Parliament House

Parliament House, later Bank of Ireland, Dublin. Built between 1729 and 1739 to the designs of Edward Lovett Pearce, it was one of the most influential public buildings of the century. The Palladian south façade, with Ionic portico and projecting gallery pavilions, is the most important survival of Pearce's work. Inside, his House of Lords remains in a slightly altered state. Pearce's House of Commons was an octagonal room, surmounted by a low dome; it was destroyed by fire in 1792 and was replaced by a circular chamber designed by Vincent Waldré.

Between 1784 and c.1789 the building was extended eastwards by James Gandon, who erected the Corinthian portico as a new entrance for the House of Lords, and joined it to Pearce's façade by a niched screen wall. The building was also extended to the west by Richard Parke, who continued Pearce's use of the Ionic order in his portico and linking screen wall.

Following the Act of Union, the government sold the buildings to the Bank of Ireland. Francis Johnston, the architect selected to make the necessary alterations, blocked up the central doorway and windows of Pearce's south façade and added the statues of Commerce, Hibernia, and Fidelity to the portico. The House of Commons was replaced with the bank boardroom, the governor's office, and the accountant‐general's office. Johnston also replaced Gandon's screen wall and altered Parke's west façade.

Rachel Moss