Ailesbury Road Dublin 4

Dublin 4

Dublin 4 is a postal district of Dublin, Ireland including the suburbs of Sandymount, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Ringsend and Irishtown on the South side of Dublin....

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, is a tree-lined avenue linking Sydney Parade Station

Sydney Parade railway station

Sydney Parade Railway Station is located at Sydney Parade Avenue in Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland.The station opened in January 1835 as a halt on the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. In 1852, it was upgraded to a full station with the construction of shelters, stone platforms, and a footbridge.The...

 on Sydney Parade Avenue

Sydney Parade Avenue

Sydney Parade Avenue Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland runs from the land formerly known as Ailesbury Park opposite the Merrion Centre at the Merrion Road end, to the sea of Dublin Bay at the Strand Road....

 and the Church of the Sacred Heart

Church of the Sacred Heart

Church of the Sacred Heart may refer to:*Church of the Sacred Heart, Hove, East Sussex, England*Church of the Sacred Heart, Singapore*Sacred Heart Cathedral of Guangzhou...

, Donnybrook

Donnybrook, Dublin

Donnybrook is a district of Dublin, Ireland. It is situated on the southside of the city, in the Dublin 4 postal district, and is home to the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ. It was once part of the Pembroke Township...

.

Many embassies and diplomatic residences have historically been located on the road, including the striking residence of the French Ambassador, the embassy of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, and the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese embassy (before it relocated to the nearby Merrion Centre

Merrion Centre

The Merrion Centre in Dublin, Ireland is a shopping centre situated at the junction of Nutley Lane with Merrion Road. It serves the community of Dublin 4. It is anchored by the Tesco supermarket and the Japanese embassy is located in the centre....

.)

For a list of embassies in the Republic of Ireland, see the list of diplomatic missions in the Republic of Ireland.

Reflecting the high property price tags in the area, Ailesbury Road is the second-most expensive property on the Irish Monopoly

Monopoly (game)

Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...

 board, being one of the two "purple" property squares.

From Ailesbury Road, Shrewsbury Road

Shrewsbury Road

Shrewsbury Road is a street in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, and was the sixth most expensive street in the world in 2007. The street is bordered to the north by Merrion Road and to the south by Ailesbury Road....

 forms the link to the Merrion Road

Merrion Road

Merrion Road in Dublin 4 is a road which runs from the RDS at Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge to Merrion, where it meets the Rock Road, Booterstown. It is home to the RDS, some well known hotels and is part of the Embassy Belt....

, though Ailesbury Road proper intersects Merrion Road near its eastern end.

St Michael's College, a private boys school is located on the east side of the road.

Development

Ailesbury road was planned in the middle of the 19th century as a residential road in south-east Dublin, in the district then known as the "Pembroke Township". It was named for the then Marquess of Ailesbury

Marquess of Ailesbury

Marquess of Ailesbury is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 17 July 1821 for Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury....

, who had married a daughter of the Earl of Pembroke

Earl of Pembroke

Earl of Pembroke is a title created ten times, all in the Peerage of England. It was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, which is the site of Earldom's original seat Pembroke Castle...

. When first built, Ailesbury road was then the longest straight road in Dublin.

The original design set for houses to be built on this road is evident in numbers 1 through 51 on the south-east side of the road. These are built of red brick and granite, with a uniform flight of granite steps leading to the hall door, and iron railings bordering the front garden. Numbers 1 through 27 inclusive were built by Alderman Meade, whose designs here and elsewhere in Dublin are characterised by circular granite pillars at the entrance gate. His own residence, which he also designed, is now St Michael’s School at the Merrion end of the road.

Number 53

The French embassy and ambassadors residence at number 53, represented some of the most exclusive addresses on the road. Formerly known as Mytilene, No. 53 differs from the "standard" building forms of numbers 1 through 51. It is much larger, detached and standing in a wooded garden, and has twin gates flanked by square granite pillars, with a granite balustrade and wide steps leading to a pillared front entrance. This house is constructed of white bricks with inset designs of black bricks and an ornamental rosette frieze, also made of bricks in the same porcelain finish.

The house was purchased by the French Government in the 1930's and became the residence of the first Minister for France to Ireland, Monsieur Alphand. This has remained so until 2008 when the French Government decided to sell off the house with price tag of €60 million making it the most expensive house ever to be put up for sale in Ireland, just after a house on Shrewsbury (just off Ailesbury Rd) that sold in 2005 for €58 million.

Danes massacre

In 1879 the discovery of the remains of 600 people was made at a mound on Ailesbury Road which dated back to a bloody massacre by the Danes in the 9th to 10th century. The bodies were removed and buried in the Donnybrook Cemetery

Donnybrook Cemetery

Donnybrook Cemetery is located close to the river Dodder in Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland. The cemetery was the location of an old Celtic church founded by Saint Broc and later a church dedicated to St. Mary...

.