Let your eyes wander over the Palladian design-the grand Venetian central window, the doric pilasters, and the impressive symmetry-which might leave you thinking, “Hmm, I’ve seen this style somewhere before!” That’s no coincidence. The anonymous architect might just have been John Smyth, who drew inspiration from the likes of Lord Burlington’s work in London, which itself borrowed from the Italian master Andrea Palladio. Talk about academic plagiarism! Across the façade, those wide and welcoming round-headed arches on the ground floor create a solid, almost fortress-like feeling, topped with pilasters and a robust cornice that would make any architecture student blush. The wings, each stretching out gracefully beside the main house, add a sense of drama with their pediments and three-bay breakfronts.
Inside, possibly designed by Henry Keene-he got paid for something in there, at least-the details are just as grand. Metalwork maestro Timothy Turner left his mark on the stairs in the 1760s. Yet, not all critics were impressed: Charles Robert Cockerell sniffed in 1823 that the central arch’s keystone was too dainty, a visual crime in his eyes.
Fast forward to 2017, and these stately rooms saw all sorts of plotting-but not of the academic kind. Ireland’s big political rivals, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, chose this very spot for their delicate government-formation talks. Neutral ground between legendary student parties and fiercely debated term papers. Through the centuries, the Provost’s House has quietly kept to its original role-a rare feat among Dublin’s Georgian giants. If only negotiating research deadlines was as historic as negotiating governments!
