| Shelbourne Hotel | |
|---|---|
Óstán Shíol Bhroin[1] | |
 The Shelbourne Hotel, August 2008 | |
  | |
| General information | |
| Status | Open |
| Type | Hotel |
| Classification |  |
| Address | 27St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, D02 K224 |
| Town or city | Dublin |
| Country | Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°20′20″N6°15′22″W / 53.33893°N 6.256092°W /53.33893; -6.256092 |
| Elevation | 18 m (59 ft) |
| Named for | William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne |
| Opened | 1824 |
| Owner | Marriott International |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 6 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | John McCurdy |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 265 |
| Website | |
| theshelbourne | |
TheShelbourne Hotel is a historic hotel inDublin, Ireland, situated in a landmark building on the north side ofSt Stephen's Green. Currently owned by Archer Hotel Capital[2] and operated byMarriott International, the hotel has 265 rooms in total and reopened in March 2007 after undergoing an eighteen-month refurbishment.
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The Shelbourne Hotel was founded in 1824 by Martin Burke, a native ofCounty Tipperary, when he acquired three adjoiningtownhouses overlooking Stephen's Green, Europe's largestgarden square. Burke named his grand new hotel The Shelbourne, afterWilliam Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne.[3][page needed]William Makepeace Thackeray was an early guest, staying in 1842 and including a piece about the Shelbourne inThe Irish Sketch-Book (1843).[4]
In July 1877,Dom Pedro II,Emperor of Brazil, stayed at the hotel as part of a largely unpublicised visit to Ireland.[5]
In the early 1900s,Alois Hitler, Jr., the elder half-brother ofAdolf Hitler, worked in the hotel while in Dublin.[6]
In the late 19th century, the ability for a wealthy gentleman to be able to "handle the ribbons" of his owncoach was popular for a time, according to a 1947 article in theDublin Historical Record.[7] Sir Thomas Talbot Power (1863–1930), one of thePower baronets, was a "devotee of this sport" and would drive "a coach-and-four from the Shelbourne Hotel, for public hire, toBray and back". For a fee, one or more passengers would be driven to Bray, have dinner at the International Hotel ("at which Sir Thomas usually providedchampagne"), and would be driven back to the Shelbourne afterwards.[7]
During the 1916Easter Rising the hotel was occupied by 40 British troops under Captain Andrews to counter theIrish Citizen Army andIrish Volunteer forces, commanded byMichael Mallin, who had occupied Stephen's Green.[3][page needed] In 1922, theConstitution of the Irish Free State was drafted in room 112, now known as The Constitution Room.[8]
The facade was refurbished in 2016, winning an award from theIrish Georgian Society.[9] In December 2018UEFA's executive committee made the draw for the2019 UEFA Nations League Finals in the hotel.[10]
A major redesign byJohn McCurdy was completed in 1867, with theFoundry of Val d'Osne casting the four externalcaryatid styletorchère statues. These were based on two repeatedbeaux-artsneoclassical models originally sculpted by the prolific French sculptorMathurin Moreau entitledÉgyptienne – the two femaleAncient Egyptian[11] figures flanking either side of the front door, andNégresse – the two female ancientKushite (Nubian)[12] figures flanking either corner of the main building. All four statues are wearing gold coloured anklets, and are draped, with jewellery picked out in gilt while supporting a torch with a frosted glassflambeau shade.[13][14][15] All four statues are on a circular base with a further square metal plinth withcartouches to the angles indicating royal descent.[16]
In faint writing at the front of the circular base of all four statues can be seen the name of the foundry which produced the statuesVal d'Osne. Of the several other examples of the castings, the most notable can be seen in the porch of the hôtel de ville (town hall) in the French town ofRemiremont as well as outside the mausoleum of the architectTemple Hoyne Buell[17][18] inDenver, Colorado and in theJardins do Palácio de Cristal inPorto.[19][20][21] In all three cases the door is flanked either side by oneÉgyptienne and oneNégresse statue indicating parity.
In July 2020, the statues at the front of the building were removed by management as a precautionary response to the toppling and removal of statues following the murder ofGeorge Floyd andBlack Lives Matter protests. This move resulted from the belief that either two or all four of the statues representedNubian slaves shown inmanacles.[22] Both histories of the hotel, that of 1951 byElizabeth Bowen and that of 1999 by Michael O'Sullivan, state that two of the statues represent slaves or servants, with Bowen stating "on each stands a female statue, Nubian in aspect, holding a torch shaped lamp". Kyle Leyden, lecturer in Early Modern Architecture and Visual Culture at theCourtauld Institute, pointed out that the statues were mass-produced decorative arts items chosen by the builder of the hotel from a trade catalogue which did not identify them as representing slaves, instead referring to them as women of Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa.[23] He argued that none of the statues are of the established "Nubian slave" type - at least two of them wear headdress indicating royal status - and that all four figures wearanklets indicating aristocratic status, rather than shackles.[23] After an examination by Paula Murphy, an art historian atUniversity College Dublin, concluded that the statues were not representations of slaves, it was announced that they would be restored to their plinths.[24] After being cleaned, they were reinstalled on the night of 14 December.[25]
InJames Joyce'sUlysses,Leopold Bloom remembers the Shelbourne as where "Mrs Miriam Dandrade", a "Divorced Spanish American" sold him "her old wraps and black underclothes".[26]
Media related toShelbourne Hotel at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toShelbourne Hotel at WikiquoteHotels in Dublin | |
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