Leinster House

Completed in 1748, as the townhouse for James FitzGerald (1722-1773), 20th Earl of Kildare (created the 1st Duke of Leinster in 1766) who in the previous year had married Lady Emily Lennox (1731-1814), daughter of the 2nd Duke of Richmond. In 1815, their grandson, the 3rd Duke of Leinster, sold the mansion to the Royal Dublin Society and it served as their headquarters up until 1922. Since then it has become the central building in a complex of buildings that houses the Irish Parliament. In America, James Hoban (1755-1831) based his design for the Charleston County Courthouse on Leinster House and they both then directly inspired his design for The White House.