Overview

Newman House was founded in 1854 as a Catholic alternative to the Protestant Trinity College and it nurtured the minds of many famous students, including James Joyce and Eamon de Valera. The university (now University College Dublin) has since moved to the southern suburbs of the city. Visits to Newman House are only conducted on guided tours. Newman House comprises two townhouses at 85 and 86 St Stephen's Green. The former was built by Cassels in 1738 and features the Apollo Room, complete with suggestive frescoes which were covered by appalled Jesuits in 1883. The adjacent residence, built in 1765, reveals treasures such as Joyce's classroom and the bedroom of Gerard Manley Hopkins who was an unhappy teacher here.