Historic Glasshouses Seminar
Conservation, Technology and Use of Irish Glasshouses
Specialist Speakers | Site Visits | Unique Day Event
Newbridge House, Donabate, Co Dublin
Friday 28 August 2026 | 09:15 – 17:15
Tickets: €140 (includes refreshments, lunch and coach to site visit)
Structured CPD Points: 6
Dublin Civic Trust is delighted to present this very special one-day seminar on Historic Irish Glasshouses taking place on site in the stunning demesne surroundings of Newbridge House, Donabate, Co. Dublin.
Hosted in conjunction with Fingal County Council and Newbridge House and Farm, this stimulating day of presentations and site visits will be led by expert speakers working on the history and active conservation of Irish glasshouses. A series of lectures will guide attendees through the use of glasshouses for productive gardening in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including recent case studies of best practice conservation and restoration works in timber and iron from around Ireland.
The event includes a visit to the newly restored ranges glasshouses on the Newbridge Demesne, as well as a coach visit (included) to nearby Brackenstown Demesne where extensive archaeological landscape works are underway by Fingal County Council.
Our current project
68 Arran Street East Conservation
We are now on site conserving the final portion of 18 Ormond Quay Upper - the rear building known as 68 Arran Street East, for use as the offices of Dublin Civic Trust. This curious structure dates to c.1760-70 and was most likely built as an extension to the house that previously occupied the site of 18 Ormond Quay Upper.
This building rises to four internal storeys over a vaulted brick basement, with a single room on each floor. These spaces contain fascinating decorative fragments from the mid-18th century including a high-status rococo cornice and lugged architectural joinery.
The steeply-pitched natural slate roof and large brick chimenystack were recently reinstated. The pebbledash render was removed from the facade, the original red brick restored, and the Roman cement-rendered ground floor reassembled including the reinstatment of the 1840s shop window. The c.1760s profiled timber sash windows were also conserved and replicated, and the entrance doorcase and overlight restored.
The third phase now underway will transform this 1760s building into a permanent home for Dublin Civic Trust. Previously, the Trust has moved nomadically in tandem with its revolving fund projects, but given the upheaval and complexity involved, we are embarking on a project for a permanent base from which to operate. 68 Arran Street East, with its intriguing and beautiful mix of 18th, 19th and early-20th century layers is an ideal and modest home for the Trust, doubling-up as a showcase of the city's multi-faceted, layered development.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT +
As a non-state funded organisation, we need your support to continue the works. Any donation, large or small, will help us fulfill this ambition and contribute towards the restoration of a small but important sliver of Dublin's architectural inheritance.
Your endorsement of our work is greatly valued. Find out more through the link below.
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Restored front elevation
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No.68 Arran Street East, front elevation
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Front Elevation to Arran Street East
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Eighteenth-century shutter to 68 Arran Street East
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First Floor to 68 Arran Street East
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Rococco Cornice after stripping
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Front elevation to 69 Arran Street East & side elevation to 18 Ormond Quay
Irish Period Houses - The Definitive Reference Manual
Dublin Civic Trust's flagship publication Irish Period Houses - A Conservation Guidance Manual is the must-have reference tool for building conservation in Ireland.
Newly rewritten and published for 2016 by the original author, chartered conservation surveyor Frank Keohane, Irish Period Houses provides invaluable information for the homeowner and building professional into the design of traditional houses, their construction materials and decorative elements, and expert guidance on how they can be repaired and enhanced with best conservation practice. It is the definitive reference guide for custodians of most period buildings in Ireland and for anyone considering taking on a building conservation project.
18 Ormond Quay Upper Wins European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2021
Dublin Civic Trust is delighted to receive Europe's most prestigious award for built heritage conservation - the European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2021 - for the restoration of 18 Ormond Quay Upper, an 1840s merchant buiding in the historic centre of Dublin.
18 Ormond Quay was restored by the Trust over a three-year period since 2017 as a demonstration project under its ‘revolving fund’ mechanism, showing how historic buildings in the centre of Dublin can be sensitively restored with a residential component.
We feel this award is for Dublin and all Dubliners who cherish their city and its built heritage.
Project 18Ormond Updates
Decoration of the upper floor rooms in 18 Ormond Quay is well advanced, the walls now dressed in authentic Irish wallpapers recreated by leading wallpaper expert and manufacturer, David Skinner. Take a chance to view the completed rooms for yourself...
FIND OUT MORE +
Project 18Ormond - The Story So Far
2025-26 Building Conservation Grants
Built Heritage Investment Scheme: Now Closed
Historic Structures Fund for 2026 will open in late November 2025
If you own or occupy a Protected Structure or a building located in an Architectural Conservation Area, you are eligible to make an application for financial grant assistance for conservation and maintenance works under the Government's 2025 grant schemes.
Malcolm Noonan TD, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage launched details of the Built Heritage Investment Scheme and the Historic Structures Fund for 2025. In excess of €11 million will be available in funding across both schemes in 2026. This funding represents a significant boost to the preservation of Ireland’s built heritage and it is expected the schemes will support hundreds of projects while also creating over 30,000 days of employment.
PREVIOUS EVENTS
The Identification and Reuse of Traditional 17th & 18th-Century Urban Buildings
One Day Symposium
6th December 2019
Theme
This one-day symposium organised by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, showcases the diverse richness of Ireland's pre-Georgian and early Georgian built heritage in our towns and cities. A host of expert speakers will shine a light on all aspects of early building construction, from timber and masonry materials, to roof typologies and architectural joinery. The aim of the event is to involve more people and communities in recognition and preservation of early urban buildings in our historic cities and towns, raise levels of awareness, and seek innovative and creative schemes for contemporary living.
Extract from early 1700s perpective of College Green
Antiques & Interiors Pop-Up Shop
WINTER 2025
Event Ended
Dublin Civic Trust's annual antiques and homewares pop-up shop is now open for the whole of November and December 2025.
Curated this year by John Clarke and Karin O'Flanagan and hosted in the 1840s ground floor shop of 18 Ormond Quay Upper. The collection features a mixture of 18th, 19th and 20th-century furniture, decorative objects, art and home furnishings, with an emphasis on small and useful pieces of beautiful Irish furniture of the Georgian period.
LOCATION
18 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7
Note: The Christmas pop-up shop is a third-party initiative for which Dublin Civic Trust received a rental fee which was applied to its charitable objectives. Only Dublin Civic Trust publications in the shop are sold directly on behalf of the charity. Christmas cards sales raised funds for the Mountjoy Square Society. All other sales were made to the shop operator.
