History of the Castle Hotel, Dublin

The Castle Hotel was designed and built by John Ensor as a matching pair of Palazzo houses – the stonework was executed by Thomas Darley.

George and John Ensor came to Dublin from England in 1746. John Ensor was apprenticed to Richard Castle who designed many of the great Irish houses including Russborough House and Leinster House. The Ensor brothers very much embraced the Palladian style and upon the death of Richard Castle, John Ensor took over his practice and completed the Rotunda Hospital. The first ever lying in hospital in Ireland.

The Castle Hotel is galleried on every floor and has two fine centrally positioned period staircases, much of it’s original plasterwork has been restored and it still retains many of the original fireplaces.

The site has remained in use as a hotel since 1809 making it one of Dublin’s oldest hotels. That year Mrs McCrory acquired the premises and opened the doors to the public – calling it The Norfolk Hotel. It was renamed the Leix Hotel in the 1900’s and was sold in 1930 to Mr Donal O’Connor from Kerry and along with his wife, they acquired the adjoining premises and in 1956 amalgamated the entire as the Castle Hotel.

In 1986 the current owner Mr Fionn MacCumhaill acquired the property from the O’Connor family and undertook a large scale conservation and renovation project – turning it into the comfortable and unique hotel that it is today while retaining many of the original Georgian features including original staircases and plasterwork, crystal chandeliers and grand marble fireplaces.

If you are interested in the history of Dublin you will enjoy our regular history diary by Fionn and Emer MacCumhaill that will be available here shortly

Phone: (+353) 01-8746949
General Enquiries/Reservations/Requests: info@castle-hotel.ie
Group bookings: yvonne@castle-hotel.ie

The Castle Hotel, 2 - 4 Great Denmark Street, Dublin 1, Ireland

Satnav: Latitude 53.3546 Longitude : 6.2635