Marine Hotel History

The Hotel was built in 1897 in what was a sleepy outlying area of Dublin City.

The Hotel was then known as the Golfers Hotel later becoming the Strand Hotel and finally in 1913 the Marine Hotel.

It was one of the first businesses to have a telephone, its number being “Sutton 25”.

The Gerarty sisters owned and managed the Hotel until 1959 when it was purchased by Oswald Johnson who built a seawater indoor swimming pool, a most unique feature at the time. The Hotel consolidated its reputation as a venue for banquets in particular, weddings.

In 1989 the Hotel was purchased by the Ryan family, owners of the Grand Hotel in Malahide. Since then there has been a continuing program of investment which has seen the construction of a new swimming pool, new banquet room, new restaurant, new meeting rooms and an additional 25 bedrooms.

As the Hotel develops, it will always look to its past standards and reputation as a guide for the future.

Curiosities:

One evening in the 1930’s there was a fire in the Hotel. Guests in the Bar rescued their drinks and the piano before redeploying to the garden. There, they sang songs and partied until the Fire Brigade doused the fire. Apparently a great time was had by all!
On 7th October 1977 U2 played one of their early gigs at the Marine Hotel under the original name of ‘The Hype‘. U2 appeared under the name The Hype and played a number of covers, including Suffragette City with Gavin Friday. They also performed an original song called What’s Going On (not the famous song of the same title by Marvin Gaye that U2 covered at all shows on the third leg of the Elevation Tour)