Oscar Wilde's Childhood home, 1 Merrion Square, Dublin. Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin, on 16 October 1854, but his family moved here, to this prestigious address on the north side of Merrion Square, in the following year. The house needed six servants to help run it, and would become a hub of society life. Wilde's early biographer wrote:
There are many people still living in Dublin who remember No. 1 Merrion Square when it was the salon of the capital. On reception nights the crush of people in the drawing-rooms upstairs used to be so great that it was a familiar spectacle that of Lady Wilde elbowing her way through the crush and crying out, "How ever am I to get through all these people." [Sherard 70]
Related Material
- Early 20c photograph of the house
- Early 20c photograph of Merrion Square
- Homes of Artists and Writers
Photographs and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the images for larger pictures.] ]
Bibliography
Sherard, Robert Harborough. The Life of Oscar Wilde. London: T. W. Laurie, 1906. Internet Archive. Contributed by University of California Libraries. Web. 30 August 2016.
Created 31 August 2016