Parliament House in Dublin was designed by Edward Lovett Pearce for the Irish Parliament, with Richard Castle as assistant draftsman, and the foundation stone was laid on February 3, 1729. Pearce died in 1733, and Arthur Dobbs supervised completion to 1739. It is described as the world's first purpose-built bicameral parliament house.
The style is Palladian Georgian. A semicircular plan with an Ionic colonnade forms an E around an entrance quadrangle, with statues of Hibernia, Fidelity and Commerce above the portico. Walls are calp limestone rubble faced with Portland stone. The facade is about 154 feet (47 m) long. James Gandon added the House of Lords entrance.
The Irish Parliament met here until the Act of Union, with its last session in August 1800. The Bank of Ireland bought the building in 1803 for 40,000 pounds, and Francis Johnston converted it. The House of Lords chamber is open to the public. The article gives no hours.
Comments