Glencairn House

Coordinates: 53°15′57″N 6°12′24″W / 53.26583°N 6.20667°W / 53.26583; -6.20667

Glencairn House, Old Murphystown Road

Glencairn House is the official residence of the British Ambassador to Ireland. Glencairn has been the official residence of successive British Ambassadors to Ireland since the 1950s.

The house is situated on the Murphystown Road between Leopardstown and Sandyford in South County Dublin, adjacent to exit 14 of the M50 motorway.

The house and its surrounding estate was sold by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in April 1999 for GBP£24 million without having purchased an alternative residence. In 2000 an alternative site was purchased at nearby Marlay Grange, close to Marlay Park.^[1]

The Ambassador continued to live at Glencairn while the Marlay Grange site was refurbished. A subsequent cost appraisal showed that it would in fact be more cost effective to repurchase Glencairn than to continue with plans to refurbish Marlay Grange, and in 2007 the UK Government sold Marlay Grange, without ever having occupied it.^[2][3]

Previous Ownership

Richard Croker, Sr.
Born	November 24, 1843 (1843-11-24) Blackrock, Ireland
Died	April 29, 1922 (1922-04-30) County Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Tammany Hall

At the beginning of the 20th Century the house was owned by Richard Croker a leading figure from New York's Tammany Hall

Croker's funeral drew some of the most respected citizens of The Irish Republic; one newspaper of the day described his funeral as follows:^[4]

FUNERAL OF MR. CROKER: - The funeral of Mr. Richard Croker took place yesterday [May 5, 1922], when the body was buried in the grounds of Glencairn House, Mr. Croker's residence in South County, Dublin. After a Requiem Mass in the private oratory, the burial service was conducted by the Right Rev. Dr. W. J. Miller, Roman Catholic Bishop of Eumenia. The body was clothed in evening dress, and before the coffin was closed Mrs. Croker desired the mourners to look at her husband's face for the last time. The coffin was covered with a pall made of natural violets and evergreen. The pall-bearers were Mr. Arthur Griffith, President of Dail Eireann, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr. A. H. Flauley, of Chicago, Mr. Oliver Gogarty, Alderman Macdonagh, and Mr. J. E. Tierney. Mr. Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government, was represented by Mr. Kevin O'Shiel...

Luas halt

The sale of the land facilitated the acquiring of a railway corridor for an extension of the Luas Sandyford (Green) line to Cherrywood. It runs in front of the gate (see thumbnail) and gatehouse of the Ambassador's residence. It began operating in 2010 and a stop/station on the line is built near the gate. The stop is called Glencairn.^[5]

Glencairn

Preceding station	Luas			Following station
Central Park		Green Line		The Gallops

See also

• Christopher Ewart-Biggs

References

1. ^ Marlay Grange 53°16′46″N 6°16′32″W / 53.27944°N 6.27556°W / 53.27944; -6.27556
2. ^ Fiona Tyrrell, British selling house ambassador never moved into, The Irish Times, 27 September 2007
3. ^ Marlay Grange sale particulars, Colliers Jackson-Stops, October 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
4. ^ The Times, May 6, 1922
5. ^ Map of Luas extension