2. The Royal Dublin Society (1815-1922)

In 1815, the third Duke of Leinster sold Leinster House to the Dublin Society. Its name was changed to the Royal Dublin Society in 1820 when King George IV became a patron. At this stage, extensions and annexes were added to the original house. Below, the first photograph shows the front gate of Leinster House when it was occupied by the RDS, with the statue of Minerva on top, and in the second image we see behind the gate and get a closer view of the facade of the house. Both of these photographs date to approximately 1890. The third image is of the RDS picture gallery, which had been a ballroom in the time of the Dukes of Leinster.

A successor to the Great Exhibition held in the Crystal Place, London, in 1851, the Great Industrial Exhibition ran on the RDS grounds at Leinster House from 12 May to 31 October 1853. As much a marvel as any of the objects on display was the edifice in which the exhibition was housed. Constructed of iron, wood and glass, the Irish Industrial Exhibition Building was paid for by William Dargan and installed by Richard Turner on Leinster Lawn in a matter of months. Its architect was John Benson, who was knighted for his efforts.

This plan shows the locations of the various stalls for the National Horse Show of 1876. With the Spring Show, the Horse Show was one of the two signature events in the RDS calendar. Various horse classes were housed in the Shelbourne and Agricultural Halls and in yards at the end of Clare Lane and behind the College of Art, where sheep pens were also located. The front courtyard became the main show arena.

This image shows the original configuration of the RDS lecture theatre, with a dais and stage facing a block of seats at ground floor level above which rose two tiers of horseshoe-shaped seating. In the centre of the image is a sophisticated lantern projector. For conversion to Dáil use, a new floor was inserted over the central block of seats to make a platform for the Ceann Comhairle, the clerk of the Dáil and the official reporters. The lower tier of seating was replaced with rows of commodious mahogany and leather-covered seats designed by Hugh O’Flynn of the OPW, and the upper tier became press and public galleries.