The excitement about the new five-star Merrion Hotel is building and fuel was added to the fire when an entire section of Merrion Row was closed last week. The mighty cranes were actually employed on alterations to its nearest rival, the Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen's Green, but that didn't stop the rumours flying.
However, since the new hotel, on Merrion Street, is of very refined demeanour, the last-minute preparations are, in fact, of a very delicate and civilised nature. Alice Roden, who designed the hotel's interiors using period colours and antiques, as well as using her skills as a hand-weaver to create the Irish linens to be used in the guest rooms, is putting the specially-commissioned curtains and carpets in place for the opening, in the first week in September.
Also hard at work are Seamus O hEocha, who was restoring the Robert West stucco work to its original glories, and Martin Mooney, a young Irish artist who is working on murals for the main stairwell.
The hotel is set within four Georgian houses and a contemporary garden wing has been added overlooking two re-created formal gardens which are being lovingly planted by Jim Reynolds. One is entitled Lady Mornington's Garden, after the former owner of the house who was said to be a keen gardener, and both feature an array of Irish plants or foreign plants known to Irish people of the time. Jim is particularly excited about re-discovering the Californian tree poppy, which was brought to Ireland by Thomas Coulter in 1840, and about the huge number of exotic trees which he is currently unpacking following a recent trip to Italy. In the restaurants, furious sampling is going on as the chefs put the final touches to their menus - Ed Cooney in the Mornington Restaurant and Patrick Guilbaud, who is making the move from his own premises to the Merrion.