A Future for Irish Historic Houses - Irish Heritage Trust

Ely House, Dublin
Ely House is located at Ely Place in Dublin City. Originally built in 1771 for Henry
Loftus, Earl of Ely, it is now owned by the Knights of St. Columbanus.
Ely has many distinctive interior architectural features:
- The staircase is regarded as one of the finest in any Georgian house in
Ireland. It consists of three flights of Portland stone with a life-size figure
of Hercules, also cut from Portland stone, at the bottom. The handrail is of
carved mahogany on a panelled balustrade which is decorated with gilt
figures of animals and birds emblematic of the labours of Hercules.
- The staircase is lit by a large Venetian window, which occupies the full
breadth of the wall on the half-landing.
- The elaborate stucco-work in the various rooms is amongst the most
impressive surviving in any historic house. Most of it is attributed to
Michael Stapleton, the outstanding Irish stuccodore of his time.
- The Adam-style dining room on the ground floor is regarded as one of the
finest Georgian rooms in the country.
- The mantelpieces of Sienna and Carrara marble are other outstanding
features of this house.
The present condition of the house is fairly good but like most historic houses, it has
its fair share of problems:
- In order to afford the maintenance of the house, parts of it are leased. Its
original integrity has been partly compromised by the creation of moderntype
offices in the house, which are used by Fás, a Thai restaurant in the
basement and the installation of modern toilets on different levels. The fact
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