More than €150,000 was spent last year on refurbishment at Dublin’s Mansion House including the rehanging of historic curtains, the €7,000 purchase of “bespoke long cushions”, and the restoration of a 19th century gilded mirror.
A sum of €8,800 was spent by Dublin City Council on secondary glazing to better noise-proof and insulate windows in the Lord Mayor’s bedroom, work carried out by Timeless Sash Windows.
Covid concerns resulted in the €7,800 replacement of an air handling unit in the famous Oak Room of the building, an 18th century national monument.
Works carried out over the past three hundred years had meant the Oak Room and its adjoining bar had no natural ventilation with windows and external doors having been blocked up to make room for expansion.
A contract award said: “An old air handling unit is in place and was inspected following Covid to check If it met Government Covid guidelines, and it was found not to do this.”
A major repair job to an 18th century plaster ceiling ended up costing almost €20,000 after damage was found to be worse than expected.
The ceiling had been buried under several layers of paint with removal needed and then the restoration of “very fine quality” historic plasterwork.
Dry cleaning and rehanging of the carpets after the plasterwork was finished cost a sum of €1,225, according to records released under FOI.
A further €7,000 was spent on the purchase of specially designed long cushions for the Oak Room benches “as requested by [the] Mansion House”.
The replacement of two castors and repair of lacquer surfaces on a baby grand piano cost €340 while €147 was spent on removing scratches and polishing a window seat.
Fixing up a rosewood Georgian circular table came with a bill of just under €1,700.
This involved the repair of a brass inlay which was lifting, as well as the replacement of brass inlay strips.
There was spending of €5,250 on specialist cleaning and restoration for the entrance steps to the famous old mansion.
This included “fungicide treatment”, steam cleaning, as well as works on the granite steps themselves.
One of the largest bills was for installation of a new safer walkway to allow access to the roof of the building, which cost €48,500.
An email from the company who carried out the works said: “Our normal PVC off the shelf system is not suitable for this project due to the narrowing of the roof widths, the fall of the gutters and the unusual widths in many parts of the roof.”
A mirror restoration in the Lady Mayoresses Parlour cost €3,300, according to the records.
The gilded mirror, which is from around 1750, was chipped and required specialist works undertaken by the expert Kildare-based gilder Susan Mulhall.
A further €48,407 was spent on ongoing works to provide better accessibility as well as landscaping works, invoices show.
Asked about the expenditure, Dublin City Council said they had no comment to make.
