RDS Celebrates 100 Years at its Ballsbridge Headquarters
By Natasha Serne
Ballsbridge is synonymous with the RDS which has been a notable presence in the area for over 145 years. This year as the RDS celebrates 100 years of its headquarters at Ballsbridge we explore the history of the Society’s association with this leafy South Dublin suburb with RDS Head of Library and Archives Natasha Serne.
Ballsbridge, located on the south side of the city of Dublin belonged to the historic Pembroke Township, and formed part of the estate of the Earls of Pembroke. It is named for the three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, built and owned by the Ball family, a well-known Dublin merchant family in the 1500s and 1600s. The current bridge was built in 1791.
The RDS first moved to Ballsbridge in 1879 where they leased a parcel of 15 acres of land, from the 13th Earl of Pembroke to hold their Horse Show (established 1864) Spring Show (established 1831) and other agricultural shows. These had previously been held on the grounds of their headquarters at Leinster House, originally purchased from the Duke of Leinster in 1815 and which by this time had become quite crowded with all the Society’s various activities.
One of the first buildings erected at Ballsbridge was the RDS Main Hall. Designed by English architect Edward Wilkinson it was completed in 1880, in time for the first Horse Show held on the site in 1881. The building was a two storied utilitarian structure of brick and moulded stone, with 3 wide doorways at ground level to allow access for horses, livestock and other objects associated with the RDS exhibitions and shows held there during the period.
This was in stark contrast to the Society’s near neighbour the hybrid Gothic revival/ Arts and Crafts style Pembroke Town Hall, designed by Dublin architect Edward Henry Carson which was being constructed at around the same time. The RDS purchased its Ballsbridge site outright from the Pembroke estate in 1890.
At this time the Main Hall was expanded to include the Members and Minerva Foyers which were joined by the Dodder Rooms, the Agricultural Hall (now the RDS Industries Hall) which was designed by Frederick Villiers Clarendon in 1858 and originally located at Leinster House and, the Arts & Industries Hall (now the RDS Concert Hall). This period also saw the addition of a private railway siding running up to the Merrion Road to bring animals to the RDS Shows and sales ring, leased to Goffs in the 1880s. The siding was an extension of William Dargan’s Dublin and Southeastern Railway and remained in place until the early 1970s. The site was sold to AIB in 1975 and is now occupied by the Meta building.
During the 1900s the RDS continued to expand its activities at Ballsbridge. More stabling was installed, and the jumping enclosure developed for the Horse Show, which was postponed in 1914 for the duration of the First World War. During this time the RDS was used by the British Army for an artillery station and a remount centre that prepared and sent horses to the front for combat.
The Horse Show returned to Ballsbridge in 1919 and the next few years brought some radical changes for the RDS. In 1922 the Irish Government sought the use of the RDS lecture theatre at Leinster House for the Oireachtas. The lecture theatre which had been completed in 1897 was felt to be the only suitably sized space for the new government to meet in Dublin. The RDS agreed, and in 1924 they completed the sale of Leinster House to the government and moved their headquarters to Ballsbridge. Moving to Ballsbridge might have been viewed as an inconvenience by some RDS members, who probably missed the central location of Leinster House.
However, Leinster House was quite cramped during the latter half of the 19th century with the RDS sharing its rooms with the various civil-service departments administering the National Museum, National Library, the Metropolitan School of Art and the Botanic Gardens, which had passed from the Society to the State in 1877. Coupled with this the construction of the new National Library and Museum buildings (completed in 1890) would have been noisy and intrusive, and the semi-rural environs of Ballsbridge must have provided a welcome oasis of calm for many members.
The RDS engaged architect Lucius O’Callaghan to give their new headquarters an extensive make-over. For the RDS Merrion Road frontage O’Callaghan added the Council Chamber at the opposite end of the site to balance with the Concert Hall at the further end and connected the Main Hall to these structures with two new single-storey wings. The entire facade was clad in granite to achieve uniformity and bring the three structures together in a neo-classical style that reflected the Society’s Georgian heritage and its previous headquarters of Leinster House.
In 1926 the RDS hosted the first Irish leg of the Nations Cup competition at the Dublin Horse Show. The increased crowds generated by this event necessitated the construction of a new stand. The Anglesea stand was completed in two sections between 1927 and 1928, it had seating for around 5,000 people and was built at a cost of £32,000. The iconic Pembroke Hall and Clocktower were completed in 1930. The Clocktower was commissioned by the stand holders who traded at the RDS Shows and is dedicated to former RDS Director Edward Bohane who was responsible for many of the innovations that contributed to the success of the Horse Show and Spring Show during the 1920s and 1930s.
In the late 1950s the RDS purchased Simmonscourt, where they expanded the Spring Show, utilizing the site for its agricultural machinery displays. They also held other large-scale events here including the Atoms for Peace conference in 1966, where they hosted a fully working nuclear reactor. The gate linking Simmonscourt and Anglesea Road sides of the campus is named for former RDS President Judge W. E. Wiley, another key figure in the development of the Dublin Horse Show and the RDS Showgrounds during the first half of the 20th century.
In 1965 President of Ireland Eamon De Valera opened the new RDS Library building, located in the Members area on the Merrion Road part of the campus. When the Society first moved their headquarters to Ballsbridge the Library was housed in the Concert Hall and on the balcony of the Main Hall. The new Library building brought all the collections together except for the journals which still remain on their shelves in the Concert Hall.
Today the RDS is widely known as Ireland’s premier events venue, with its 42-acre campus at Ballsbridge covering Simmonscourt, Merrion Road and Anglesea Road. The Society is embarking on an exciting programme of campus development as outlined in its recent 5-year strategy that will ensure the sites’ continuing success and relevance for all its members, clients and stakeholders into the future.