Dublin’s famous doors, with their colorful fronts and brass handles and knockers, are typical of Georgian art, an architectural style very widespread in Ireland, and especially in Dublin. Georgian-style houses are legion on the island, and all display a style combining sobriety and uniformity… somewhat broken by the charming eccentricity of the doors. The secret? The color of their doors, always different from one house to the next!
It was the Irish bourgeoisie of the 18th century who, out of pride, adopted the Georgian style, and used it in the architecture of the mansions in the upper districts of Dublin and the island’s major cities. This style is characterized by tall brick buildings, opened by white windows blocked by wrought-iron balconies.
You enter through a brightly-colored door, decorated with a large glass fan beneath which stands a knocker. Irish humor has it that each door is painted in a different, garish color, depending on the house, primarily to provide a landmark for the Irishman on his way home drunk from the pub!
History tells us that, in the past, the doors of Georgian houses were of a plain, dull color, uniform for all the buildings. It wasn’t until the mid-18th century that an author and writer named George Moore decided to paint his door a bright green, so that his neighbor, Oliver John Gogarty (another Irish writer), wouldn’t come home drunk every night. In response, Gogarty did the same, repainting his door in red, which set off a veritable trend in the capital of Dublin to make it easier to distinguish one house from another!
The rooms are generally laid out as follows: the dining room on the first floor, the kitchens in the basement, the living room on the second floor, the master bedroom above and the children’s bedrooms on the top floor.
Ireland’s successive crises saw these lush mansions transformed into apartments, and many of them were sadly destroyed in the 1750s. Entire streets around Saint Stephen’s Green and Fitzwilliam Street were demolished.
All these demolitions enchanted the Irish nationalist cause, which wished to cut Ireland off completely from the memory of British colonization. (Remember that the Georgian style originated in England).
Fortunately, a few Georgian buildings have survived in Dublin. You can admire them by visiting the area south of the Liffey. Here you’ll find the embassy and business districts, Fitzwilliam Square and Merrion Square, with their brightly coloured doors and picturesque storefronts!
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