St. Helen's, Booterstown

St. Helen's is a period house built in the early 1750s and located in Booterstown, County Dublin, Ireland. It is operated as a five star Radisson hotel and owned by the Cosgrave Property Group. It had some notable owners such as the Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough, Sir John Nutting and the Congregation of Christian Brothers. The building displays the motto "Mors Potior Macula", meaning "Death rather than infamy".

The house was originally called Seamount and an entry in the Registry of Deeds shows on 20 June 1754 an agreement between the first owner Thomas Cooley and Richard Viscount Fitzwilliam to let "all that one acre of land plantation entered in and on the west to the high road leading from Dublin to Wicklow". It is understood that Thomas Cooley, noted as being a Dublin barrister and MP of Duleek, was finishing the house and some out buildings.

The house was sold in 1795 to Robert Alexander, an early patron and church warden of St. Philip and St. James Church, Booterstown. He died in 1829.

From 1830 the house was occupied by Right Hon. John Doherty, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. It was passed to him from a Mrs. Wall who purchased it from a representative of Robert Alexander. While he lived there he oversaw some further improvements.

Colonel Henry White bought the house from John Doherty, and at this time the name of the house changed to St. Helen's. He then sold it in 1851 to Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough.

Hugh Gough became a Baronet in 1842 in recognition of his military services in China. In 1846 while commander in chief of forces in India, he was raised to Baron. He was raised again in 1849 to Viscount Gough due to his achievements during the Sikh rebellion and the annexation of the Punjab. In 1857 he became Knight of St. Patrick.

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