48 Upper Leeson Street

Robert Briscoe, former Lord Mayor of Dublin, lived in No. 48. In his biography there is a graphic description of the house and of a moment in time during the visit of Queen Victoria in 1900, the year of her death.

"There was a serenity about the house, guarded as it was from the street by a high wall from which a gravel path ran between bright flower-beds and close-mown lawns to its classic front door. Behind the house was another big lawn where we could play our games."

From a window he saw a grand procession when Queen Victoria came to Dublin and watched the Queen for five minutes.

"The head of the procession had trouble on the bridge at the canal and the royal carriage stopped directly in front of our house. So small to be so great; and so very old. During those endless minutes she sat there as still as her own image in wax at Madame Tussaud's. Even a child felt death so close that only the shell of the queen was sitting there."