The long relationship of the Honourable Society of King’s Inns with building activity is directly reflected in its collection of architectural drawings, now placed on loan in the Irish Architectural Archive.

Selected items from the collection are now on exhibit in the Irish Architectural Archive. These include a copy of a 1720s survey of the area on the north bank of the Liffey formerly occupied by the Dominican Friary of St. Saviour’s, or Blackfriars. In 1541 lawyers were granted a lease of Blackfriars for the purposes of establishing the first Irish inn of court, King’s Inns, so named in honour of Henry VIII. For over a century and a half, the former friary buildings were modestly adapted, altered and extended on an ad hoc basis to serve the operational needs of King’s Inns, to provide chambers for its members, to house court sittings on occasion and to function as a de facto public records office.

By the 1690s the buildings were in a decayed, even ruinous, state. It took another six decades and more of false starts, changes of direction, political machinations, clashes of personality and budgetary shortfalls before work on new purpose-built accommodation began. When the construction dust eventually settled, two great buildings – James Gandon’s Four Courts on Inns Quay and King’s Inns on Henrietta Street – had been created. They still stand as emblems of the ambition and accomplishment of their age. The exhibition contains a number of rare and important items which result from the intimate involvement of King’s Inns with what are undoubtedly two of the greatest buildings of Georgian Dublin. Two other great Dublin buildings – the Custom House and the Parliament House – are also represented, while a number of curiosities are to be found, including an early proposal for the development of Dun Laoghaire harbour.