The Lodge, 1999.
Family tree - Fitzwilliam - Mount Merrion House - The Lodge |
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The Lodge and stables were built by the 5th Viscount in 1711. This is about as old as a private house in Dublin will get. The starting point for "ordinary" buildings in Ireland is 1691. Due to the troubled state of the country, there are very few unfortified buildings in the whole of Ireland before that date.
Mount Merrion House (the 3 blocks) was acquired in 1936 by the Catholic church
from the Pembroke descendants
and the Lodge was converted
into a Catholic chapel.
Crosses added on the roof.
The front door (facing S) was sealed up in favour of entrances at the ends.
The separate Catholic parish of Mt Merrion
was formally established 1948.
The chapel (the Lodge)
was superseded by the grand new church beside it 1956 (NOT 1968).
The main block
of Mount Merrion House (behind the Lodge)
was demolished around 1976,
and a new Community Centre built on the site 1979.
The Lodge became a run-down youth centre,
attached to the modern Community Centre.
By the 1990s, the Lodge was just a storeroom,
in terrible condition.
The building had been brutally covered over with a modern rough plaster.
There was a plan to demolish it 1998,
but after objections by An Taisce and others,
it was saved.
It was restored
and opened as a new Community Centre 2003,
joined to the existing Community Centre.
It is still owned by the Catholic parish.
Opened by
President Mary McAleese
16th May 2003.
The inside is modern, but the outside has been nicely restored, with the 1711 stone over the door. The main room has been named "The Fitzwilliam Room". There is also a "Titania Room". The ancient vaulted wine cellars still survive underneath.
The Lodge, 1999.
The Lodge, after restoration, 2004.
Note crosses on the roof have now been removed. Note 1711 stone is now mounted in wall.
See full size.
The Lodge, after restoration, 2004.
See full size.
[Ball, vol.2, 1903] says it was the stables that bore this date:
"In its style of architecture the original house resembled the existing stables, which bear the date 1711"so this stone was probably taken from the RHS block of the stables when it was demolished - rather than taken from the main block, which we think was newer.
In winter 2002-3 this stone was removed from the wall and mounted above the old (S) front door of the Lodge (now a window) as part of the restoration.
The stone with the date "1711" at
Mount Merrion. Photos 1999.
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