Andrew Somerville will give a talk in the O’Neill Theatre, Trinity Long Room Hub about the early buildings of Trinity College Dublin, from the Elizabethan Quadrangle up to the residential ranges of the early eighteenth century. Only the Rubrics remains, albeit much altered, to suggest what the College looked like before the 1750s, when replacement of the early buildings began. Why and when were new buildings added, beyond the original Quadrangle? What can be said about their architecture? Who designed them? How were they funded? Where were materials sourced? Who managed their construction on the College’s behalf, and who carried out the work? How were essential services provided? We shall also look at the community of residents of the early buildings up to the end of the nineteenth century. Where did Trinity’s students come from: geographically, socially, and denominationally? What were residential conditions like? Some famous names appear – for example, Oliver Goldsmith, the United Irishman Henry Sheares, Douglas Hyde – along with others who are less well-known but whose stories are nonetheless remarkable.

Andrew taught economics in Trinity for more than 40 years, but since he retired in 2015 his work has taken a different direction.