the new Irish Free State came into being in 1921, the time had come for the departure from the Viceregal Lodge of the last Lord Lieutenant, Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent. THE RESIDENCE OF THE GOVERNORS GENERAL 1922-1937 The Treaty provided for a constitution under which there would be a Governor General as representative of the British monarch in the new Irish Free State. The Provisional Government, on the
initiative of Kevin O’Higgins, proposed that Tim Healy, a barrister and former member of the Irish parliamentary party at Westminster, be appointed to the new post. Healy was a highly controversial figure, particularly because of his role in the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell, but the British Government eventually agreed to appoint him rather than a colonial civil servant or diplomat. With Ireland bitterly divided and in the midst of civil war over the status of the new state, Healy was sworn into his new office at his home in Chapelizod on 6 December 1922: ‘the sound of firearms in the streets was constant,’ he wrote in a letter afterwards. Three days later he was taken to the Viceregal Lodge by an armoured car for the formal handover of the building to his new office. The house frequently came under fire in the following weeks, with especially heavy fire directed at it on 18 January 1923. At the end of that month, Healy wrote to his brother: ‘There was more firing here on Saturday night, when I had some members of the Bar to dinner; but the shots did not even hit the Lodge.’ Healy, who was in his late sixties when he became Governor General, understood that his appointment was for life and set about making some improvements to the
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Sir John Lavery, The Viceregal Lodge, 1923
interior of the house. The Government later decided, however, that the Governor General should serve only five years and Healy was succeeded as Governor General in 1928 by James McNeill, who had been the Free State’s High Commissioner in London.
The Phoenix Column stands as a focal point in the boulevard through Phoenix Park.
The position and the status of the house was still a matter of controversy, with opponents of the Treaty criticising both for what one termed the re-creation of ‘the old sham court, gathering round it all the hovering sycophants and certain social types alien to the national life of this country’. An alternative view was that the Governor General was attempting to use the office to reconcile some of the main groups in Irish society. Lady Gregory reported lively conversations at a ‘Saturday dinner … a big dinner’ with literary and political figures: Oliver St John Gogarty and his wife, whom she had asked the Governor General to invite, Ernest Blythe, the Free State government minister, who ‘talked about his prisons … nine different gaols … and the poverty of the books he was given’, and W T Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council, among others. With the election of Eamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil party to government in 1932,
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a policy of reducing the official role and status in society of the Governor General was pursued. In the ensuing controversy, McNeill resigned and left the Viceregal Lodge in November 1932, some months before the end of his term. In his place, de Valera appointed a veteran of the 1916 Rising and shopkeeper in Maynooth, Domhnall O’Buachalla, to the position which he re-named Seanascal. Trimleston House was rented near Blackrock, Co Dublin for O’Buachalla, who made no official public appearances but was available to sign formal documents as required. The house in the Phoenix Park was effectively abandoned, its long-standing royal connection was at an end, and its future fate uncertain.n
An early 20th-century view of the garden, or south, front of the Viceregal Lodge. (National Library of Ireland) (Lawrence Collection)
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ร ras an Uachtarรกin, South Face
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CHAPTER III Á RAS
AN U ACHTARÁIN H OME OF THE P RESIDENTS SINCE
∑
THE
POLITICAL DILEMMA OVER THE
GOVERNOR GENERAL
CONSTITUTION WHICH WAS ADOPTED BY REFERENDUM IN ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF
PRESIDENT,
1938
WAS RESOLVED BY A NEW
1937. IT
INCLUDED THE
TO BE ELECTED TO A SEVEN-YEAR TERM,
TAOISIGH, RECEIVING AMBASSADORS AND PRESENTING GOVERNMENT MINISTERS WITH THEIR SEALS OF OFFICE.
WHO WOULD CARRY OUT SUCH FUNCTIONS AS APPOINTING
The constitution provided that the President would have ‘an official residence in or near the city of Dublin’ but the Government was opposed to that building being the former Viceregal Lodge. Instead, it set out to find an alternative, considering the nearby former Chief Secretary’s Lodge which had been leased by the previous administration to the American government as its ambassador’s residence. That lease was about to expire, but it was eventually decided to renew it and the American ambassador remained there. Other houses considered were St Anne’s in Raheny, a suburb north of Dublin, which had been owned by Lord Ardilaun of the Guinness brewing family, and Ashtown House in the Phoenix Park. It was decided eventually to demolish the Viceregal Lodge and build a new Presidential residence in its grounds.
Meanwhile, the first President, Douglas Hyde, was to occupy the Lodge, re-named Áras an Uachtaráin, on a temporary basis. The temporary reprieve turned out to be permanent. With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the Government faced many more pressing issues than the Presidential residence. Part of the estate was used to grow crops during what was called in Ireland The Emergency, while President Hyde served out his full term in his temporary residence. By the time President Séan T Ó Ceallaigh succeeded him in 1945, the Government had changed its plans and a major refurbishment programme was begun. It was overseen by Raymond McGrath, the Australianborn chief architect with the Office of Public Works. Over the following decade, the improvements included substantial reconstruction of the formal public rooms, including the creation of the - 18 -
The grand piano in the State Drawing Room.
The mounted unit of An Garda Síochána at the Phoenix Park entrance, prepared for a State Visit.
Lafranchini Corridor, and the importation of 18th-century ceilings from Mespil House in Dublin which was about to be demolished to make way for new apartment blocks. McGrath also rebuilt the west wing of the house to provide larger living quarters for the President and his or her family, and created on the first floor an oratory and a gallery to display historical photographs. He also designed carpets for the State Rooms which were handwoven by Donegal Carpets in Killybegs. The house and estate have continued to be developed by the Office of Public Works over the years. Enhanced facilities for universal access have been installed in recent years sympathetic to the architectural integrity and character of the Áras. Private family accommodation for the President has been upgraded with the development of the West Courtyard. Lord Eglinton’s Racquet Hall was renovated as a venue for events hosted by the President and other functions, with its own catering facilities, and re-named Seomra de hÍde, after Douglas Hyde. The former stables have been renovated and turned into the stabling for the horses of the Garda Mounted Unit. In the late 1990s while President Higgins was Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht with responsibility for
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Heritage, he had ultimate responsibility for the ceding of 13 hectares of land from Áras an Uachtaráin to the neighbouring Zoological Gardens for its African Plains extension, following a Government decision to that effect, consultation with the public, and with the agreement of the then President. Other innovations by individual presidents included President Mary Robinson’s practice of having a light in an upper window of the house as a sign of welcome and remembrance of the Irish diaspora of millions of emigrants and their descendants. A Visitor Centre was established in 1997 in the old kitchens, displaying aspects of the history of the house and its occupants through the years, and, in line with the increasing openness of the house to the public, the Centre is being further developed. There are guided tours every Saturday from the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre. Visit www.president.ie for visitor arrangements. With its status as Áras an Uachtaráin secure and its symbolism resting on firm foundations, the house is now a central part of Irish life, known popularly as ‘The Áras’ or even, among politicians, as ‘The Park’.n
The south entrance to ร ras an Uachtarรกin today.
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The Entrance Hall with its barrel-vaulted ceiling and the Presidential harp motif in the roundel.
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CHAPTER IV T HE S TATE R OOMS
∑
THE ENTRANCE HALL DATES BACK TO 1751 WHEN NATHANIEL CLEMENTS REBUILT THE PARK RANGER’S HOUSE, AND ITS MAGNIFICENT COFFERED BARREL-VAULTED CEILING DATES FROM THIS TIME. THE CEILING COFFERS CONTAIN PLASTER BUSTS, TROPHIES AND OTHER OBJECTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HOUSE, INCLUDING A BUST OF CHARLES II, THE MONARCH WHO INITIATED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHOENIX PARK BY HAVING IT ENCLOSED FOR GAME AND THE BREEDING OF DEER. collection assembled by President Douglas Hyde. The modern paintings and sculpture on display in the Entrance Hall represent works by Irish artists such as Harry Kernoff, Colin Middleton, Melanie le Brocquy and John Behan. The dramatic large symbolic painting, which is a gift to President Michael D. Higgins, is by Chinese artist Zhao Shaoruo.
The Doric portico and extension to the hall was added later, in 1808, by Francis Johnston, the chief architect of the Board of Works who also designed the GPO in Dublin and, in 1815, the Ionic portico on the other side of the house. Unfortunately, the portico at the entrance hall blocks the view from outside of the magnificent original demi-lune window over the door; it is still visible from inside the hall.
The hall also contains a visitors’ book which has been signed by all the notable visitors to the Áras. Among the distinguished visitors received by successive Presidents were President Charles de Gaulle of France and President John F Kennedy of the USA. The latter was the first American President to visit Ireland and planted a Wellingtonia in the grounds during his visit in June 1963. His
The mahogany wine cooler, designed by Francis Johnston in 1810, was made by the 19th-century Dublin cabinet-makers, Mack, Williams and Gibton. The busts on either side of the door into the State Drawing Room are of the 19th century political leader Daniel O’Connell and the poet James Clarence Mangan; they are part of a
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widow, Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy, and their children were the guests of President and Mrs de Valera in the summer of 1967. Other US presidents to visit included Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Bill Clinton in 1995 and 2000 and Barack Obama in 2011. Pope John Paul II was received by President Patrick Hillery in the Áras during his visit to Ireland in 1979 when he celebrated Mass for an estimated one million people in the Phoenix Park at the spot commemorated by a high cross.
Plaster panels by the Lafranchini brothers in the State Corridor. (Top) Achilles, legendary Greek hero. (Bottom) Pax, holding olive branches.
Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco were received at the Áras in June 1961. The King and Queen of Spain visited in 1986. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, in 1996 was the first member of the British Royal Family to pay an official visit since the foundation of the State. He paid a second official visit in 2002.In May 2011 HRH Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh,became the first reigning British monarch to visit Ireland in 100 years. She commenced this historic occasion by visiting the Áras. Prince Albert of Monaco was also received at the Áras in April of that year. THE LAFRANCHINI OR STATE CORRIDOR runs along the north side of the State Reception Room, the ballroom in
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Victorian times. It was created in 1957, during the Presidency of Seán T Ó Ceallaigh, by Raymond McGrath, the chief architect of the Office of Public Works, who oversaw the major refurbishment of the house in the 1950s. Incorporating part of the orchestra alcove of the former ballroom designed by Jacob Owen in 1844, the corridor is linked to the 19th century by his fine surviving Greek revival surround. One side of the corridor is lined with bronze busts by Irish sculptors of the Presidents to date, each mounted on columns of pale Connemara marble. The other side features eight stucco panels showing classical and allegorical figures: these were cast from originals in Riverstown House in Cork, believed to be the work of the celebrated Lafranchini brothers, the Swiss stuccodores who were employed in Carton, Castletown and other Irish country houses in the 18th century. The original plan was to move the plasterwork from Riverstown House, Co Cork, then under threat of demolition, but they were found to be embedded in the brickwork and impossible to move. (Riverstown House, built in 1745, was subsequently saved from demolition and taken over by the Irish Georgian Society.)
The Lafranchini, or State Corridor, with its bronze busts of former Presidents.
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The fireplace is attributed to the 18thcentury Italian, Pietro Bossi, who brought the scagliola technique of inlaying marble to Ireland. The large decorative traditional Irish harp dates from 1835 and was presented to the Áras by Thomas and Julia Fennell in 1972. The fine 18th-century chimney-piece by Bossi.
THE STATE RECEPTION ROOM was formerly the ballroom and dates from 1802, just after the Act of Union. The centrepiece of the ceiling is another plaster cast of a Lafranchini panel from Riverstown House depicting ‘Time Rescuing Truth from the Assaults of Discord and Envy’. It is a plaster transcript of an allegorical painting by Poussin for Cardinal Richelieu’s bedchamber which was painted in 1641 and now hangs in the Louvre. The original carpet was handwoven in Donegal to the design of Raymond McGrath. Its centrepiece depicts the phoenix rising from the flames and the four heads on each corner replicate the riverine figures of James Gandon’s Custom House which represent the principal rivers of Ireland. The carpet was replaced by the OPW in 2000 and replicates McGrath’s design. The work was carried out on the original looms by descendants of those who made the original carpet.
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The 18th-century fireplace is reputed to be by Bossi and has a late 18th-century Irish giltwood mirror hanging over it; the original giltwood furniture in the room is by Mack, Williams and Gibton of Dublin. The four paintings in this room, signed and dated 1768, were originally commissioned by the 1st Earl of Charlemont for his country estate at Marino, County Dublin, and purchased in 1972 by the Office of Public Works for the house. They are by the 18th-century Irish artist, George Mullins, and represent the four times of the day, in the typically classical style of Claude Lorraine, the influential 17th-century French artist who lived in Rome. In this room the President receives foreign envoys and visiting dignitaries, as well as the many thousands of ordinary citizens who come to the house throughout the year. Various school groups are also invited to be present at the ceremony when ambassadors present their credentials. THE STATE DINING ROOM was built in 1849 for a visit by Queen Victoria. The original fireplaces in the dining room built for Queen Victoria had been taken away by one of the Lords Lieutenant – apparently it was the custom for a departing Viceroy to take whatever he
The State Reception Room, showing its handwoven Donegal carpet with phoenix centrepiece.
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The ceiling in the State Reception Room.
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The Lafranchini Corridor from the State Reception Room.
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The State dinner service features the Presidential harp motif.
wished from the house – and replaced with functional marble pieces. Tim Healy, Governor General from 1923-28, ‘could not’, according to Lady Fingall, ‘bear to look at anything so ugly’. He replaced them with these two fine Georgian fireplaces, which he had acquired in 1923 from the former home of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin in Mountjoy Square. Healy wanted to take the fireplaces away with him but was persuaded to let them stay. A plaque on one of them records his gift to the house, still describing it as the Viceregal Lodge. The table, made in 1927, was formerly the Cabinet table in Leinster House and was brought to the Áras by Eamon de Valera in 1960. The first meeting of new Governments is usually held around this table after Ministers have received their Seals of Office from the President.
Detail of the Dining Room fireplace.
The first President of Ireland, Dr Douglas Hyde, lived in the house from 1938-45. In 1944 he decided to assemble a small collection of pictures and portraits representing significant people and events in the history of Ireland, and donated many of the works himself. Of historical rather than artistic interest, the collection was at first displayed in the Dining Room. Now portraits of past Presidents by contemporary Irish artists hang on the State Dining Room walls. - 29 -
On 15 June 1944, the Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, and several Government Ministers attended a dinner at Áras an Uachtaráin hosted by President Hyde. A portrait of the President by Seán O’Sullivan, RHA, commissioned by the Office of the President for presentation to the Army, was on display. At dinner, the Taoiseach expressed the view that a portrait of every President should be painted and hung in the official Presidential residence and that the matter should be discussed with the Government as soon as possible. It was decided by the Government on 2 August 1944 that a portrait of the President should be commissioned from Leo Whelan, RHA. Douglas Hyde sat for his portrait between September and December 1944; it was exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy and has been on display in Áras an Uachtaráin since 1945. Leo Whelan was also commissioned in 1951 by the Office of Public Works, on the instruction of the Government, to paint the portrait of Douglas Hyde’s successor, Seán T Ó Ceallaigh, President from 1945 to 1959. It was during his period of office that the decision was taken to retain the former Viceregal Lodge as the permanent residence of the President.
The State Dining Room. Portraits of past Presidents are all on display here.
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A gilded faun from a lamp in the State Reception Room.
The portrait of Eamon de Valera, President from 1959 to 1973, was painted by Seán O’Sullivan in 1943 and donated to the Government by John Philip Reihill for display in the Áras. Details of the donation, which was on the President’s election to Office, are inscribed at the base of the painting in Gaelic script. Exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1943, it was considered by the Dublin Magazine to be ‘a tour de force of painting, drawing and psychology’. The portrait of Erskine Childers, President 1973-74, is by David Hone, PPRHA; the portrait of Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, President 1974-76, is by Thomas Ryan, PPRHA; Patrick Hillery, President 1976-90, was painted by John F Kelly, RHA. The portrait of Mary Robinson, President 1990-97, by the Ulster artist Basil Blackshaw, HRHA. The portrait of Mary McAleese, President 1997-2011 was painted by Joe Dunne, RHA in 2001. The official portrait of President Higgins will be commissioned during his term in Office. THE COUNCIL OF STATE ROOM is part of the original house, built in 1751, and is now generally used as a reception room. Originally a dining room, it had been fitted up as a billiard room in the 1840s.
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Its coved plaster ceiling, part-gilded, and unusual in Ireland, is attributed to Bartholomew Cramillion, who introduced this Rococo style into Irish plasterwork in the mid-18th century. It has always been in the original Clements house and depicts scenes from Aesop’s Fables: on the long sides, the Fox and the Stork, while the vignettes on the short sides show the Fox and the Crow, and the Fox and the Grapes. The couch and the chairs are replicas of Louis XIV furniture. The painting is of the first meeting of the Council of State, the President’s advisory body, presided over by Douglas Hyde in 1940 and is by Simon Coleman, RHA. The other art works located in this room are on loan from the Crawford Art Gallery Cork and the State Art Collection. THE STATE DRAWING ROOM, located behind the south portico, is part of the 1751 house, and its ceiling dates from then. Richly modelled, its plan form with an oval centrepiece is reflected in the design of the carpet, which was made in 2002 in Killybegs, Co Donegal. The room contains two magnificent 18th-century Adam chimneypieces. The chandelier is made from brass in the Regency style and commemorates the Act of Union of 1801 by intertwining a
The State Drawing Room.
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Detail of the ceiling in the Council of State Room, depicting scenes from Aesop's Fables.
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The Council of State Room, which is part of the original 1751 house.
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The President's Study.
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shamrock, rose and thistle representing Ireland, England and Scotland. It was originally in Dublin Castle but moved to the Áras after a fire in the State Apartments there in the 1940s. The wall lights were made from a second similar chandelier. The Connemara marble coffee table was commissioned for President Bill Clinton’s visit in 2000. The Dutch marine painting of the Royal Visit to the Fleet in 1672, two oval mirrors and some of the period furniture in the room are on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland. THE PRESIDENT’S STUDY is another part of the 1751 house. Its beautiful 18thcentury ceiling was erected in this room in 1953. It has also been attributed to Cramillion and depicts The Elements and Seasons Presided over by Jupiter: ‘Spring with flowers and industrious spade; Summer with grapes; Autumn with sickle and wheatsheaves; while Winter, a child with its back turned and hair ruffled, warms itself at a brazier … in the centre a vigorously modelled Jove.’
being demolished to make way for apartment blocks. From 1909 until 1943, it had been home of the influential Irish artist Sarah Purser, RHA (1848–1943). At the instigation of C P Curran, author of Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the 17th and 18th Centuries, the developer was persuaded to give the ceilings to the Office of Public Works and this one was moved here. Curran considered this the finest of the Mespil House ceilings: ‘the loveliest stucco in Ireland … the very poetry of plaster.’ Library
The mahogany bookcases were all made in Dublin and date from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The Áras an Uachtaráin library houses two large breakfront Hicks bookcases. These bookcases were formerly located in the reading room Leinster House.After removal the bookcases were restored by the Office of Public Works and subsequently installed in the new Áras library in 2012.n
It is contemporary with, and in the same Rococo style as, the ceiling in the Council of State Room, which is original to the house. In 1948, Mespil House in Dublin, a house contemporary with Riverstown House and the Park Ranger’s Lodge, was
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Detail from Louis XIV couch
Detail of the ceiling in the President's Study, ‘the loveliest stucco in Ireland …’
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The President's desk.
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A 19th-century view of the garden front, showing the original ‘ha-ha’ or sunken fence. Drawn by George Petrie, RHA, engraved by J McGahey, 1831. (National Library of Ireland)
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CHAPTER V T HE G ARDENS
∑
WHEN NATHANIEL CLEMENTS TOOK OVER THE ESTATE THAT WENT WITH THE POSITION OF PARK RANGER IN 1751 IT EXTENDED TO SOME NINETY-TWO ACRES. MUCH OF THE WORK HE CARRIED OUT ON THE GROUNDS SET THE PATTERN FOR LATER DEVELOPMENTS, AS JOHN ROCQUE'S MAP OF DUBLIN AND ENVIRONS, PRODUCED IN 1757, INDICATES BY SHOWING THE WALLED GARDEN AND SOME OF THE WALKS. Immediately to the west of Clements' new demesne was the area of formal tree planting with its original centrepiece of the Phoenix Monument, laid out by Lord Chesterfield in 1746. Much of this was later taken into the pleasure grounds of the house. The later Viceroys had the benefit of major improvements as they walked in the gardens. The major work on the grounds during the 19th century was carried out by the famous landscape gardener of the time, Decimus Burton, with assistance from Ninian Niven. Burton, a London landscape designer and architect who was involved with Hyde Park and Kew Gardens, planned and oversaw improvements to the Phoenix Park for more than fifteen years in the 1830s and 1840s. They included moving the Phoenix column to where it now stands, as a focal point of the new, straightened boulevard through the Park. Burton removed the stone walls around the Viceregal Lodge and replaced them with sunken fences or ha-
has. As well as re-designing the Phoenix entrance and gate lodges, he removed trees from the demesne to open up vistas and laid out the formal gardens where the Irish or ‘Florence Court’ yew trees were introduced which line the edges of the lawns. The yew trees originated from a sport plant found in Fermanagh which was distributed about 1780 by the Earl of Enniskillen who lived in Florence Court. Burton had designed London Zoo and was asked to lay out one for Dublin as well. In 1830, the Duke of Northumberland, then Lord Lieutenant, gave permission for the Zoo to be placed in the northeast corner of the Phoenix Park, next to the viceregal estate. The landscape gardener Ninian Niven was also involved with planting ceremonial trees in the grounds. Niven was a Scotsman who first came to Ireland as head gardener in the nearby Chief Secretary's Lodge and then went on to re-design the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. - 40 -
To the north west of the house (and the left of the main entrance driveway) was a heavily wooded area which later became known by the Victorians as 'The Wilderness'. Originally, there were two lakes or ponds stocked with trout, tench, carp and pike as well as orchards and rides through shrubberies and plantations. By 1816, the demesne had expanded to 160 acres and was well planted with ornamental trees.
Commemorative plaques under the ceremonial trees.
THE QUEEN’S WALK Niven was in charge of preparations for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1853 during which she planted a tree on what became known as the Queen's Walk (to the right of the building as one faces its southern façade). This began a tradition of distinguished visitors and official occupants planting a tree in the grounds. Many of these trees stand in the arboretum, on the right side of the entrance driveway. On a subsequent visit in 1861, Victoria planted a Wellingtonia (Californian redwood) on the lawn in front of the southern portico, one of only two trees to be planted there; the second, an oak, was planted by Pope John Paul II on his visit to Áras an Uachtaráin in September 1979. Along the Queen's Walk can be seen many of the ceremonial trees with interesting provenance, including a copper beech presented by Lord Mountbatten to President Seán T Ó Ceallaigh in 1946 and a Canadian maple planted by the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir Wilfred Laurier, in 1907. President Douglas Hyde continued the tradition of occupants planting ceremonial trees when he - 41 -
planted a Cornish elm on the north lawn of the Áras in March 1939. (Unfortunately, many of the elms on the estate subsequently succumbed to Dutch elm disease.) Presidents John F Kennedy and Eamon de Valera both planted Wellingtonias between the west wing of the building and the arboretum when the US President visited on 27 June 1963. General Charles de Gaulle planted an Irish oak on the Queen's Walk during his stay in June 1986 and King Juan Carlos of Spain planted a Spanish chestnut in the arboretum in June 1986. In May 2011 two oak trees were planted in front of the Peace Bell to mark the State and Official visits to Ireland of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and President of the USA Barack Obama. In November 2011 a third oak tree was planted alongside them to mark the departure from office of Mary McAleese. The landscaping of the 150-year-old Queen’s Walk was enhanced in 2002 by the installation of the sculpture of La Pietà, which provides a focal point, and, behind the canopied structure, a resting place for reflection. This piece was presented to Ireland on behalf of the people of Italy after the end of the Second World War, in appreciation of Irish assistance. Sculpted in white Carrara marble by the Italian artist, Ermengildo Luppi Cardini (d.1937), it is a dramatic pyramidal tableau of the figures of the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, St John the Evangelist and Nicodemus lamenting over the body of the dead Christ after the removal from the Cross. Before it was
The Queen's Walk, with La PietĂ in the background.
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moved to the end of the Queen's Walk, it stood outside the Department of Education in Marlborough Street and before that, in the Rotunda of the National Museum.
The dramatic white marble pyramidal group of La Pietà.
A tranquil spot in the Walled Garden.
Alongside the Queen's Walk there is also the daffodil garden which has 140 different varieties of Irish daffodils. They were presented to the Áras by Professor George Dawson of Trinity College Dublin during Mary Robinson's Presidency in recognition of the fact that Ireland is noted for a long tradition of daffodil breeding. GARDEN DEVELOPMENTS The grounds have received constant attention over the years as the life cycles of trees and plants progress and the ravages of nature take their toll. Storms have caused considerable damage at different times; one in December 1822 blew down the Phoenix column as well as seventy large trees. One of the worst was in February 1903 when 2,948 trees in the Phoenix Park were felled - by contrast, Hurricane Charlie in 1986 blew down 120. This led to an accelerated planting programme for the demesne. The arboriculturist William Goldring, assisted by the Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, F W Moore, viewed the devastation in a positive light and took the opportunity to open up new vistas and create suitable backgrounds. Lord Ardilaun, as well as advising on the planting, donated 800 evergreen oaks 'of a size and perfection of culture that could not be obtained in the open market' for the Phoenix Park.
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In the early years of the 20th century, part of Burton's sunken fence along the north road, which had become overgrown and unsightly, was filled in and replaced with an iron fence. The perimeter was also planted with a high density of ornamental and flowering shrubs. At this time, the gardens were renowned for spectacular colour and horticultural excellence. The Walled Garden, which is divided into five sections, provides the traditional produce of fruit, vegetables and flowers for the Áras. Organic status was achieved following the standard two-year conversion period in June 2011. A total of 2.17 hectares are managed organically by the gardening staff at the Áras. The gardens are managed sustainably and all wind fallen apples are juices to make organic Apple Juice which is used for state events. An Apiary was introduced into the Orchard in 2011 to assist with pollination. The famous ironfounder Richard Turner is well represented by a number of curvilinear glasshouses in the Walled Garden. In the upper walled garden he erected a commercial type peach house (the first of its kind in Ireland) in 1836-37. This house was restored in 2009 and the tradition of peaches growing has been re-introduced. A range of fruits including Grapes such as ‘Black Hamburg’, lemons and limes are now grown within the magnificent glasshouse and have proved to be a major attraction for visitors to the gardens. In 1842-43, Turner erected a vinery 450 feet long which was divided into
La PietĂ , installed in 2002, was a gift from the people of Italy after the Second World War.
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The Turner glasshouse in the Walled Garden, installed in 1836-37, the first of its kind in Ireland.
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compartments to facilitate growing grapes to mature at different seasons. When erected, it was the newest and most extensive construction in Ireland and considered the 'chief site in the Viceregal Gardens'. Sadly the vineries were taken down in the 1940s.
to the east of the main house in early 2013. The design was based on Decimus Burtons Celtic cross designs, which still form the centrepieces of the parterre to this day. They interpret the history of the rose and offer a range of scents and colours
In 1852 a conservatory with a central dome with flanking wings was constructed on the Queen's Walk side, using the outer south-facing wall of the upper walled garden as its back wall. The former location of this conservatory is still visible as a result of alterations in the boundary wall which facilitated this glasshouse.
PEACE BELL Erected to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and the arrival at last of peace.The Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998 with the Peace Bell erected in 2008.
On the lawn facing the north entrance of the Áras, whose Doric portico was added by Francis Johnston in 1807-08, a fountain in a landscaped setting was installed in 2003. This elegant addition to the foreground vista lends a graceful formality to the north side of the house, which is the setting in which ambassadors and other dignitaries take leave of the President, after inspecting a guard of honour, accompanied by the Army Band in full regalia. A Sensory Border, located on the southern side of the walled kitchen garden, measuring 230meters long was established in 2011. The five senses, touch, smell, sight, sound and taste have been incorporated into the design through the imaginative use of plants and sculpture.
Roses in the President's Flower Garden.
It is an old, refurbished bell from the days when the Áras was the Vice-Regal Lodge. It is suspended from a central piece of an oak tree from the grounds of the Áras, which is itself supported by two oak trunks, one from County Antrim, the other from County Dublin. The Glendalough quartz mound that forms its base recalls an ancient, uncontested Boyne Valley site that has forever been part of the shared history of all Irish men and women The Peace Bell serves as a symbol of the bringing together of the divided communities on this Island; and of the opening of a new chapter in our national narrative where we could aspire to a culture of good-neighbourliness and of mutually respectful collaboration across the Island of Ireland.n
At the request of President Higgins, a new Rosarium was introduced on the parterre
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The Peace Bell
Celtic cross boxwood parterre in the President's Flower Garden.
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The fountain facing the north entrance, installed in 2003.
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Sir John Lavery RHA RA RSA, The Red Rose, on loan from the Crawford Art Gallery Cork
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CHAPTER VI A RT
ÁRAS
AN
UACHTARÁIN
IN
Á RAS
UACHTARÁIN
∑ AN
WAS BUILT IN THE MID-18TH CENTURY.
MANY
ADDITIONS
AND CHANGES HAVE TAKEN PLACE SINCE THEN AS ITS FUNCTION ALTERED AND CAME INTO GREATER PROMINENCE IN RECENT YEARS.
IT
IS NOT SURPRISING, THEREFORE,
THAT IT CONTAINS MANY WORKS OF ART DATING FROM THE
18TH
CENTURY UP TO
THE PRESENT DAY.
Paintings and sculpture on loan from the Crawford Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, the Arts Council and the OPW State Art Collection occupy the principal reception rooms at ground floor level. The Entrance Hall contains substantial art works by Irish artists alongside a large vibrant painting by Chinese artist Zhao Shaoruo (b. 1962), which was a gift to President Michael D. Higgins, and symbolically refers to ‘11.11. 2011’ the date of his inauguration. There are also plaster portrait busts on display including Daniel O’Connell by John Hogan and poet James Clarence Mangan by Oliver Sheppard and a small 1798 memorial sculpture, also by Sheppard, on loan from the National Museum of Ireland. Many of the works on display are by some of Ireland’s most esteemed artists such as Sir John
Lavery, Patrick Collins, William Leech, Harry Kernoff, Roderic O’Connor, Mary Swanzy and Brian Bourke. There are also formal oil portraits of former Presidents by some of Ireland’s foremost artists on display. The first President of Ireland, Dr Douglas Hyde, decided in 1944 to assemble a collection of portraits, prints and pictures of historical interest. Later he bequeathed his substantial collection of fascinating material to Áras an Uachtaráin. The Douglas Hyde collection contains paintings, engravings, etchings and other works on paper, as well as bronze, marble and plaster casts of some historic Irish figures, many of which are on view throughout the building. Bronze portrait busts of all previous Presidents of Ireland are displayed on marble pedestals in the elegant Lafranchini corridor. The most recent - 50 -
are of Mary McAleese by Carolyn Mulholland, RHA (b. 1944) and Mary Robinson by Imogen Stuart, RHA (b. 1927). Earlier busts are by Majorie Fitzgibbon, HRHA (b. 1930), Seamus Murphy, RHA (1907-75) and Garry Trimble (1929-79).
Aidan Crotty, Scene from Old Store
In the Dining Room are the official painted portraits of all previous Presidents, including an impressive three-quarter length portrait by Leo Whelan, RHA (1892-1956) of President Hyde dressed in a formal morning suit. The fine seated portrait of President Eamon de Valera, painted by Seán O’Sullivan, RHA (1906-64), was presented to the Government in 1959 by a private citizen. The modern expressionist portrait of President Mary Robinson is by Antrim artist Basil Blackshaw, HRHA (b.1932). The official portrait of Mary McAleese by Joseph Dunne, RHA (b. 1957) was added to the series at the end of her second term in Office. The formal portrait of President Michael D. Higgins will be commissioned during his time in Office. Four large classical landscapes by Irish artist George Mullins (active 1756-75/6) are displayed on the walls of the State Reception Room. The principal painting in the Council of State Room is the formal group portrait of The Council of State, 1940 by Simon Coleman, RHA
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(1916-95). Also on display in this room is a beautiful painting by Sir John Lavery RHA, RA, RSA titled The Red Rose (c.1924) which depicts his wife Hazel that is on loan from the Crawford Art Gallery Cork. There are also a pair of elaborately framed still-life paintings attributed to Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) which are original to the Viceregal Lodge and some smaller works by William Leech and Norah McGuinness also on loan from the Crawford Art Gallery. Pride of place in the State Drawing Room has been given to the large seascape on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland, The Royal Visit to the Fleet in the Thames Estuary, 6 June 1672, an 18th-century version of a popular subject by a follower of the Dutch artist Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), who had been commissioned by King Charles II to commemorate this occasion. A portrait of Statesman Thomas Drummond (17971840) by Henry William Pickersgill also on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland hangs above the piano. President Michael D. Higgins has a strong interest in visual art and is keen to present Irish art to visitors to Áras an Uachtaráin. At present, contemporary art works are installed along the main corridors alongside some works by renowned artists such as Gerard Dillon and Patrick Collins. Some elegant
An Grianรกn
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Simon Coleman, RHA, The Council of State, 1940
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Sean Keating, 1921, An IRA Column and Famine Ship by John Behan from the OPW State Art Collection
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Melanie le Brocquy, HRHA, The Laundress
John Behan, RHA, Queen Maeve
portraits of Irish cultural figures on loan from the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and the National Gallery of Ireland hang in An Grianán, a room which the President sometimes uses for individual meetings. Most memorable are the portraits of Mrs John Mulhall by Walter Osborne, RHA (1859-1903) and Harry Clarke, RHA by his wife Margaret Clarke, RHA (1888-1961).
Oliver Sheppard, RHA, Priest and Pikeman
The art on view in Áras an Uachtaráin changes from time to time as loans are recalled and new works are acquired. At present, at the entrance to the former Racquet Hall, now known as Seomra de hÍde, there is a bronze panel by artist Shane Cullen (b.1957). Its Gaelic text transcribes a prayer from Parlaimint na mBan, a late 17th-century compilation of sermons by a Cork priest, Father Dónall Ó Colmáin, imaginatively presented as a parliament of women.n
The Breakfast Room is hung with modern Irish paintings and graphics including works by Brian Bourke, Micheal Farrell, Mary Swanzy and Edward McGuire.
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Gavin O'Curry, Mountain 1870, oil on linen, 2010
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A RT
ON
P UBLIC V IEW
IN
Á RAS
∑
ENTRANCE HALL SCULPTURE
AN
UACHTARÁIN
Roma Aeterna Achilles Fides Publica Fortuna Aeneas Grammar Pax Roman soldier on horseback
Queen Maeve (bronze) John Behan RHA The Laundress (bronze) Melanie le Brocquy HRHA Thomas Davis (1814-45) (bronze) Albert Power RHA
SCULPTURE
Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) (plaster) John Hogan
Charles Stewart Parnell MP (1846-91) (plaster) Mary Blake Grant
James Clarence Mangan (1803-49) (plaster) Oliver Sheppard RHA
Thomas Moore (1779-1852) (marble) Thomas Kirk RHA
John O'Leary (1830-1907) (plaster) Oliver Sheppard RHA
Henry Grattan (1746-1820) (marble) after Peter Turnerelli
Priest and Pikeman (plaster) Oliver Sheppard RHA
Archibald Hamilton Rowan (1751-1834) (plaster) Unattributed
PAINTING BRONZE PORTRAIT BUSTS OF FORMER PRESIDENTS Untitled (11.11.2011) (oil on canvas) Zhao Shaoruo, gift to President Michael D. Higgins
Douglas Hyde (1860-1949) Séamus Murphy RHA
Market Day (oil on board) Colin Middleton RHA
Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh (1882-1966) Seámus Murphy RHA
The Forty Foot, Sandycove (oil on board) Harry Kernoff RHA
Éamon de Valera (1882-1975) Seámus Murphy RHA Erskine Hamilton Childers (1905-74) Seámus Murphy RHA
LAFRANCHINI CORRIDOR PLASTER RELIEF PANELS
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (1911-78) Garry Trimble
All 20th-century copies after Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini.
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COUNCIL OF STATE ROOM
Patrick J Hillery (b.1923) Marjorie Fitzgibbon HRHA
The Council of State, 1940 (oil on canvas) Simon Coleman RHA
Mary Robinson (b.1944) Imogen Stuart RHA
The Red Rose (oil on canvas) Sir John Lavery RHA RA RSA
Mary McAleese (b 1951 ) Carolyn Mulholland RHA
Boats on the Stour (oil on canvas) William Leech RHA RA Still Life (oil on canvas) Attributed to Jan van Huysum (1682-1749)
STATE DINING ROOM PORTRAITS OF FORMER PRESIDENTS (oil on canvas)
Still Life (oil on canvas) Attributed to Jan van Huysum (1682-1749)
Douglas Hyde Leo Whelan RHA
Pheasant (bronze) Anna Linnane
Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh Leo Whelan RHA STATE DRAWING ROOM Éamon de Valera Seán O'Sullivan RHA
Thomas Drummond (1797-1840) (oil on canvas) Henry Pickersgill
Erskine Childers David Hone PPRHA
Royal Visit to the Fleet, 6 June 1672 (oil on canvas) after Van de Velde the Younger
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh Thomas Ryan PPRHA
Interior with Guillamore O’Grady (oil on canvas) Henry Robertson Graig RHA
Patrick Hillery John F Kelly RHA
PRESIDENT'S STUDY
Mary Robinson Basil Blackshaw HRHA
Portrait of Dr Noel Browne (1915 - 1997) (oil on canvas) Seán Keating Private collection of President Michael D. Higgins
Mary McAleese Joe Dunne RHA
Small Fields of Donegal (Purple Grasses) (oil on canvas) Norah McGuinness HRHA
STATE RECEPTION ROOM All four oil on canvas by George Mullins (1760)
SEOMRA de hÍDE Parliament na mBan (bronze panel) Shane Cullen
Landscape, Dawn Landscape, Morning Landscape, Noon Landscape, Evening
The art works located throughout the house are from the collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, the Arts Council, the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, the Crawford Art Gallery Cork, the Douglas Hyde Collection and OPW State Art Collection.
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Detail of plaster work in the Lafranchini corridor.
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A RCHITECTURAL H ISTORY
OF THE
∑
1751 On the site of Newtown Lodge, the Park Ranger’s residence, Nathaniel Clements built Phoenix Lodge, an elegant two-storey red brick Palladian house, with single storey wings and circular sweeps. This remains virtually intact at the core of the present house. 1782 Clements’ son, Robert, sold Phoenix Lodge to the government for use as a summer residence for the Lord Lieutenant. 1802 Lord Hardwicke added to the house two new wings, of three bays each and slightly set back, probably to a design by the Board of Works’ architect, Robert Woodgate.
H OUSE
AND
G ARDENS
1807-08 Francis Johnston, Woodgate’s successor, added the Doric portico to the entrance on the north front. 1809 Gates and gatelodges at the former Dublin entrance to the Viceregal Lodge provided by the Duke of Richmond, probably to the designs of Francis Johnston. 1815-16 Johnston added the Ionic columns to the southern side of the building. He also plastered over the original brick walls and painted the house white in the Regency fashion. 1835-42 Decimus Burton laid out the formal parterre garden on the south front of the house as well as the Phoenix entrance gates and gatelodges. - 60 -
1836-37 First commercial style curvilinear Peach House erected by Richard Turner in the Viceregal Walled Garden. Still extant.
1854 The façade was balanced by a new room at the western end of the house, giving the house a series of reception rooms, one of which is An Grianán.
1842-43 Curvilinear vineries erected by Richard Turner in the Viceregal Walled Garden and enlarged 1861-65. Taken down in the 1940s.
1858 The Racquet Hall, an indoor badminton court, now Seomra de hÍde, was built at the back of the stable yard for the Earl of Eglinton and Winton. Turner's firm supplied the roof.
1849 A wing was added to the east end of the garden front for Queen Victoria’s first visit. Designed by Office of Public Works’ architect Jacob Owen, it included a State Dining Room. 1852 A curvilinear conservatory by Richard Turner was erected beside the Queen’s Walk to the east of the house. This was demolished c.1914.
1867 New timber conservatory erected in the Viceregal Walled Gardens, probably to the designs of E T Owen. Still extant. 1911 In preparation for a visit from King George V, a new bedroom wing was built on the west side, on the site of a 19th-century service wing. The extension was carried out by H G Leask and M J Burke of the Office of Public Works (established 1831). Electricity had been provided in 1908.
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1915 Leask and Burke carried out further alterations to the main body of the house, including the addition of new door cases to the ballroom. 1922 After the establishment of the Irish State, the house became the residence of the Governor-General, Tim Healy, who installed two fine chimneypieces in the Dining Room. Healy’s successor, James McNeill, resigned and left the house in 1932. 1938 The first President, Dr Douglas Hyde, occupied the house, now named Áras an Uachtaráin, on a temporary basis.
1945 Under Dr Hyde’s successor, President Seán T Ó Ceallaigh, it was decided to maintain the house and major refurbishments began, overseen by Raymond McGrath, chief architect at the Office of Public Works. These included reconstruction of public rooms, creation of the Lafranchini Corridor and importation of 18th-century ceilings from Mespil House, Dublin, which was about to be demolished. McGrath also rebuilt the west wing to provide larger living quarters for the President and his or her family and designed the carpets for the State Rooms. 1959-present Developments continue at Áras an Uachtaráin and its grounds, undertaken by the Office of Public Works. Security, universal access and safety issues have all been addressed and the President's private family accommodation upgraded in the West Courtyard.
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O CCUPANTS
OF THE
H OUSE S INCE 1751
∑ 1830-33
PHOENIX LODGE The Clements family 1751-1777 Nathaniel Clements 1777-1782 His eldest son, Robert Clements, later 1st Earl of Leitrim
1833 1834-35 1835-39 1839-41 1841-44
THE VICEREGAL LODGE The Viceroys (Lords Lieutenant) 1782 William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland 1783 George Nugent Grenville Temple, 1st Marquis of Buckingham 1782-87 Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland 1787-95 George Nugent Grenville Temple, 1st Marquis of Buckingham 1795 William Wentworth, 2nd Earl FitzWilliam 1795-98 John Jeffreys, 2nd Earl Camden 1798-1801 Charles, 1st Marquis Cornwallis 1801-05 Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke 1806-07 John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford 1807-13 Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond 1813-17 Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl of Whitworth 1817-21 Charles Chetwynd, 2nd Earl Talbot 1821-28 Richard Colley, 1st Marquis of Wellesley 1828-29 Henry William Paget, 1st Marquis of Anglesey 1829-30 Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland
1844-46 1846-47 1847-52 1852 1853-55 1855-58 1858 1859-64 1864-66 1866-68 1868-74 1874-76
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Henry William Paget, 1st Marquis of Anglesey Richard Colley, 1st Marquis of Wellesley Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquis of Normanby Henry Chichester, 2nd Earl Fortescue Thomas Philip Weddell Robinson, 2nd Earl de Grey William A’Court, 2nd Baron Heytesbury John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough George Villiers, 2nd Earl of Clarendon Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn John Poyntz, 5th Earl Spencer James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn
The Governors General 1922-28 Tim Healy 1928-32 James McNeill
1876-80
Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough 1880-82 Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper 1882-85 John Poyntz, 5th Earl Spencer 1885 Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon 1886 Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquis of Londonderry 1886-89 John Gordon Campbell, 7th Earl of Aberdeen 1889-92 Lawrence Dundas, 1st Earl of Zetland 1892-95 Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquis of Crewe 1895-1902 George Henry, 5th Earl of Cadogan 1902-06 William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley 1906-15 John Gordon Campbell, 7th Earl of Aberdeen 1915-18 Ivor Guest, 2nd Baron Wimborne 1918-21 John Denton French, 1st Earl of Ypres 1921-22 Edmund Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent
ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN The Presidents 1938-45
Douglas Hyde
1945-59
Seán T Ó Ceallaigh
1959-73
Eamon de Valera
1973-74
Erskine Childers
1974-76
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh
1976-90
Patrick J Hillery
1990-97
Mary Robinson
1997-2011
Mary McAleese
2011-present Michael D. Higgins
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Wellingtonia (California Redwood) planted by Queen Victoria in 1861.
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T HE V ICEROYS
∑
IN
U NION AND I RISH INDEPENDENCE THERE WERE SOME FORT Y CHANGES OF L ORD L IEUTENANT IN THE V ICEREGAL L ODGE . M ANY SERVED FOR A YEAR OR SO , SOME RETURNED FOR SEVERAL PERIODS IN OFFICE BUT FEW STAYED FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE OF YEARS . M OST ARE REMEMBERED NOW ONLY IN THE STREET NAMES OF D UBLIN , SUCH AS N ORTHUMBERLAND , E GLINTON , C LARENDON , H EYTESBURY , BUT SOME WERE ALSO HISTORICAL FIGURES OF NOTE . THE
120
YEARS BETWEEN THE
A CT
The first of the latter was Charles Cornwallis, the general who had surrendered to the American revolutionaries at Yorktown in 1781 and spent eight years subsequently as Governor General of India. He became Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief in Ireland in 1798, oversaw the defeat of the French force which landed at Killala and of the United Irishmen. He also saw through the Act of Union which required widespread bribery and arm twisting to persuade the Irish parliament to vote itself out of existence. ‘It has ever been the wish of my life to avoid all this dirty business, and I am now involved in it beyond all bearing, and am consequently more wretched than ever’, he wrote at the time. ‘How I long to kick those whom my public duty obliges me to court!’
OF
Cornwallis left Ireland in 1801 and was succeeded by the 3rd Earl of Hardwicke who was aggrieved that he was not given the title Commander-in-Chief like his predecessor. He was subsequently given the title but remained frequently at odds with the government in London. During his five year stay at the Viceregal Lodge, the 1751 building was extended by three bays at each wing. Richard Colley Wellesley, whose younger brother Arthur was the Duke of Wellington, arrived in Dublin (where he was born) in 1821 for the first of two terms as Viceroy. He came with considerable experience, having been Governor General of India from 1798 to 1805 and Foreign Secretary in the British government from 1809 to 1812. After failing to become Prime Minister in 1812, he had turned
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John Singleton Copley, Charles, 1st Marquis Cornwallis (1738-1805)
R W Buss, after Thomas Lawrence, Philip Yorke (1757-1834), 3rd Earl of Hardwicke
down the position of Viceroy in Ireland and retired but changed his mind nine years later. The Orange Order protested at his appointment, believing him to be sympathetic towards Catholics and their relief from the penal laws. He played an important role in the run-up to Catholic Emancipation in 1828 when he was succeeded by Henry William Paget, the 1st Marquess of Anglesey, who was seen as being more sympathetic towards Catholics. Anglesey was recalled by the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington; when Wellington’s government was defeated in 1830, Anglesey was sent back to Dublin as Viceroy by the new government but his sympathy with the Catholic Association waned as it espoused repeal of the Union.
after Thomas Lawrence, Richard, 1st Marquis of Wellesley (1757-1834)
after Thomas Lawrence, Henry William Paget (1768-1854), 1st Marquis of Anglesey
In 1841, the 2nd Earl de Grey was appointed Lord Lieutenant by the Prime Minister, Robert Peel, who aimed to win the loyalty of the emerging Catholic middle class for the Union. De Grey argued that nothing could ever win their support and was removed from office in 1844. He was replaced by the more liberal diplomat, William A’Court, Lord Heytesbury, who warned the government in 1845 about the impending dangers to the potato crop. With a change of government, John William Ponsonby, the 4th Earl of Bessborough, was appointed in 1846. His family owned lands in Carlow, Kilkenny and Tipperary and he was the first landlord who lived in Ireland to become Viceroy for a generation. He took office just before the failure of the potato crop that year and arranged for a programme of public works but his role in famine
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Attributed to Frederick Richard Say, Thomas Philip de Grey (1781-1859), 2nd Earl De Grey
Stephen Catterson Smith, William A’Court (1779-1860), Baron Heytesbury
relief was eclipsed by that of Charles Trevelyan, the head of a relief commission. He died suddenly in his first year in office and was replaced by a Liberal diplomat, George Villiers, the 4th Earl of Clarendon, in 1847. In trying to come to grips with the Famine, Clarendon noted that it was ‘almost impossible to do good when all the machinery for that purpose is absolutely wanting’. His appeals to London fell on sceptical ears with the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell (who had spent some time in the Viceregal Lodge when his father, the Duke of Bedford, was Lord Lieutenant in 1806), telling him that ‘the course of English benevolence is frozen by insult, calumny and rebellion’. Clarendon left Ireland in 1852 and went on to become Foreign Secretary for three terms between 1853 and 1870.
Stephen Catterson Smith, John William Ponsonby (1781-1847), 4th Earl of Bessborough
after John Hoppner, John Russell (1766-1839), 6th Duke of Bedford
Lawrence Dundas, the 1st Earl of Zetland, was Lord Lieutenant from 1889 to 1892 during some of the most difficult years of the land war. Although extremely short-sighted, he was keenly interested in deer-stalking, fox hunting and fishing and liked to display his trophies as the centrepiece at formal dinners. The longest serving Viceroy was John Gordon Campbell, the 7th Earl of Aberdeen, who first arrived for a few months in 1886, shortly after the Phoenix Park murders, when he complained of being accompanied at all times by two detectives. After a stint as Governor General of Canada, he returned to the Viceregal Lodge in 1906 and remained until 1915. He and his wife made an odd couple, as Leon O Broin described them: ‘he bearded and small and polite, she disproportionately large, matronly and - 68 -
Emily Way, Lawrence Dundas (1844-1929), 1st Earl of Zetland
Dermod O’Brien, John Gordon Campbell (1847-1934), 7th Earl of Aberdeen
Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, (1855-1947), 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent
masterful.’ He supported the Home Rule Bill in 1914 while she had the State Apartments in Dublin Castle turned into a hospital during the First World War. Their style of hospitality, described by the historian F S L Lyons as ‘parsimonious and bourgeois’, did not go down well with many of the upper classes, some of whom also complained about the type of people they invited to their parties. There were no such complaints about their successors. The 2nd Lord Wimborne, a cousin of Winston Churchill, was sometimes criticised for the lavishness of his hospitality in a time of war.
the British Expeditionary Forces in France in 1914 and 1915. He had resigned after criticism that he was indecisive and became Commander in Chief of Home Forces. He was succeeded in 1921 by the 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, a Catholic, who had little opportunity to make an impression. He became the last Lord Lieutenant in January 1922 when he handed over the Viceregal Lodge and Dublin Castle to the new Irish government.n
With the campaign for independence under way he was replaced in 1918 by John Denton French, the 1st Earl French of Ypres, who had been commander of
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T HE P RESIDENTS
OF
I RELAND
∑
Douglas Hyde 1938-1945
Seán T Ó Ceallaigh 1945-1959
Eamon de Valera 1959-1973
Erskine Childers 1973-1974
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh 1974-1976
Patrick J Hillery 1976-1990
Mary Robinson 1990-1997
Mary McAleese 1997-2011
Michael D. Higgins 2011-present
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DOUGLAS HYDE was unanimously selected as the first President of Ireland in 1938 following the adoption by referendum of a new constitution in 1937. Born in 1860 in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, he was the son of a local rector and learned the Irish language, which became his lifetime interest, from local people. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin with arts and law degrees in 1888, he collected folklore and poetry which resulted in his first two books, Beside the Fire (1889) and Love Songs of Connacht (1893). He was the main instigator and first president of the Gaelic League which was founded in 1893 and organised lessons in Irish and encouraged Irish dances and games. He became the first professor of modern Irish at the newly-established University College Dublin in 1909 and held the chair until his retirement in 1932. He died in Dublin in 1949.
SEÁN T Ó CEALLAIGH was elected in 1945 to succeed President Hyde. He was born in Dublin in 1882, joined the Gaelic League as a youth and later became manager of its newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis, and its general secretary. He was a founder member of Sinn Féin in 1905 and an aide to Patrick Pearse during the Easter Rising in 1916. Elected in 1918, he was sent as a Republican envoy to the post-First World War Peace Conference in Paris and to Rome and the US. He opposed the Treaty but continued to represent a Dublin constituency in the Dáil until his election as President. He was a founder member of Fianna Fáil and in its cabinet from its election to government in 1932. He was Minister for Finance from 1941 and was Tánaiste at the time of his election to the Presidency. In 1952 he was returned unopposed for a second term in office. He died in Dublin in 1966.
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EAMON DE VALERA, who succeeded Ó’Ceallaigh, was one of the major Irish national and political leaders of the 20th century. He stood down as Taoiseach in 1959 to contest the presidency at the age of seventysix. Born in 1882 in New York, he grew up in Bruree, Co Limerick and became a mathematics teacher. He was one of the commandants of the Easter Rising, sentenced to death, reprieved and elected president of Sinn Féin in 1917. He was subsequently president of the first Dáil and toured the US seeking its recognition and raising funds.
By the time he was elected President, he had been Taoiseach for some twenty-one years in three separate periods of office. Among the visitors he welcomed to the Áras were President Charles de Gaulle and President John F Kennedy on his historic visit to Ireland in 1963. He made an official return visit to Washington in 1964 where he addressed Congress. Two years later, at the age of eighty-three, he stood for re-election as President and was returned for another seven years. He retired in 1973 and died two years later in Dublin at the age of ninety-two.
He opposed the Treaty, founded Fianna Fáil in 1926 and led it into government in 1932. He also founded The Irish Press newspaper and was the author of the new Constitution in 1937. As Taoiseach during the Second World War, he maintained a policy of neutrality in the face of domestic and external pressures.
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ERSKINE CHILDERS, a member of the Dáil for thirtyfive years, who had held a succession of government ministries, became the fourth President in 1973. He was born in London in 1905. His father, also Erskine Childers, author of the classic thriller, The Riddle of the Sands (1903), had been executed during the Civil War. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became advertising manager of The Irish Press before being elected to the Dáil in 1938. He was Tánaiste and Minister for Health from 1969 until early in 1973 when the government changed at a general election. He was elected to the Presidency shortly afterwards. President Childers served only eighteen months in office, dying suddenly in November 1974.
CEARBHALL Ó DÁLAIGH was chosen as an agreed candidate by the main political parties. He was born in Bray, Co Wicklow in 1911, graduated from University College Dublin in Celtic studies and later qualified as a barrister while being Irish language editor of The Irish Press. He was Attorney-General, from 1946 to 1948 and 1951 to 1953, when he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. He became Chief Justice in 1961 and the Irish member of the European Court of Justice in 1972. Elected in 1974, he resigned from the Presidency in October 1976 after the then Minister for Defence described him as ‘a thundering disgrace’ for exercising his power to refer an Emergency Powers Bill to the Supreme Court before signing it into law. In his resignation statement, he said it was the only action open to him ‘to protect the dignity and independence of the Presidency as an institution’. He died in 1978 at his home in Sneem, Co Kerry.
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PATRICK J HILLERY, then a vice-president of the European Commission, was unanimously selected as the next President in 1976. Born in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, in 1923, he qualified as a medical doctor from University College Dublin. He was elected to the Dáil for Clare in 1951 and held cabinet positions as Minister for Education (1959-65), Minister for Industry and Commerce (1965-66), Minister for Labour (1966-69) and Minister for External Affairs (1969-72). In this position, he was central to Ireland’s negotiations to join the EU and, following accession in 1973, he became Ireland’s first member of the European Commission. Among the highlights of his Presidency was the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979. He was reelected without a contest for a second term, the maximum allowed, in 1983 and served until 1990.
MARY ROBINSON’S election as President in 1990 was widely seen as a watershed in Irish life. She was the first woman to be elected as well as being the first from outside the ranks of the two main political parties which had emerged from the preindependence Sinn Féin. Born Mary Bourke in Ballina, Co Mayo in 1944, she graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, King’s Inns and Harvard University. She was Reid Professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law (1969-75) and lecturer in European Community Law (1975-90) in Trinity College, Dublin. She was elected to represent Dublin University in the Seanad in 1969 and campaigned there and through other avenues for human rights and the reform of family law. In 1997 she was appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
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PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE was elected in 1997 to succeed Mary Robinson. Also a lawyer by profession, she was born Mary Lenaghan in Belfast in 1951. Having graduated from Queen's University, Belfast, with a law degree, she studied at the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland. A qualified barrister, she was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College, Dublin in 1975.
She also served on a number of public bodies including Northern Ireland Electricity plc, Channel 4 Television, Royal Group of Hospitals Trust and the BBC Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland. She is the author of Reconciled Being: Love in Chaos (Arthur James Ltd, Herts, UK, 1997), a collection of insights on reconciliation and faith. Mary McAleese was returned unopposed as President of Ireland on 1st October 2004.
Moving back to Belfast, she became the first woman Pro Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University in 1994 and was also Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at the university. She served on many bodies concerned with social inclusion and human rights, including the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas, Focus Point for the Homeless, the Council for Social Welfare, and the Housing Rights Association, Northern Ireland.
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Michael D. Higgins was inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland on 11th November 2011. A passionate political voice, a poet and writer, academic and statesman, human rights advocate, promoter of inclusive citizenship and champion of creativity within Irish society, Michael D. Higgins has previously served at almost every level of public life in Ireland, including as Ireland’s first Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. Michael D. Higgins was born on 18 April 1941 in Limerick city and was raised in County Clare. He was a factory worker and a clerk before becoming the first in his family to access higher education. Michael D. Higgins worked as a lecturer in political science and sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. However a desire to work more directly for equality and justice motivated him to enter public life and he spent 34 years as a member of the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament).
Michael D. Higgins’ achievements as a Government Minister include the reinvigoration of the Irish film industry, the establishment of Teilifís na Gaeilge, now TG4, and the repeal of censorship under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Acts. He also established a rich network of local arts and cultural venues and drove the revitalisation of Ireland’s canal network. Michael D. Higgins has, a strong interest and solidarity with the Irish abroad and has been a regular visitor to Irish Centres in Britain. He has campaigned for human rights and for the promotion of peace and democracy in Ireland and worldwide and was the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize from the International Peace Bureau in Helsinki. Michael D. Higgins is married to Sabina Higgins, a founding member of the Focus Theatre. They have four children.n The official portrait of President Higgins will be commissioned during his term in office.
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The 1949 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith has been the official car of every President since Séan T Ó Ceallaigh.
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B IBLIOGRAPHY
∑
Callanan, F, T M Healy (Cork University Press, 1996)
McCarthy, D, Dublin Castle at the Heart of Irish History (OPW, Dublin, 2004)
Casey, C, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (Yale University Press, 2005)
Malcomson, A P W, Nathaniel Clements: Government and the Governing Elite in Ireland 1725-75 (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2005) —Nathaniel Clements 1705-77, Arbiter of Taste and Amateur of Architecture (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2006, forthcoming)
Curran, C P, Dublin Decorative Plasterwork (London, 1967) Day, A (ed) Letters from Georgian Ireland: The correspondence of Mary Delany – 1731-68 (The Friar’s Bush Press, Belfast, 1991)
Reilly, P A, Kelly, D L, Synnott D M and McCullen, J, The Wild Plants of the Phoenix Park (OPW, Dublin, 1993)
Figgis, N and Rooney, B, Irish Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, Vol I (NGI, Dublin, 2001) Johnston-Liik, E M, History of the Irish Parliament 1697-1800 (Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast, 2002) Keating, E and Moore, J,(compilers) Art in State Buildings 1922-1970 (OPW, Dublin, 2000) Kennedy, R, Dublin Castle Art (OPW, Dublin, 1999) Lalor, B, The Encyclopedia of Ireland (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2003) Le Harivel, A (compiler) National Gallery of Ireland Illustrated Summary Catalogue of Drawings, Watercolours and Miniatures (NGI, Dublin, 1983) —National Gallery of Ireland Illustrated Summary Catalogue of Prints and Sculpture (NGI, Dublin, 1988)
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Presidential harp motif in the roundel, main Entrance Hall.
- 79 -
GLOSSARY
∑ Áras an Uachtaráin Taoiseach (plural: Taoisigh) Tánaiste Dáil Seanad Ceann Comhairle Cathaoirleach
Residence of the President Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister Lower House of Parliament Upper House of Parliament Chairman of the Dáil Chairman of the Seanad
Council of State
Group consisting of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Chief Justice, the President of the High Court, the Ceann Comhairle, the Cathaoirleach, the Attorney General, every person able and willing to act who has held office as President, Taoiseach, or Chief Justice, and any other persons (to a total of seven) whom the President may appoint at her or his own discretion.
Election of President
Under the Constitution, the President is elected by the direct vote of the people. Every citizen of thirty-five years of age or over is eligible for the office.
Term of Office
Seven years. Re-election is allowed once only.
Viceroy
The term ‘Lord Lieutenant’ was also used. The title given to the representative of the British crown and chief governor of Ireland. From 1696 to 1767 they were mostly absentee. The office survived until 1922.
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The light of welcome shines continuously in an upper window in ร ras an Uachtarรกin.
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www.president.ie