The Shelbourne Hotel has many stories to tell

STANDING proudly on the north side of St Stephen’s Green, the Shelbourne Hotel is one of Dublin’s most famous landmarks. For more than two centuries, its elegant rooms and corridors have witnessed political upheaval, revolution, romance and social change.

From its beginnings in the early 19th century to its involvement in the Easter Rising of 1916 and from the curious story of Alois Hitler, to the drafting of the Constitution of the Irish Free State, the history of the Shelbourne is closely intertwined with the history of Dublin itself.

The hotel was founded in 1824 by Martin Burke, an ambitious businessman from Tipperary. Burke acquired several adjoining Georgian townhouses overlooking St Stephen’s Green and transformed them into a fashionable hotel. He named his new establishment after William Petty, the 2nd Earl of Shelburne, a former British prime minister who had associations with the area.

From the beginning, the Shelbourne was intended to be more than simply a place to sleep. Burke wanted to create a luxurious meeting place for the wealthy and influential. The hotel became known for its elegant drawing rooms, fine dining and modern innovations, including gas lighting. Its location opposite St Stephen’s Green placed it at the centre of fashionable Dublin society and during the 19th century it attracted aristocrats, politicians, writers and wealthy travellers.

Irish Hitler

One of the most unusual episodes in the hotel’s history concerns Alois Hitler Jr—the elder half-brother of Adolf Hitler. Alois arrived in Dublin in the early 20th century and worked at the Shelbourne, reportedly in various accounts as a waiter, kitchen porter or pot washer. He was a notorious conman and bigamist

While in Dublin, Alois met a young Dubliner from Clondalkin named Bridget Dowling. According to the story later associated with the family, the couple met in 1909, and despite opposition from Bridget’s family, they eventually eloped to London and married in 1910. Their son, William Patrick Hitler, was born in Liverpool in 1911.

William Patrick Hitler was a nephew of Adolf Hitler, but later moved to the United States and served in the US Navy during the Second World War. In effect there was an Irish Hitler called Paddy

Rising and rebellion

The Shelbourne’s most dramatic encounter with Irish history came during the Easter Rising of April 1916. When the rebellion began on Easter Monday, members of the Irish Citizen Army under Commandant Michael Mallin and his second-in-command, Countess Markievicz, occupied St Stephen’s Green. The rebels dug trenches and erected barricades throughout the park.

The position quickly became extremely dangerous. British forces occupied buildings overlooking the Green—including the Shelbourne Hotel—and soldiers used the upper floors as firing positions. From this commanding height they could fire down towards the rebel positions in the park. Bizarrely, ceasefires were called each day to allow the park’s caretakers to feed resident ducks of the lake of St Stephen’s Green.

The rebels soon realised that their trenches offered little protection from fire coming from above. As a result, Mallin’s forces withdrew from the Green and established their main defensive position in the nearby Royal College of Surgeons. The Shelbourne remained in British hands during the fighting and became one of the most important military positions overlooking this part of the city.

The contrast was extraordinary. A hotel built for luxury, afternoon tea and high society had become a military strongpoint in the middle of a revolution. Stories from the period describe guests sheltering away from windows as gunfire echoed around St Stephen’s Green. The events of Easter Week permanently linked the Shelbourne with one of the defining moments in modern Irish history.

Only six years later, the hotel played another important role in the creation of the new Irish state. In 1922, Room 112 became associated with meetings of the committee responsible for drafting the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The room is now known as the Constitution Room, preserving the hotel’s connection with the political foundations of independent Ireland.

A storied history

Over the following decades, the Shelbourne continued to attract an extraordinary range of guests. Politicians, writers, actors, musicians and international dignitaries passed through its doors. Its literary associations are particularly strong, with figures such as William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker connected with the hotel, while James Joyce referred to it in his writing.

The Shelbourne has undergone numerous changes, expansions and renovations during its long existence, yet it has retained its reputation as one of Dublin’s great meeting places. Its location opposite St Stephen’s Green gives it a unique position from which it has observed the transformation of 26 counties of Ireland from part of the United Kingdom, through revolution and independence, and into the modern nation of Ireland. I, personally, maintain the Republic—as proclaimed by Pearse—is yet to be achieved.

Few buildings in Dublin can claim such a varied collection of stories. The Shelbourne has been a fashionable hotel, a temporary military position, a political meeting place and the unlikely workplace of Adolf Hitler’s half-brother. Its history combines major national events with curious personal stories, making it far more than simply a luxury hotel.

For more than 200 years, the Shelbourne has stood beside St Stephen’s Green as Dublin changed around it. Behind its grand façade lies a remarkable record of the city’s social and political history, a place where revolutionaries fought outside, soldiers fired from the windows, constitutions were discussed upstairs and one of history’s strangest family connections began with a young Austrian working in a Dublin hotel.