Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Builder and stuccoworker, of 1 Mountjoy Place, Dublin. George Stapleton, the eldest son of MICHAEL STAPLETON MICHAEL STAPLETON , carried on his father's building and stucco business at No. 1 Mountjoy Place. He was extensively employed by the Board of Works and, between 1801 and 1824, received regular payments from Trinity College, Dublin.(1) His transfer from the 'Merchants and Traders' section to the 'Nobility and Gentry' section of Wilson's Dublin Directory in 1829 may indicate that he retired from business at this date, though his fellow tradesmen, writing in 1834, put the date a little later, stating that he retired 'comfortably circumstanced' in about 1832 'owing to the badness of trade'.(2) From the mid-1830s until about 1841, he had a country house at Clonskeagh but by the end of his life he was residing solely at 1 Mountjoy Place. He appears to have died in 1844, as he is still listed in the directories for that year but not in those for 1845 By the time he came to write his will he owned a considerable a number of houses on the north side of the city - some of which had belonged to his father - and two on the south. He was married to Anna? née Bodkin of Annagh, Co. Galway,(3) who survived him, and was the father of Michael Harry Stapleton, a surgeon, George, a solicitor, and Anna.

Addresses: 1 Mountjoy Place, <=1801-1844 (and Casino, Roebuck, <=1836->=1841).

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Wilson's, Thom's and Pettigrew & Oulton's directories, C.P. Curran, 'Michael Stapleton: Dublin Stuccodore', Studies 28, no. 111 (Sep1939), 441-2,449, and C.P. Curran, Dublin Decorative Plasterwork (1967), 79-80. Year of birth from Conor Lucey, The Stapleton Collection (2007), 101.

(1) Trinity college muniments, MUN/P/2/185-256, passim.
(2) Royal Irish Academy, Haliday MS 4B 31; this manuscript is a copy of a report presented to Daniel O'Connell in 1834 to support the argument for repealing the Act of Union by describing the catastrophic impact the Act had had on the tradesmen of Dublin.
(3) C.P. Curran, MS Notebook No. 1, in IAA; according to this source another daughter, Olivia, married a Count of the Holy Roman Empire named Nugent.


10 work entries listed in chronological order for STAPLETON, GEORGE *


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, TRINITY COLLEGE
Date: 1803;1808
Nature: Painting and whitening, 1803; painting and whitening in Dr Sandes chambers and Rev Dr Magee's chambers, 1808;
Refs: NA/PRO Bolger MSS, 1A/58/125,127

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PHOENIX PARK, HOUSE
Date: 1809-10
Nature: Plastering at 'Sir Charles Vernon's cottage, Phoenix Park' measured 1809,1810. (Vernon was Chamberlain to the Lord Lieutenant)
Refs: NA/PRO Bolger MSS, 1A/58/127

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PHOENIX PARK, VICE-REGAL LODGE
Date: 1810
Nature: Work by GS at same amounting to £3-2s-9d measured by Bryan Bolger; also plasterwork, 1810..
Refs: NA/PRO Bolger MSS, 1A/58/127,128

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CASTLE STREET, DUBLIN CASTLE
Date: 1810;1812;1816;1821
Nature: Various works by GS at state apartments and elsewhere measured by Bryan Bolger. Also various works in Upper Castle Yard and West Yard for visit of Geo IV.
Refs: NA/PRO Bolger MSS, 1A/58/127,128

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PHOENIX PARK, CHIEF SECRETARY'S LODGE
Date: 1810?
Nature: Plastering by GS measured by Bryan Bolger.
Refs: NA/PRO Bolger MSS, 1A/58/128

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, HARDWICKE PLACE, ST GEORGE'S CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1811a-1814
Nature: GS executes stuccowork and other plastering work..
Refs: Papers relating to St George's Church, Dublin…Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be Printed, 29 April 1825, 10,16,19 (copy in IAA, RP.D.130.10); Eugenie Carr, 'A catalogue of the Stapleton family collection of Drawings in the National Library of Ireland', unpublished MA thesis, University College, Dublin, 1985, 58,235;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 122.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CASTLE STREET, DUBLIN CASTLE, CHAPEL ROYAL (CI)
Date: 1812-1813
Nature: GS's bills for plasterwork measured 1812 (£1023-14s-6d), 1813 (£1741-10s-5½d).
Refs: Bolger MSS, NA/PRO 1A/58/128;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 359.

Building: CO. CARLOW, BORRIS HOUSE
Date: 1813ca
Nature: GS stuccodore and/or contractor for executing designs by Richard Morrison.
Refs: Drawings for entablature and elevation of library wall, both signed 'R. Morrison Architect' in NLI, Stapleton Collection, 2321, see Eugenie Carr, 'A catalogue of the Stapleton family collection of Drawings in the National Library of Ireland', unpublished MA thesis, University College, Dublin, 1985, 92,123,236,Pl.50

Building: CO. WESTMEATH, BALLYNAGALL
Date: 1815-16
Nature: GS probably stuccodore and/or contractor.
Refs: Designs for stuccowork in NLI, Stapleton Collection, see Eugenie Carr, 'A catalogue of the Stapleton family collection of Drawings in the National Library of Ireland', unpublished MA thesis, University College, Dublin, 1985, 42,219n45,236

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CIRCULAR ROAD NORTH, NO. 191-195 (FEMALE ORPHAN HOUSE)
Date: 1817-19
Nature: Chapel plasterwork possibly by GS.
Refs: Details of chapel? plasterwork, inscr. Females Orphan House and s. William Farrell in NLI, Stapleton Collection, 2341, see Eugenie Carr, 'A catalogue of the Stapleton family collection of drawings in the National Library of Ireland', unpublished MA thesis, University College, Dublin, 1985, 1206,234

Author Title Date Details
Curran, Constantine P. 'Michael Stapleton: Dublin stuccodore' 1939 Studies 28, no. 111 (Sep 1939), 439-449.