THIS YEAR marks the 300th anniversary of the building of what was to become Dublin’s Mansion House. Built in 1710, it became the residence of Dublin’s lord mayors in 1715 when its builder and original owner, Joshua Dawson, sold it to the Corporation for £3,500. The City Fathers had, for some time, been looking for an appropriate official residence in which their first citizen could entertain in a suitably lavish manner (incidentally, another 37 years were to elapse before London had its own Mansion House).
Not alone did Dawson build the Mansion House, but he was also responsible for laying out the street on which the Mansion House stands and that still bears his name. Very little survives of the original buildings of Dawson Street and the 1710 facade of the Mansion House has been altered quite significantly over the
years.
Unlike the modern practice of builders offering incentives, the Corporation as purchaser made an unusual offer to the builder. In addition to the monetary transaction associated with the purchase of the Mansion House, Dawson and his heirs were to be paid, every Christmas, a “loaf of double refined sugar, of six pounds weight”, if so
demanded.
In the 18th century, sugar was a scarce, very expensive and highly-taxed commodity, to such an extent that it was commonly known as “white gold”.
Like all real-estate agents, Dawson tried to convince the Corporation that they were getting a real bargain. The sale price of £3,500 was, he claimed, less than what he had paid to build the house. Perhaps the Corporation offer of a loaf of sugar was intended as a sweetener in more ways than one. Like today’s property speculators, Joshua Dawson was quick to spot a potential money-making venture and had the drive to bring it to fruition. He foresaw a quick profit in the demand for up-market housing among the emerging upper-middle class population of early 18th century Dublin. This group, later to become known as the Protestant ascendancy, were confirmed in their position of dominance in Irish society by the Williamite victory and the penal laws.
Moreover, the fact that a Dublin parliament had begun to meet continuously from 1692 onwards resulted in the nobility and gentry spending more time in the city than heretofore. In 1705, Joshua acquired the freehold to lands situated between Trinity College gardens and St Stephen’s Green (up-market housing had begun to be developed around the Green as early as 1664). On these lands, Dawson proceeded to develop the wide, imposing street that we now know as Dawson Street and the minor streets to its west – Anne Street and Duke Street. The width of Dawson’s main thoroughfare – some 70ft – was remarkable for its time and was an essential component of the opulent ambience which was central to the development.
Dawson had read his market well and there was an immediate demand among Dublin's fashionable set for houses in this select new development. Robin Usher's analysis of the Directory of Dublinfor the year 1738 shows that six of the 10 named residents of Dawson Street in that year had aristocratic titles. Dawson retained the very best house on the street for himself. This house was completed in 1710, but Dawson only held it for five years before selling it to the Corporation for use as the lord mayor's residence.
Joshua Dawson’s family originated in the village of Temple Sowerby in what is now Cumbria. His great-grandfather had moved to Ireland in the early years of the 17th century. Joshua’s father, Thomas, had purchased lands on each side of the Moyola river in Co Derry where the family established the village that is now known as Castle Dawson.
Moyola Park, Castle Dawson has been the family seat of the Dawsons and their descendants to the present day. The current occupant is Lady Moyola, widow of James Chichester-Clark, prime minister of Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1971. Chichester-Clark was descended from the Dawsons through his mother’s family.
The Dawson family was active in public life from early on. Joshua’s father, Thomas, was Deputy Commissioner of Muster of the army. His brother, also Thomas, had been MP for Antrim borough between the years 1695 and 1699. Joshua Dawson had grown to manhood in the turbulent years of the late 17th century and he subscribed to the prevailing prejudices of his caste. He was particularly vitriolic in his intolerance of Catholic priests whom he once described as “those vermin that are always contriving the destruction of our constitution”.
Dawson started his public life as a civil servant when he accepted the position of junior clerk in the Chief Secretary’s Office in Dublin Castle. In 1697 he was promoted to the senior clerkship which meant he was now under secretary. His removal from this office in late 1714 was at least in part due to the fact that his Tory sympathies struck a discordant note with the Whigs who had returned to Government in that year.
One may suspect Dawson’s sale of the Mansion House to the Corporation in the following year may have been prompted by his somewhat diminished circumstances arising from his recent loss of public office. In addition to his career as civil servant, Dawson pursued a parallel career as MP for Wicklow between 1705 and 1714. In the early 18th century, when the civil service was still in its infancy, clear distinctions between the worlds of the civil servant and his political masters were still a long way off.
When Joshua Dawson and his family left his grand home on Dawson Street in 1715, they moved just around the corner to a house on St Stephen’s Green. There Joshua died in March 1725. Unlike many more recent representatives of the property developer class, Dawson was able to manage his affairs with the banking community so that he ended up in the black. His last will and testament made provision for the payment to his wife of “what may be due to her from the Bank of Gleadowe Newcombe Co”.
Whatever else one may think of Dawson, he deserves to be remembered this year for two things. The Mansion House, although a stately old dame of 300 years, is still one of our most attractive public buildings. He also left us Dawson Street, with its wide, imposing aspect, which still retains something of its original gracious quality.