Mansion House, Dublin

Mansion House
Teach an Ard-Mhéara
Mansion House in 2011
General information
Type	Official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin
Location	Dawson Street, Dublin 2, D02 AF30
Completed	1710
Inaugurated	1715
Owner	Dublin City Council

The Mansion House (Irish: Teach an Ard-Mhéara) on Dawson Street, Dublin, has been the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715.

The Mansion House's most famous features include the "Round Room", where the First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 to proclaim the Irish Declaration of Independence. On 21 January 1969 a special fiftieth anniversary joint session of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann assembled there and was addressed by the then President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera.

Externally, the distinctive metal portico over the main door was erected for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1900.

Its most famous occupants included Lord Mayors:

Famous visitors to the mayoral residence include:

The Mansion House was built in 1710 by the merchant and property developer Joshua Dawson, after whom Dawson Street is named. Dublin Corporation purchased the house in 1715 for assignment as the official residence of the Lord Mayor. It retains this purpose to this day.

In the 1930s and 1940s, plans were made to demolish the building, and all other buildings on the block on which it is located (which covered an area on Dawson Street, Molesworth Street, Kildare Street and the North side of St. Stephen's Green), to enable the building of a new Dublin City Hall. However the decision of the Government to erect a new Department of Industry and Commerce on a site on the same block, on Kildare Street, led to the abandonment of the plans.