Lord
Charlemont had met and befriended Sir William Chambers
in Italy while Chambers was studying roman antiquities
and Charlemont was on a collecting trip. Years later
Charlemont had hired Chambers to design his Casino
on his family estate at Marino outside Dublin. When
the need arose for a residence in the city Charlemont
turned again to Chambers who produced the designs
for Charlemont House finished in 1763. The house
now the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art consists
of a single block of five bays with curved screen
walls to
either side. The house breaks up the regularity
of this side of Parnell Square as it is set back
from the other houses.
The original
ground floor plan now destroyed had a central vestibule
with a staircase placed in a curved bay. There was
also a long gallery and pavilion designed to hold
Charlemont's large and important collection of books
and antiquities. The space between the pavilion and
the main house has now been filled with galleries.
Charlemont's
extravagant building and collecting left his estate
in financial difficulties and his successor the 2nd
Earl sold everything but Charlemont House, the Casino
and Marino house. The 3rd Earl however sold the library
which was described as: the finest private library
that Ireland is ever likely to see and one of the
finest ever brought together on this side of the atlantic.
Charlemont
house was sold to the government in 1870 becoming
the General Register and Census Offices for Ireland
and later the Municipal Gallery for Modern Art - a
development that Charlemont would undoubtedly would
have approved.
Charlemont
House was finished in 1763 and designed by William
Chambers for James Caulfeild, the 1st Earl of Charlemont.
It is a handsome brick fronted mansion on Dublin's
Parnell Square. It was bought by the government in
1870 and since 1933 it has housed the Hugh Lane Dublin
City Gallery.
