Introduction

Situated in the heart of Dublin, Leinster House has a rich and fascinating history that falls naturally into three distinct phases.

The house was initially built from 1745 as a private residence of the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare, and from 1766, the Dukes of Leinster. In 1792 it became the model for the first White House, designed by Kilkenny architect and former Dublin Society Drawing School pupil, James Hoban. 

In 1815 it passed into the ownership of the Dublin Society, or Royal Dublin Society from 1820. It served as the society’s offices, meeting house, museum, library and drawing school, which became the foundation for the National Museum, National Library and National College of Art and Design.

Finally, since 1922, Leinster House has been the home of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. 

This exhibition illustrates the many lives of this historic building, and it provides an insight into the early years of the RDS. It is primarily composed of architectural drawings of Leinster House kindly loaned by the Irish Architectural Archive and the Office of Public Works, as well as drawings from the collections of the RDS Library & Archives.

Throughout the exhibition, you can click twice on the images to see them closer up.