More Doors of Dublin

A number of explanations for the colourful doors have been offered. One widespread but apparently apocryphal story is that Queen Victoria ordered all the doors of the British Empire to be painted black, in mourning for Prince Albert. The Irish reacted by painting them in rainbow colours. The most likely explanation is that the Georgian style exteriors were designed to be very uniform, down to the smallest detail, so painting the doors in different colours enabled residents to set themselves apart.

The Georgian doors have been photographed many times and have their own poster and Facebook group.

Georgian Doors of Merrion Square, Dublin

Merrion Square is considered one of Dublin’s best preserved squares, with its lovely Georgian architecture. Since I didn’t have much time, I photographed mainly the colourful doors around the perimeter of the square. I barely went inside the park in the center. Oscar Wilde lived at 1 Merrion Square (now the American College in Dublin); the park contains a statue of Wilde. Construction began in 1762 and continued for about thirty years.

A few buildings have lacy iron balconies and ornate fanlights.