Casino at Marino

The Casino - from the Italian for small house - was built between the 1750s and 1770s for James Caulfeild, Earl of Charlemont, to a design by William Chambers, and it is a sustained architectural joke. From outside it reads as a compact Greek cross temple with one large room behind a single door and a few windows. Inside are sixteen rooms across three floors, including a basement. The tricks that make it work are everywhere once pointed out: the door is a false facade with a much smaller real one inside it, the windows have curved black glass so you cannot see in, the urns on the roof are chimneys, and the columns are hollow and carry the rainwater down. The state acquired it in poor condition and restored it over decades. Entry is by guided tour only, which is essential, since almost none of this is apparent unaided.

History

The Casino was designed by the Scottish architect William Chambers and built by Simon Vierpyl for James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, from the late 1750s, after the earl's nine-year Grand Tour of Italy and Greece; Chambers, kept busy in England, never saw it finished. The name is the diminutive of the Italian casa, "little house", and has nothing to do with gambling (Wikipedia, Casino at Marino).

What you'll find

• The scale trick - a one-room temple outside, sixteen rooms within.
• The hidden services - urns as chimneys, columns as downpipes.
• The false door and curved glass - devices hiding the real interior.
• The Chambers design - among the finest neoclassical work in Ireland.

When to go

April to October; opening is seasonal and reduced or closed in winter. Tours run at set times and groups are small - check the schedule before travelling.

What to expect

Guided tour only, at fixed times, with limited places. Seasonal opening - it closes for much of the winter. Small, an hour at most, and in a residential suburb with no other attractions beside it.

Nearby

Clontarf and Dublin Bay are east; the city centre is a short bus ride south.

Key facts