The Merrion, Dublin's most luxurious 5-Star Luxury hotel, which opened in October 1997, has been created from four magnificent Grade I Listed 18th Century terrace houses, forming the Main House of the hotel, and a specially commissioned contemporary Garden Wing. The hotel stands on Upper Merrion Street, in the centre of the city, opposite Government Buildings, the seat of the Irish government.

THE ARCHITECTS
The Architects for The Merrion were Burke-Kennedy Doyle & Partners (BKD&P). Since its foundation in 1959, this award-winning Dublin practice's objective has been the production of good quality progressive architecture and design. With major private and institutional clients, BKD&P has expertise in a range of work that varies widely in scale and type, with particular experience in hotel design and sport and leisure facilities.

RESTORATION
The historical importance of the houses and the substantial nature of the project meant that careful planning was needed. The Architect dealt with all relevant parties, including An Taisce (the Irish National Trust), and Planning Permission was granted after two years. Before the main contractor received possession of the site detailed recording and investigation work had to be carried out. All walls, ceilings, fixtures and fittings were detailed, recorded and catalogued where necessary.

Wherever possible, after cleaning, repairs and upgrading, restoration has preserved original Georgian features such as doorcases, window frames, floors and plasterwork.

The restoration of the plasterwork was undertaken by Séamus O'hEocha, a master stuccadore skilled in the art of hand modelling lime based plaster. In the first stage of restoration he and his apprentices removed the layers of paint to reveal the plaster underneath. Missing cornice details were then pre-cast and fixed in place. Blackthorn twigs had been used originally to create three dimensional images and, where necessary, Seamus replaced the blackthorn twigs to join those which had survived over the centuries. Damaged, intricate details such as birds, flowers, fruit etc. were remodelled by hand again using the same skills that would have been used 200 years ago.