Rewind – Marlay House
By Sean Heffernan
There are those of you reading this week’s piece still recovering after attending the Longitude Festival or who might walk your dog regularly in Marlay Park, and often marvelle at the big house that stands beside the front park.
There it stands lording itself over the vast expanse before it, as the ducks swim in the lake, and children queue to go own the big slide in the playground.
The house was originally known as “The Grange” and dates back to before 1764, when it was sold by a former Lord Mayor of Dublin Thomas Taylor to financier David La Touche, who massively extended it.
He is best known as one of the founders of the ‘Bank of Ireland’ and was it’s first ever governor, a post he held for eight years.
He was an astute investor, and was one of the early investors in the ‘Grand Canal Company’, and in 1800 was made Treasurer of the company.
Anyone who has watched the Channel 4 documentaries on the history of canals will attest to the phenomenal amounts of money the early pioneers of canal construction made on the back of their initial investments.
His prestige was further enhanced after he married Elizabeth Marlay the daughter of the bishop of Dromore, a diocese that covers part of Armagh, Down and Antrim.
The ornate plasterwork was carried out by the eminent plasterer of his time Michael Stapleton, whose work can be best seen in the exam hall in Trinity College.
He was the go-to person of the time if you really wanted to imprint a ‘wow’ factor on your drawing room or entrance hall.
The attention to detail really has to be seen to be believed, and many a jaw was dropped by a visitor upon their being given a tour of the house.
Around 30 years after it was first built, a walled garden was created on the grounds, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables that were served at the many dinner parties were grown there.
La Touche was also an MP in the Irish parliament, and the banquets he held in his Rathfarnham resident became the talk of the town.
Indeed an invitation to dinner was highly sought after by who’s who of Dublin society.
There was a mini theatre built in one of the rooms, and none other than the most famous parliamentarian of that time Henry Grattan, is reputed to have starred in a production of Macbeth staged there.
Unlike many others who at that time built large impressive houses with disregard to financial prudence, bankrupting and leaving destitute their descendants in the process, La Touche could more than afford to pay the best in the business to create his lavish designs.
In 1864, the house was sold to fuel merchant Robert Tedcastle for just over £8,000, which equates to around €8m in todays money.
The Top Oil garages and oil trucks you see parked outside your neighbours house as they get their tank filled, can trace their origins back to this major coal supplier.
He and later his descendants owned the house until 1925, when it was sold to fruit producer and horse breeder Philip Love.
His most famous claim to fame was as owner of the horse Larkspur who came from nowhere to win the Epsom Derby in 1962.
Rather like a ‘one hit wonder’ singer the horse did as little in terms of attaining success after that famous victory, as it did before it.
Many houses that were donated to the state at that time were as a result of large rates bills and other such payments that were due to the state.
The owners upon donating the house would see the duties owed, that they could not afford to pay declared null and void.
Sold to Dublin City Council in 1972
The house and lands were sold to Dublin County Council for just under £1m in 1972, the seemingly low price for the house and lands may have taken into account any outstanding liabilities owed.
The park was landscaped and opened to the public for recreational use in 1975, and has continually evolved, with a large playground opened at the Whitechurch Road end, and a food market taking place every Saturday and Sunday in the vicinity of the big house.
In 2001, RTE approached Paul Brady with the idea of recording a programme featuring his best songs, with the Strabane born singer giving the background to why he recorded the song along with other anecdotes about his career.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council gave them permission to record in Marlay House, and he was joined by his band, and the likes of Mary Black and Curtis Stigers, as the series was recorded over two weeks in August 2002.
On a select number of days the house is open to guided tours, check www.events.dlrcoco.ie to find out when the next open day is being held.
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