Gresham Hotel#A-ThomasGresham

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Thomas Gresham, the hotel's founder, was a foundling child, abandoned on the steps of the Royal Exchange, London. He was named for the founder of that institution, Sir Thomas Gresham, a famous merchant-politician in the Elizabethan era. Gresham came to Ireland and as a young man obtained employment in the service of William Beauman of Rutland Square (now Parnell Square), Dublin. After some time, and while still comparatively young, he became butler to this family.

In 1817, Gresham left Beauman's household and purchased two adjoining Georgian townhouses at 21 and 22 Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), combining them into a lodging house he named Gresham's Hotel, catering mostly to the wealthy aristocracy and MPs who passed through Dublin on their way to London. In 1820, Gresham bought the neighboring townhouse at 20 Sackville Street and expanded the establishment.

By 1834 Gresham was noted as owning the Royal Marine Hotel in Kingstown. In 1833 he was the main local spokesman for opposition to a bill for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) extension to Dalkey, spending £1,200 in the process and being awarded a silver plate from locals when the bill failed. On being requested not to oppose an 1834 bill for an extension to Kingstown only, he agreed, saying he would not have opposed the earlier bill if the railway had acted with more courtesy. He also accepted £400 for D&KR shares he had bought for £100 in recognition.{{sfn|Murray|1981|pp=34, 38–39}}

The property was sold to a consortium in 1865, which renamed it The Gresham Hotel.{{Cite web |last= |date=2018-03-08 |title=Transformation of the Gresham Hotel facade |url=https://pmac.ie/transformation-gresham-hotel-facade-oconnell-street/ |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=PMAC |language=en-US}} They rebuilt the establishment, reconstructing the facades of the three connected townhouses into a single unified hotel building.{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=History of the Gresham Hotel |url=https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=greshot |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910202636if_/https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=greshot |archive-date=2024-09-10 |website=ARROW@TU Dublin |publisher=Technological University Dublin |doi=10.21427/D79K7H}}

The hotel is the setting for the final third of James Joyce’s short story "The Dead",{{Cite news |last=O'Shea |first=Cormac |date=2016-06-14 |title=Seven places across Dublin depicted by James Joyce's works for Bloomsday |url=https://www.irishmirror.ie/whats-on/arts-culture-news/seven-places-across-dublin-depicted-8141395 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205054021/https://www.irishmirror.ie/whats-on/arts-culture-news/seven-places-across-dublin-depicted-8141395 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |access-date=2021-01-31 |newspaper=Irish Mirror}} set in the early years of the twentieth century. The story does not paint the hotel in a flattering light, referring to staff sleeping on duty and broken lighting.

During the Irish Civil War, the Gresham was occupied by Anti-treaty forces under the command of Cathal Brugha and Countess Markievicz. It was the site of heavy fighting during the Battle of Dublin and was burned to the ground on 6 July 1922.

The hotel's owners were awarded £93,550 in compensation by the new Irish Free State and they signed a contract with the McLaughlin & Harvey construction company on 29 October 1926 to build a 250-room replacement hotel.{{cite web |last=O’Riordan |first=Colum |date=1 September 2022 |title=Gresham Hotel under construction – Irish Architectural Archive |url=https://iarc.ie/gresham-hotel-under-construction/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623042757/https://iarc.ie/gresham-hotel-under-construction/ |archive-date=2024-06-23 |website=Irish Architectural Archive}} The new structure was designed by English architect Robert Atkinson and his business partner Alexander Frederick Berenbruck Anderson in a blend of the Art Deco and neo-classical styles. The rebuilt hotel opened on 16 April 1927. Many historic features from this time remain, including Waterford crystal chandeliers.{{cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Ulick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc2GAAAAIAAJ&q=%22gresham+hotel%22+damaged+1922 |title=The Gresham Hotel, 1865-1965 |date=c. 1965 |publisher=Guy & Co., Ltd. |page=30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210104041/https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc2GAAAAIAAJ&q=%22gresham+hotel%22+damaged+1922 |archive-date=2023-02-10 |url-status=live}}

The hotel was bought by the Ryan Hotel group in 1978. Ryan Hotels was renamed Gresham Hotel Group in 2001.{{Cite news |last=Hanley |first=Cathal |date=27 June 2001 |title=Ryan Hotels change to Gresham Hotel Group |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ryan-hotels-change-to-gresham-hotel-group-1.388488 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241227201930/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ryan-hotels-change-to-gresham-hotel-group-1.388488 |archive-date=2024-12-27 |access-date=2024-08-14 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}

The Gresham was sold to the Spanish RIU Hotels & Resorts chain in September 2016 for €92 million, becoming the Hotel Riu Plaza The Gresham Dublin.{{Cite news |date=2016-09-16 |title=The Gresham Hotel in Dublin Sold for €92 Million |url=http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article91166.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241227204255/https://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article91166.html |archive-date=2024-12-27 |access-date=2021-01-31 |work=Hotel News Resource}}

In January 2018 Dublin City Council set about rehoming 14 homeless families that had been living at The Gresham to allow for the refurbishment of a number of bedrooms and suites at the hotel.{{Cite news |last1=Clarke |first1=Vivienne |last2=Power |first2=Jack |date=2018-01-05 |title=Refurbishment plan means homeless families must leave Gresham Hotel |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/refurbishment-plan-means-homeless-families-must-leave-gresham-hotel-1.3345831 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210105941/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/refurbishment-plan-means-homeless-families-must-leave-gresham-hotel-1.3345831 |archive-date=2023-02-10 |access-date=2018-01-05 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}

The hotel completed a major renovation in 2024 that included a significant expansion, increasing the number of rooms by 16 to 404.

Patrick Wyse Jackson, curator of the Geological Museum in Trinity College, assessed the building in 1993 as part of his book "The Building Stones of Dublin: A Walking Guide" and wrote:

: "The Gresham Hotel is regarded as one of the finest buildings on the street. Like Clery's, it is faced with Portland Stone which is highly carved"{{sfn|Wyse Jackson|1993|page=44}}

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• {{cite book|last=McNiff|first=James|title=The Voyeur of O'Connell Street: Life As the the[sic] Gresham Hotel.. a Minifollet|date=19 November 2017|publisher=KDP Publishing|isbn=978-1-973308-48-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Murray|first=K. A.|title=Ireland's First Railway|year=1981|publisher=Irish Railway Record Society|location=Dublin|isbn=0-904078-07-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Wyse Jackson |first=Patrick |title= The Building Stones of Dublin: A Walking Guide |url= https://archive.org/details/buildingstonesof0000wyse/mode/2up|year=1993 |publisher= Town House and Country House |location=Donnybrook, Dublin |isbn=0-946172-32-3}}

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{{Hotels in Dublin|state=collapsed}}

Category:Hotels in Dublin (city)

Category:Hotels established in 1817

Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1927