Deerfield Residence
| Deerfield Residence | |
|---|---|
Deerfield Residence in Phoenix Park, Dublin
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| Former names | Chief Secretary's Lodge |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Location | Chesterfield Avenue, Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°21′29.5″N 6°19′59.3″W / 53.358194°N 6.333139°W |
| Current tenants | United States Ambassador to Ireland (since 1927) |
| Construction started | 1774 |
| Completed | 1776 |
| Owner | United States government (since 2013) |
| Website | |
| U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Dublin | |
The Deerfield Residence (formerly the Chief Secretary's Lodge) is the official residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America to Ireland.
The premises has been the Ambassador's Official Residence since 1927, and was previously the Embassy of the United States of America in Ireland. Deerfield Residence is a large 18th-century building, sitting on 62 acres (250,000 m²) of private grounds in the centre of the Phoenix Park in Dublin. It sits across from the official residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin.
The position of United States Ambassador to Ireland became vacant on January 20, 2017, when all politically appointed U.S. ambassadors were removed from office by President Donald Trump upon his inauguration.
The previous ambassador was Kevin O'Malley. O'Malley, who was on June 5, 2014, nominated by the Obama administration as the new Ambassador to Ireland, was commissioned by the United States Senate on September 18, 2014 and appointed to the position by President Barack Obama. O'Malley was sworn-in on September 30, 2014, and presented his credentials to President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins on October 8, 2014.Dan Rooney was the previous ambassador, who resigned in December 2012. Stuart Dwyer had been the Chargé d'affaires since September 5, 2013. Dwyer became Deputy Chief of Mission following the appointment of O'Malley as ambassador.
The residence was originally built by Sir John Blaquiere, 1st Baron de Blaquiere, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, and taken over to become the Chief Secretary's Dublin residence in the late 18th century. Until the abolition of the post in 1922 it served as the official residence in Dublin of the Chief Secretary, the second-in-command in the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland's administration. The Chief Secretary played a role akin to a Prime Minister in the administration. Winston Churchill - later to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom - spent some of his childhood living in the Phoenix Park. Following the establishment of the Irish Free State, a number of possible uses for the empty residences in the Phoenix Park were considered, from sale or demolition to turning the Chief Secretary's Lodge into a residence for the President of the Executive Council (Prime Minister). In the mid-1920s plans were made to move the Governor-General of the Irish Free State, Timothy Michael Healy, from his large and costly Viceregal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin) official residence to the smaller Chief Secretary's Lodge across the road. Healy however expressed a wish that, if he was to move at all, it should be to his private home in Chapelizod. Believing that Healy's home was too exposed and a security risk, the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (cabinet) chose to leave Healy in the Viceregal Lodge. Instead the Chief Secretary's Lodge was rented on a ten-year lease to the United States government, to become a combined ambassador's residence and embassy, on February 19, 1927.
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