St Stephen''s Green
Walk to the bottom of Kildare Street and you'll emerge on the northeast side of St Stephen's Green , the focus of central Dublin's city planning. It's an oddly decorous expanse, neat and tidy with little bandstands and pergolas, laid out as a public park in 1880 by Lord Ardilaun (Sir Arthur Edward Guinness). It was an open common until 1663, and the final buildings ringing it went up in the eighteenth century; unfortunately, very few of these have survived, and their replacements speak eloquently of the failure of 1960s planning regulations. The gardens , with their ornamental pond, can be a pleasant place to while away some time on a sunny day, but in terms of architecture, or even city life, there's not a lot to see. The statue in memory of Wolfe Tone, backed by slabs of granite, is nicknamed "Tone-henge". The northside of the square, known in the eighteenth century as the "Beaux Walk" for the dandies and glitterati who used to promenade there, is dominated by the Shelbourne Hotel . Fittingly, the Shelbourne , which boasts that it has "the best address in Dublin", continues to be a focus for the upper echelons of the city's social life. It's worth bearing in mind that, as with all Irish hotels, you can wander in for a drink and something to eat in the lobby at any time of day, even if you're not staying. The hotel's afternoon teas (from 3pm) are wonderful; but the airy, chandeliered lobby and the Horseshoe bar come into their own in the early evening, when the hotel is a great place for both celebrity-spotting and watching the parade of young Dubliners who are there to be seen. The Shelbourne is too well bred to pass comment on jeans and trainers in the lobby, but you'll feel out of place if you penetrate to the excellent (but expensive) restaurant unless you dress up a bit. Just past the hotel, to the left of a shuttered garden, lies the Huguenot Graveyard , which dates from 1693. The Huguenots - French Protestants who fled persecution under Louis XIV, after the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 took away the religious privileges they had previously enjoyed - enriched cultural life all over Europe with their craftsmanship (their silverwork was particularly valued). Ireland was no exception, and this quiet burial place, with its understated French headstones, seems a particularly fitting tribute to their quietly industrious way of life . Linked to the east side of the Green by Hume Street is Ely Place , where you can see some of the best-preserved Georgian domestic buildings in Dublin.
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