Aldborough House Portland Row, Dublin

@markpb wrote:

I pass this building every day on the bus and I’ve never known what it was. It looks almost identical in design to Broadstone station.

It’s Aldborough House. Built 1803, the last of the great inner city mansions. Was an eircom facility for a long time, IMRO nearly bought it for their HQ a few years back but backed out at the last minute. I don’t know who occupies it now.

edit. its late 1790s, scroll down this page for info
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/Colin/Misc/Stratfords/Stratfords13.html

more recent info

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/04/30/story13702.asp

Great, thanks!

Ì think there were plans for a clinic to be developed recently.

Most Recent Granted Application iirc :

Planning permission sought for the redevelopment of the site known as Aldborough House, bounded by Portland Row, Empress Place and Killarney Street, Dublin 1, which is a Protected Structure, to a 40 bedroom ”Day Hospital Medical Care Facility”, consisting of sympathetic conservation and restoration of the existing 3-storey over basement/ lower ground level main house

DCC Planning Ref : 5427/06

AFAIK the clinic was going to be a 50-50 jv between Ely Property and the now-in-receivership Newcourt Group plc. Who knows what’ll happen to it given the latter’s difficulties.

It’d be great if the forecourt could be restored. I presume there was a stables or something in the space opposite the chapel(?).

I’ve no idea what the building could be used for, though. Does it have any practical public utility and, if it did, could it attract people from outside the locality?

Quite a few of the planning conditions were extremely restrictive and would have required a complete redesign and new planning application. That never happened and I believe it’s been sold on.

Incredible building, in good condition too. The largest reception room is about 1100 sq ft and the ceiling must be about 20ft high.

Some examples of scagliola there too by a fella called Pietro Bossi.

I passed this building recently and it would appear that alot of the glazing is damaged.

Any one have any interior shots???

when was the wall built?

The grim Adam’s family-like state of the house as of a couple of years ago.

I’ve a lovely watercolour of the house and grounds shortly after completion in one of those fusty aul books from the 1940s, where the new-fangled coloured plates have the suspicious appearance of being painstakingly pasted in by hand, but can’t find it now tsk.

Here’s some grim photographic imagery instead. This one appears to date to the late 19th century when it was probably a post office depot.

And again in the early/mid 20th century.

© Courtauld Institute of Art

The house of course is famous for being distinctly gawky in proportions, with a bizarrely tall piano nobile fitted with windows so narrow and densely clustered as to make the house appear to be on the verge of toppling over.

For once, the son out-maneovered the father when it came to the architect, Richard Johnston. His characteristic gawkiness can also be seen at the Gate Theatre/Assembly Rooms complex on Parnell Square (glad to see Christine Casey picks up the same point ;)).

A certain domesticity was applied to his buildings in their use of expansive fenestration, including his former Daly’s Club on College Green. Ironically, big houses like Aldborough should look as least domestic as they possibly can. The dropping of the first floor windows of Tyrone House in the early 19th century is also characteristic of this trend.

The stairwell of Aldborough once featured enormous wall paintings so vulgar as to make it almost a relief that they have long since been removed. Still, white elephants two centuries on are always curiosities in their own right, so it’s a shame more of the original interior scheme of this house did not survive the batterings of institutional use. Still, enough remains for it to be pieced back together again.

Detailed history of the house is here in book which was published in 1898.

http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/PictDub/picturesque8.htm

I’ve recent pictures of the interior but they’re too hi rez for posting. Can I send them to someone to rejig if they want to post ? It would take me an age to figure it out (although I will if there are no takers).

Oh my God, Paul, that staircase is astonishing.

It is amazing – these are rusty’s pictures btw.

A bit of tlc and the nextwave of economic prosperity (not boom) should reveal this gem for what it is. Shouldn’t An Post (or whoever was last in it) be made to return it at least to wind- and watertight condition and reasonable decorative order? How can they simply walk away?

There were plans to turn it into consulting rooms and a small surgical practice, at least there was a planning application for that, number 5427/06.

Yes, as reported by Neil Callanan in The Sunday Business Post at the time.

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/04/30/story13702.asp

Many thanks for the pictures, Rusty. I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a cantilevered staircase left in the capital that hasn’t endured drastic structural interventions in the past few years. What a crying shame. And what a bizarre sight. At least the bold Soane red distracts somewhat from the eerie liquorice contraption.

The staircase of Aldborough is nonetheless distinctly mean, with plain Portland steps and three stark, wrought iron balusters per tread. Apparently the balustrade was intended to be adorned with brass dressings, which would have been quite the sight. Christine Casey recounts the dry observations of the then Vicereine, Lady Hardwicke, on her visit to the house, presumably around 1801, regarding the preposterous series of wall paintings which adorned the staircase walls. She noted:

“The staircase is richly adorned with paintings. Let one be in your idea a model for the rest. Imagine a large panel occupied by the ‘Triumph of Amphitrite’ personified by Lady Aldborough in a riding habit with Minerva’s helmet, sitting on the knee of Lord Aldborough in a complete suit of regimentals, Neptune having politiely resigned his seat in the car to his Lordship, and contenting himself with the office of coachman to the six well fed tritons. The whole corps of sea-nymphs attend the car in the dress of Nereids! But each, instead of a vocal shell, bears in her hand a medallion with the picture (the head and shoulders as large as life)of an admiral’s wigs, bald-heads, crops etc. Think of a whole mansion decorated this way.”

:p

From Rusty’s pictures, it is heartening to see how many of the interior fittings still survive. From some accounts you get the impression that nothing is left. It is to be expected that furnishings, wall paintings, the Bossi chimneypieces, mirrored shuttering and its ilk would have long vanished given the various institutional uses the house was put to. It’s good to see that most joinery, plasterwork and some chimneypieces remain. The Library seems almost intact. Loving the gas lamps!

Poor old Aldborough today. That invasive 19th century gate lodge does not do it any favours.

Only one wing, that of the theatre, survives.

The western wing that housed the chapel has been demolished, while its arm appears to have been refaced minus its stone dressings. The ground floor of the house is stern and unforgiving. The porch almost looks like an afterthought, with no responding order of pilasters on the walls and rather gauche rustication as the setting for the main entrance. Not a good start.

The theatre arm. Again, a crude contrast between the delicate detailing and luxurious Portland stone with the harsh expression of the main house, further exacerbated by the painted render walls.

This is the rear of the opposing wing with service accommodation and passages concealed behind.

A head on view. There really is no reconciling of that gawky first floor is there?

The remarkably skinny windows. All sashes are 19th or early 20th century replacements, probably dating from when the house was occupied by Posts and Telegraphs.

The much embellished Stratford coat of arms to the pediment is in superb condition, presumably as it is north facing.

Where the chapel once was.

This side of the house suffered extreme water ingress at some point by the looks of it. One hopes this is a legacy issue…

Shamefully, many of the windows are wide open. This place will either fall down with damp or go up in flames if not addressed.

The same can be said around the back with the delightful bow.

Casey says the brick is yellow, and originally was rendered and lined to look like stone. It is difficult to decipher from a distance exactly what colour the brick is. Without question there are red tones in there. It is also difficult to believe that a cheap, block-imitation render would be used as a facing, when brick would be so much more attractive, used in the same way as the rear of Powerscourt Townhouse in combination with stone dressings, i.e. what we see now.

In fact, I would say that not only was the building not rendered, but that it is not even yellow brick – rather it is entirely red brick which was always left exposed. It’s a shame it has all been repointed – we have less evidence.

Aldborough House is now stranded on a tiny site on Portland Row.

Its once gracious gardens were purchased by Dublin Corporation around 1937 for public housing. At least some of the best designed apartments in Dublin were built on the site, but did they really have to come that close?

On the face of it. Aldborough House seems miles away from the hub of the city, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just like Leinster House, and as espoused by the motto ‘Rus in Urbe’ inscribed on the portico, Aldborough also enjoyed “in the tumult of a noisy Metropolis, all the retirement of the Country” as observed by James Malton in respect of the Kildare Street mansion that Stratford was clearly attempting to outmanoeuvre. It is only when one rounds the corner from Portland Row onto Killarney Street that the uninterrupted route, as straight as an arrow, cutting all the way along Sean MacDermott Street and Cathal Brugha Street, to Richard Castle’s house at No. 42 Sackville Mall, that the proximity to the fashionable heart of the city becomes apparent. It was barely a ten minute walk to Spar, Centra and Londis for a boar’s head from the hot deli counter.

The lost stairwell paintings are one thing, but as a loss does it compare with a parapet ballustrade that had vultures?

Nice round up there Graham.I am still unclear who actually owns the building now. Is it Eircom or An Post or a.n. other?

Have always felt the building’s location is hindering its regeneration chances (apart from the obvious black hole it would be cash wise to get back into shape) i.e. would you get er, ‘cultural’ types to walk down Sean McDermott st to an ‘event’ or ‘installation’.

Conversely would a public authority cough up enough cash to renovate the building for more ‘community’ based uses with a more localised focus.

The proposal to turn it into a fancy medical centre really appeals to me, purely because I will live in hope of someday fielding an enquiry if ‘I know where the five lamps are’from some southside posho heading there for a procedure of some description.

Such a query will of course receive the traditional local reply;):D

Ely Properties own it

JD you should do a piece on it – leaving a building empty is understandable but leaving it open to the elements as this one it should be a crime

Don’t worry lads. Since I was in school Iv had great plans to buy this and restore it as a family house, that is provided I win the lotto soon.

Apparently that parapet balustrade ran the whole way round the back and side elevations as well. The print isn’t clear enough to know whether the finish on the secondary elevations was brick [Graham], or rendered [Casey]

According to Bennett’s ‘Encyclopaedia of Dublin’ in between being the Earl of Aldborough’s house and being a barracks, the house was briefly a school, the ‘Feinaglian Institute’, set up in 1813 by a Professor von Feinagle from Luxembourg.

Bennett says von Feinagle added the chapel [presumably therefore both wings], which would make a certain amount of sense.

Hmmm, yet Lord Aldborough himself designed the theatre, hence presumably the wings and the conceptual outline of the pavilions. Perhaps the chapel was only erected behind the previously built facade (if even) when Feinagle moved in? Given additional classrooms also formed part of this ensemble, and all are now demolished, it would suggest they were of the same idiom – built at the same time.

Sadly, the stables which lay behind the chapel on Empress Place have all been swept away too.

That’s a lovely view of the house with the gardens, gunter, perhaps with some artistic licence, falling away from the tall house. Looks better than the principal front, where tallness is less of a virtue.

In fact, looking at the house again, it would appear the Chapel wing was built from scratch by Feinagle, given the meanness of its detailing with the lack of Portland dressings and the different granite base to the other wing. Remarkably, this can be confirmed by a singular detail smaller than your little finger – namely the simple horn detail to the elegant right-hand window in the curved rear of the Chapel wing, almost certainly dating the whole construction to the late 1810s or 1820s.

The left-hand window, with larger horns and fewer, larger panes, is a replacement of a later date when the house’s sashes were also replaced.

From Terence Dooley’s Irish Heritage Trust survey (pp 53-4):

Aldborough House is located on Portland Row in Dublin 1. Originally built by the 2nd earl of Aldborough, it is now owned by the Irish Music Rights Organisation.

Aldborough House is one of four town houses included in this survey:
– It was the last great mansion to be built in Dublin city during the second half of the eighteenth century, arguably the city’s golden age. The scale and grandeur of the house – it has six principal rooms on the ground and first floors – and the size of its original garden were unprecedented at the time.
– The architect is unknown but given the sheer scale of the house and its design, it most likely was a contemporary architect of note, although there has also been speculation that it was the 2nd earl of Aldborough himself.
– The large forecourt has a private chapel on one side and what was originally a theatre on the other, both attached to the house by curving wings.
– The impressive cantilevered staircase is a major feature of this house. Unfortunately the house has gone through a variety of roles since it was first built. At different stages, it has been a school, a barracks, and a postal and telecommunications depot. As a result, the original fabric of the house has suffered greatly.

For example, in the 1980s, when Aldborough was owned by Telecom Eireann:
– The original site was compromised by the construction of a car park to provide for Telecom vans; the installation of a bank of toilets on the ground and second floors; the vertical division of rooms with studwork partitions in order to provide cellular offices; the surface mounting of a central heating system and a new electrical system; the re-plastering of extensive areas of the house following the treatment of dry rot.
– A new concrete staircase broke the former link to the main house, effectively isolating one wing.
– Many of these interventions are extremely crude in their design and are not easily reversible, in particular the former theatre which was virtually redesigned as a storehouse by Telecom.
– Cement based mortars and renders were used. Short life artificial tiles were used on the roof.

In short, while the building is in reasonably good structural repair, it is in a very poor state of preservation as many of the original features have been lost due to poor conservation practice and unnecessary intervention. Presently, IMRO have extensive restoration and renovation plans for the house.However, these will require a great deal of expenditure, which may be beyond the organisation.

[http://www.irishheritagetrust.ie/…/Historic%20House%20Survey%20-%20T%20Dooley.pdf%5D

It obviously was beyond the resources of IMRO to develop the site and was sold for €4.5 million in 2005 to Ely, the sale at the time quoted as to an ‘unknown developer’. The poor condition of the building today is a sad indictment of the quagmire this important structure has been left to rot in since 1999.

[http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/05/15/story4689.asp%5D

On a completely different topic regarding Aldborough’s use as a school,
This article suggest that a certain Von Feinagle could have been the genus of the word finagle.
http://books.google.ie/books?id=VWkfaTRQa5YC&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=finagle+Von+Feinagle&source=bl&ots=37yk9wS_cE&sig=8OUmb7msewG2wgZad6K_O4czLr8&hl=en&ei=rfWtS86dO4ju0gTOiZyQDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=finagle%20Von%20Feinagle&f=false
Sounds like an interesting character.

The Von Feinagle reign comprises a most interesting part of this building’s history, something that should be acknowledged in any future restoration (assuming the next owner doesn’t skedaddle also ;))

The eastern elevation with projecting theatre wing below. This wing would appear to date to the original construction of the house. (No prizes for guessing where the above-mentioned rank of lavatories on the second floor of the house is located…)

The theatre.

(Why does this part of the building always conjure up images of a private cinema, MTV Cribs style?)

Hearteningly, we have what appear to be the only 18th century windows left in the entire complex to its rear.

The height of the house never fails to impress. The tall proportions work to much more elegant effect to the rear, with the modest, warm brick facades lending a quaint, towerhouse-like quality to the mansion, in contrast to the utterly charmless principal elevation.

The brick would appear to be like that mixture of red and yellow that we see on houses of roughly similar date on the south side of Merrion Square, but with more red.

The windows are still open.

Really hope some use is found for this wonderful building. I worked on the set of Jim Sheridan’s In America much of the interior shots of the family’s New York apartment were shot here including the staircase. I doubt many would think it was Dublin.

Some new photos from Irish Georgian Society
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183090&id=98882993873&l=e4efd6e4ab

Still some vestages of former glory but its obviously been gutted over the years. Also, looks like some of the newer apartments were built a little too close!

Of course you realise that Aldborough House is nothing like Broadstone Station. Nothing like it whatsoever…

I understand that some money has been made available from the Structures at Risk fund to undertake some basic repairs of the house.

With only €650,000 available for the entire country this year – Aldborough House is unlikely to get more than €50,000, if we are lucky. I suppose it’s better than nothing but it won’t make much of a dent with a building of that size and in such a sorry state of dereliction.

It got €80k. It will at least stop water ingress.

Just informed that the Dublin Fire Brigade were at the house today. Don’t know how serious yet.

Does anyone have an update on condition of Aldborough House?

I for one am very concerned about it. There are a multitude of buildings at risk as we all know, but I think this is not only criticially at risk, but almost certainly one of the most important buildings at risk. Surely time for a fundraising campaign along the lines of that which saved Tailor’s Hall back in the 1960s? First priority: full-time security

Its sad that the concept of a caretaker has fallen by the wayside.

Item on tonight’s news
http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2013/0509/3530477-dublin-georgian-house-is-capitals-most-endangered-historic-building/

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

Item on tonight’s news
http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2013/0509/3530477-dublin-georgian-house-is-capitals-most-endangered-historic-building/

Cheers for posting that.

Absolutely outrageous to see the owner make his demands at the end of the clip.

Action must happen.