In
Dublin, Ireland legend says that years ago a fellow was too drunk to find his
own house so his wife painted the front door a different color from all the rest of the houses. Georgian townhouses are joined
together like the row houses in the eastern part of our country. The doors have
a distinctive design with a half circle window above. The different colored
doors on the brick square homes are most attractive, lending a Georgian grace
to the city.
Georgian houses of the 1700s were
mostly built the same. The kitchen and servants quarters were in the basement.
Servants never entered through the
front door. The dining room was on the ground floor so food did not have to be
carried very far. The drawing room and living room were on the next floor and
on the top floor were the master bedroom and children’s rooms. The windows are
shorter on the top floor to protect the children and to give the illusion of
height to the building.
Early one morning we walked the
Georgian area with a local guide. We stopped in front of Oscar Wilde’s house,
directly across the street from Merrion Park. The guide told us, “Wilde’s
father was a well known eye and ear physician who was knighted. His mother was
a poet and he probably got most of his literary urge from her.”
At the corner of the park we found a
lounging Oscar Wilde on a huge rock.
Fourteen different rocks are used in the statue. His face is a bit unusual as
it portrays different moods when viewed from different angles. From the left he
appears rather sad, face on he appears contemplative and from the right he
appears happy. The statue sits high enough to peer over the fence onto the busy
street.
We learned the round metal covers in
the sidewalks were old coal shoots where coal was once delivered for heating.
The Georgian homes were primarily built by Protestants as Catholics were
excluded from representation and were not allowed to vote between 1690-1840.
The Georgian neighborhood was
quaint, attractive and interesting. We learned several things we did not know.
Several small parks in the area add to the ambiance.
Georgian homes appear in a lot of other locales, but the district in Dublin was rather extensive and colorful.
Some of the other things we saw and
found interesting another time.
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