Frescati House - The Aftermath

The Aftermath

Since Frescati's demolition, Roches Stores has ceased to exist. The store tripled in size and became known as the Frascati Shopping Centre. A new shopping centre was built opposite the site of Frescati, and it opened just two years later. By way of compensation for the loss of Frescati, Frescati Estates Limited agreed to endow a scholarship at University College Dublin in perpetuity to the sum of £50,000, to be known as the Lord Edward Fitzgerald Memorial Fund. Roches Stores placed a granite boulder bearing a bronze plaque beside the entrance. The plaque commemorates Lord Edward FitzGerald, though the inscription contains factual inaccuracies, and it mentions that he “lived in Frascati House”. The boulder stands to the right of the pedestrian entrance to the Shopping Centre today, but hedges are often grown in front of it, making it barely visible to passers by.

The Frescati stream, as it was called, is now culverted under the car park. It emerges again in Blackrock Park. The original tunnel, which Emily had built to carry seawater to Frescati, remains to this day. Its whereabouts is a well-kept secret, and it has been blocked off. In time of threat from unexpected raids by the Crown Militia from Dublin Castle, the course of the stream could well have formed an escape route. One may notice stray cut-granite blocks which look out of place in the car park. These once belonged to the house. The remnants of Frescati are scattered now and hard to trace. The cast-iron railings were stolen, but a few fragments of plasterwork remain in safe-keeping by the conservationists. Ironically for the conservationists, more of the house would have survived if Roches had been allowed go ahead with the demolition in 1971. The stuccoed ceiling which they originally offered to retain is now destroyed.

Due to conservationist pressure, a nearby house, St Helen's, was declared a national monument. The house has since been refurbished as the five-star Radisson SAS Hotel. The lessons learned from Frescati have been used elsewhere. Hundreds of houses in the area were listed for preservation immediately after Frescati was demolished as a direct reaction. The Frescati case was considered in the final stages of the Architectural Heritage (National Inventory) and Historic Monuments (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 1998 and buildings with cultural importance are now afforded greater protection through the act as a result. The large degree of neglect that Frescati suffered was a key tactic of the developers. Legislation was introduced recently in which owners of historic buildings can be punished by a prison term or a fine of up to one million pounds for negligence. This legislation was exercised when Archer’s Garage in the South City, a listed building was demolished illegally in Dublin. The developers agreed to rebuild and Archer’s Garage has now been rebuilt.