To contemporaries living in late eighteenth-century Dublin it was apparent that a major architectural transformation was taking place in the Irish capital (Fig. 1). Fine squares and streets of brick-parapeted terraced housing were being built faster than ever, particularly to the north-east and south-east of the city. Many of the public buildings were being either rebuilt or reclad in the garb of the latest neo-classical fashion. The explanation offered by subsequent commentators for this surge in Dublin’s development — that it was the display by the Anglo-Irish élite of the prosperity and national pride they had recently forged for Ireland, and that it arose directly from the legislative freedoms won in 1782 by ‘Grattan’s Parliament’ (named after the great Patriot leader) — still persists in recent architectural histories. Whether this interpretation is satisfactory, or whether more emphasis needs to be placed on the colonial condition of Ireland at the time, requires investigation. Recent Irish historical writing has questioned the traditional assumptions about ‘Grattan’s Parliament’, and has instead suggested that the closer system of ‘management’ begun under the viceroyalty of Lord Townshend (1767–72) represented the decisive break in late eighteenth-century Irish history. This change in colonial policy sought to return effective rule to the Westminster government and its representatives in Dublin Castle, and was achieved by regaining control over the Irish Revenue Board and by buying a loyal party in the Irish Parliament.