Aldborough House, Portland Row.
Completed at the turn of the 19th century.
It took more than 10 years to build.
In April, 2011 – following a fire at fellow architectural gem Belcamp College, Dublin 17, Ruadhan Mac Eoin, a former press secretary of An Taisce, sent Dublin City Council the following:
I wish to now put on record that the appropriate state agencies have received ample warnings as to the inevitability of important heritage buildings being destroyed by further vandalism and arson if appropriate measures are not taken to provide protection. If – or when – the next important heritage building is torched or substantially damaged, I hope this correspondence will ensure that the public record accurately reflects that the responsible parties were made aware of the likelyhood ahead of such occurrence
…Finally, I would ask you to also take a look at the attached photo of AldboroughHouse, on Portland Row, Dublin 1. The last great Georgian mansion to be built in Dublin, this building is sited within a hundred yards of Dublin City Council’s Seán MacDermott Street office and was perfectly intact up until very recently. However it was left empty.
Although privately owned, again intervention has been requested of the local authority on a number of occasions. Again the local authority has intervened, by way of assessment inspections, only after the roofing and internal metals were stripped. I am not aware of any further follow up action by the authorities to adequately protect the premises.
Everyday I pass by, there seems to be another window broken. Although it seems to be beyond the owner’s interest to adequately secure the building, seemingly the owner now operates a car park in the grounds when events take place in Croke Park.
Again I simply to wish to put my understanding on record so that in the likely event of the building suffering terminable damage, my conscience will be clear in the knowledge that those vested with the responsibility of such matters were advised accordingly; I can do little more.
A representative of the council replied that Mr Mac Eoin was being ‘disingenuous’.
Last week Aldborough House was nearly destroyed by arson.
Aldborough House, 1803 (Archiseek)
(Pic via Archiseek)
