Gardens showcase the square old times

IT WAS hip to be square in Dublin on Saturday as architectural tours, tango, lawn bowls and live jazz transformed six of the capital’s best-loved garden squares.

Merrion, Fitzwilliam, Mountjoy and Parnell Squares, along with St Stephen’s Green and the Iveagh Gardens, all hosted events for the second annual Dublin Garden Squares Day.

Some of the most elegant townhouses overlooking the squares also opened their doors for the one-day, ESB-supported event.

“It’s about saying we live in an urban centre but we also have these wonderful pockets of nature which we don’t use to the extent we should,” said Geraldine Walsh, chief executive of organisers the Dublin Civic Trust. “It’s really about making Dublin a much more liveable and interesting city and re-recognising what exists, because so much exists.”

The trust, which works to protect the city’s architectural heritage, held its first Garden Squares Day last year. Invited to participate by organisers of the London Garden Squares day, Dublin is now one of six European cities to host the day.

Kicking off events at Parnell Square, about 15 locals and tourists gathered as architect James Kelly guided them through the background of the first of Dublin’s 18th-century garden squares.

Designed as a pleasure garden accessed by paid ticket or subscription fee, Mr Kelly told his audience it opened in 1751. Funds raised through plays, concerts, lotteries and oratorios in the garden contributed some £4,000 to the building of the nearby Rotunda “Lying-In” Hospital.

Fitzwilliam Square, normally closed except to key-holding square residents, opened its gates for watercolour classes and jazz. Playing lawn bowls there were Walter Radermacher and his wife Barbara, from Frankfurt. He said: “I think after a few Guinness, maybe it will get easier.”