Get ready to explore Fingal’s rich Architecture during Open House 2024

Fingal County Council invites you to explore Fingal’s Architecture during Open House 2024 taking place from October 12 -20, 2024. The Fingal programme of tours on Saturday October 19 has something everyone can engage with ranging from modern newly completed Community Centres and Housing Developments to the restoration and conservation of our historic buildings. 

The Open House Dublin programme for 2024, launched in the award-winning Lark Balbriggan, features 200+ events for everyone to experience free of charge this October, with guided tours of buildings, outdoor spaces and private houses, conversations on current topics, exhibitions, architects’ studio visits, workshops and more on the line-up.

Tours in Fingal include Malahide Castle and Newbridge House, Swords Castle and Carnegie Free Library Refurbishment, Ardgillan Castle and Glasshouses, Meakstown Community Centre and Bowden Court and Monastery Court Housing Developments.

The programme opens with a dedicated Junior weekend for children and families on October 12 and 13, and in Fingal we have a number of Arts & Crafts workshops in Balbriggan and Rush Libraries on the Saturday. A LEGOⓇ competition will also be run online as part of the festival, inviting children everywhere to get building, with special prizes up for grabs.

Fionnuala May, County Architect, Fingal County Council, said: “Fingal County Council is pleased to support the Open House Dublin programme again this year as we invite the public to tour the varied architecture of the County from Castles to Age Friendly Housing or the conservation and repurposing of historic buildings and the innovative and sensitive design of new public spaces such as Meakstown Community Centre.”

Details of some of the tours on October 19, 2024

• The just completed sensitively designed Meakstown Community Centre developed by Fingal County Council nestled into the southeastern corner of Lanesborough Park.
• Visit two of our recent Housing Developments- Bowden Court a recently completed social housing scheme within 20 mins walking distance of Main Street, Swords and Monastery Court Lusk where all dwellings incorporate age friendly design elements such as oversized doors, accessible showers and a spare bedroom suitable for a carer.
• Swords Carnegie Free Library tour will outline the general history of the building and outline the nature of the works completed to provide a new arts space in Swords.
• Take a trip through 800 years of history at Malahide Castle and view the 2022 conservation works to the Great Hall, the finest state room in the historic Castle building.
• Visit Ardgillan Castle which has been restored with the ground floor rooms and kitchens open for guided tours and many spaces currently in use as studios for artists, and tour the restoration works historic glasshouses beginning in the Rose Garden
• Explore Newbridge House one of the best-preserved Georgian interiors in the country, providing a rare opportunity to study an Irish collection in its historical context.
• External walking tour of Swords Castle conservation works designed by Architects Department Fingal County Council completed over the last 7 years.
• Saint Macullins Centre, Lusk, an 1847 former church in the heart of medieval Lusk which features beautiful stained-glass windows.

Other tours include the Lark Concert Hall Balbriggan on Saturday and Sunday and opportunities to visit High Street Balbriggan by Robert Bourke Architects and Island Architects.

Speaking at a programme launch photocall event of Open House Dublin held at The Lark Concert Hall, Balbriggan, Emmett Scanlon, Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, said: “Perhaps today, more than ever, people need time and space to gather, debate and discuss what Dublin is now and what it might next become. For the Irish Architecture Foundation, Open House Dublin is our invitation, open to all, to hold a mirror to the county and city and together face what we see. I am certain this year, at our 19th edition, thousands of people of all ages will go on tours, experiencing Dublin’s architectural marvels and triumphs, past and present; thousands more will bear witness to the work of strong, diverse, communities, champions of their place, who continue to be the foundations upon which the very best of Dublin is built.”

All Open House Dublin events are free. Pre-booking is required for many events - see www.OpenHouseDublin.com , where full details of the programme, including which events require pre-booking, can be found.