L’Enfant Trust Participates in The 1772 Foundation Advisor Exchange Program to Dublin

In May, The L’Enfant Trust staff had the unique opportunity to travel to Dublin, Ireland, to participate in an advisor exchange program with Dublin heritage professionals hosted by The 1772 Foundation. We’re incredibly grateful to The 1772 Foundation and Mary Anthony (Advisor at The 1772 Foundation) for spearheading and sponsoring this exceptional professional opportunity and for advocating for the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and preservation best practices between heritage organizations.

The Trust was inspired by conversations surrounding the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and the role preservation and heritage organizations can play in addressing housing, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement — themes central to the Trust’s own Historic Properties Redevelopment Program in Washington, D.C.

Our first day in Ireland included a visit to Inis Meáin, a remote island in the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway, where we toured numerous historic, derelict stone cottages with the potential to be restored for productive use as housing, community space, or accommodations for artists and skilled trades professionals. We were especially thrilled to visit Teach Synge Cottage, a 300-year-old cottage that now operates as a museum dedicated to the life and work of celebrated playwright John Millington Synge. Inis Meáin is part of the Gaeltacht – an official Irish-speaking area.

An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland has nominated the Stone Thatched Cottages of the Gaeltacht to the 2027 World Monuments Watch.

During the week, we also had the joy of meeting with Niamh Lunny, CEO of the Irish Landmark Trust, to learn about the non-profit’s work to save, share, and sustain Ireland’s unique built heritage. Niamh gave us a tour of the Irish Landmark Trust’s historic rental properties at the Castletown Gate House and Round House.

On Wednesday, May 20, we gathered with Dublin heritage professionals at the Irish Landmark Trust’s offices at 11 Parnell Square, a historic Georgian building located in the heart of Dublin’s historic cultural quarter, to present on the Trust’s conservation easement program and Historic Properties Redevelopment Program, and learn about the opportunities and challenges facing heritage groups in Dublin.

Heritage professionals included representatives from An Taisce – The National Trust For Ireland, The Irish Landmark Trust, the Dublin Civic Trust, the Irish Georgian Society, Dublin City Council, Heritage Ireland – Office of Public Works, and Historic Houses of Ireland.

We rounded out our visit to Ireland with a day trip north to Belfast to meet with Marcus Patton, Director of the Hearth Historic Buildings Trust, the longest-established and most active building preservation trust in Northern Ireland, whose mission is to rescue modest historic buildings under threat. Hearth has restored forty houses and a variety of larger buildings that now house restaurants, a theater, and community facilities. We toured several of the organization’s completed and ongoing commercial and residential redevelopment projects in Belfast. Check out the photos below of some of the Hearth Trust’s projects.

Lastly, we met with Graham Hickey, CEO of the Dublin Civic Trust, to learn about the charitable organization’s work to identify, preserve, and create awareness about Dublin’s architectural heritage, and the organization’s burgeoning revolving fund program.

We can’t thank The 1772 Foundation enough for this incredible learning opportunity, and we look forward to bringing many of the ideas, strategies, and preservation best practices shared by Dublin heritage professionals back to our work here in Washington, D.C. Sláinte!