During the early 18th century, Dublin, Ireland rose to become one of the British Empire's most prominent and prosperous cities. Dubliners began to build elegant new Georgian homes beyond the walls of the original medieval town. One of the first developments was called Merrion Square. At the time of construction, all of the exterior doors were the same color. How and when did the famous vibrant-colored doors, now a city landmark, come into being?
For every historical happening, there's always a good story to explain it. The Georgian doors of Dublin are no exception. It's said (usually by tour guides) that the writer George Moore lived next door to another well-known writer, Oliver St. John Gogarty. Both were a bit eccentric and, so the story goes, Moore painted his door green so that the drunken Gogarty wouldn't mistakenly come knocking on it late at night. Gogarty then retaliated by painting his door a bright red. And that's supposedly what started the ball rolling.
But, the truth isn't quite as colorful (no pun intended). The fact is that the Georgian style exteriors of these townhouses, by virtue of strict rules laid down by the developer, had to adhere to very specific architectural guidelines - they were all, to the smallest detail, uniformly built. So, in order to set themselves apart, the residents of Georgian Dublin started painting their front doors whatever color struck their fancy (red was more durable and became a favorite). They, also, added ornate door-knockers, elegant fanlights above the door and wrought iron boot scrapers near the entrance.
Beginning in the 1950's - in a well-intentioned, but sadly misguided attempt by Irish government to wipe away physical reminders of Ireland's colonial past - scores of these beautiful Georgian town homes were destroyed. Thanks to diligent efforts by historians, architects and preservationists, the carnage finally came to a halt. There was one other group responsible for saving what was left of the row houses: the Irish Tourist Board had taken note that tourists and cameras were drawn like magnets to the Georgian squares because of "the famous doors of Dublin."
The doors on this page are not all located in the Georgian squares of Dublin. Early on, Dubliners in other areas of the city started following suit and, now, you'll find colorful doors, here and there, in many of the neighborhoods of the city. But, most of these photos are of the Georgian townhouses constructed in the 1700's. |
