Frescati House

Frescati (sometimes misspelled 'Frascati') was an estate situated in Blackrock, Dublin, between the mountains and the sea. During the eighteenth century, Blackrock was favoured with the well-to-do of Ireland and grew into a fashionable seaside resort. The gentry of smog-ridden Dublin advanced into the area to embrace the sea air. It was around this period that a number of marine villas were built around Blackrock – including Maretimo, Carysfort, Lios an Uisce, Sans Souci and others. Frescati House was built in 1739 for the family of John Hely Hutchinson, the Provost of Trinity College.

In the 1750s, Hely-Hutchinson sold the house to the FitzGeralds, Ireland's largest landowners, who owned land throughout Leinster. Frescati became one of their three principal residences alongside Leinster House in Dublin and Carton House in County Kildare. They spent much time in Frescati, especially in the summer. When the Duchess of Leinster, Emily FitzGerald saw Frescati, she is said to have "fallen in love with it".

Unlike Kildare House and Carton House, the Fitzgeralds did not commission Frescati House, however in the 1760s, they extended and enhanced it. They are said to have spent £85,000 on the house (equivalent to many millions of euro in 2016 terms). It tripled in size and received flanking wings and bay windows to take advantage of its sea views. It was at this time that the house was given its name, Frescati, a deliberate corruption of the Italian resort of Frascati.

Unlike some other great houses, its exterior was austere and not adorned with pediments or pilasters. For some, this gave it a noble simplicity. For others, it seemed unremarkable and undermined the case for preservation. Its exterior contrasted with a richly ornate and well-proportioned interior. The interior had carved marble chimneypieces, many elaborate ceilings and plasterwork of a high quality. There was a book room, a classical stone staircase with medallioned walls and a circular room with a groined ceiling. In the long parlour there was a painted ceiling by Riley, a student of Joshua Reynolds. Frescati even had its own theatre with Corinthian columns. Jacob Smith, who also worked at Carton and Russborough, landscaped and devised the large formal gardens filled with rare plants and shrubs. The house stood well back from the road on several acres of woods and parkland, and the Priory Stream passed through its grounds. There was also a small seawater pool in the garden. The gateway stood close to where the entrance to the Blackrock Shopping Centre stands today and its lands stretched back to where Sydney Avenue is now located.

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Wikipedia