Gresham Hotel
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The Gresham Hotel is a hotel in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Located on what is now O'Connell Street, the hotel is a Dublin institution and is known throughout the world. This landmark building has recently been refurbished, marrying the traditional styles of The Gresham with the contemporary style of the 21st Century.
Thomas Gresham was a foundling child, abandoned on the steps of the Royal Exchange. He was named after the founder of that institution Sir Thomas Gresham a famous merchant-politician in the Elizabethan era.
Gresham came to Ireland, and as a very young man obtained employment in the service of William Beauman of Rutland Square, Dublin. After some time, and while still comparatively young, he became butler to this family. This was an important position in the Georgian household, with its complicated domestic structure.
In 1817, Thomas Gresham left William Beauman's household and purchased 21-22 Sackville Street. How he acquired the capital to undertake an enterprise of this kind is not known. Over the next 48 years, Gresham operated the hotel as a first class lodging house catering mostly to the wealthy aristocracy and MPs who passed through Dublin on their way to Westminster.