History of Stauntons on the Green, Dublin

Originally a terrace of three Georgian Houses, 82,83 and 84 St Stephens Green, Stauntons on the Green was constructed in 1750. Number 84 was the home of Henry Grattan {the Act of Union dissolved Grattan’s Parliament in 1801}.

Henry Grattan was born in Dublin on 3rd July 1746, he was baptised at St John’s Church, Fishamble Street, Dublin on 3rd July 1746.He was called to the Irish Bar in 1772 ; in the early 1770s Henry Grattan joined Henry Flood’s campaign for national independence. Grattan entered the Irish parliament in the December of 1775 soon after Henry Flood had forfeited the movement’s leadership by accepting government office. At the start Grattan sat for Lord Charlemont’s borough of Charlemont and from 1790 he was MP for Dublin City.

By 1778 Henry Grattan’s brilliant oratory had made him a leading spokesman of the Irish nationalist agitation. That year, the Irish Volunteers were established. By 1779 Grattan – with the backing of the Volunteers who provided the muscle to his demands – was strong enough to force Lord North’s government to remove the majority of its restraints on the Irish trade. In April of 1780 Henry Grattan demanded the repeal of Poynings’ Law which had made all legislation passed by the Irish Parliament subject to approval by the English Parliament. Nineteenth century nationalists classed the Irish parliament of 1782 until 1800 as ‘’ Grattan’s parliament’’.

Henry Grattan died in Baker Street, Portman Square, England on the 4th of June 1820 at the age of 74 years. He was buried on the 16th of June in the north transept of Westminister Abbey where a simple flat stone marks the spot.

Ownership dates back to the National University of Ireland, who used the property for its Dean’s of Residence and to accommodate archives opening its doors to students on the 3rd of November 1854 with John Henry Newman as the founding Rector. The poet and Jesuit, Gerard Manley Hopkins who taught the students resided at the House from 1884 until his death there in 1889. It was at his desk in the House that we may suppose he wrote some of his famous sonnets. The University subsequently moved to Earlsfort Terrace, and the Catholic Church sold the property to the Dunloe Property Group.

The property was acquired by its present owner in 1992 at which point the building was restored to it’s original architectural beauty and still retains its magnificent marble fireplaces and many of its elaborate plaster ceilings. It remains a building of unique character with spacious relaxing rooms and wonderful vistas of Dublin’ city parks.

The owner of the Guinness Brewery – Lord Ardilaun who lived next door to Stauntons on the Green at Iveagh House drained the marshland of the now St Stephens Green Park, planted it and built an ornamental lake, the water for which was carried via 2 underground ducts from the Grand Canal at Leeson Street. He railed the park and gifted it to the people of Ireland. The Guinness family also donated the present Iveagh Gardens {at the rear of Stauntons on the Green} to the people of Ireland. A statue of Lord Ardilaun is erected in St Stephens Green Park on the west side.

For bookings please contact Heidi or Michelle on Reservations.
Phone: +353(0)1-4782300
Email: info@stauntonsonthegreen.ie
Staunton's on the Green, 83 St. Stephens Green South, Dublin 2