Frescati House, Demolished Georgian house site in Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland

Frescati House was a Georgian house and estate in Blackrock, Dublin, built in 1739 for the family of John Hely Hutchinson. Its austere exterior, without pediments or pilasters, contrasted with a richly ornate interior: carved marble chimneypieces, elaborate ceilings and plasterwork, a classical stone staircase with medallioned walls, a circular room with a groined ceiling, and a long parlour with a painted ceiling by Riley, a student of Joshua Reynolds. It also had its own theatre with Corinthian columns, and Jacob Smith landscaped formal gardens with rare plants and shrubs.

Built in 1739 for John Hely Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College, Frescati was sold in the 1750s to the FitzGeralds, Ireland's largest landowners, who made it one of their three principal residences. In the 1760s they tripled its size with flanking wings and bay windows, spending a reported £85,000. After serving briefly as Rev. Craig's school from 1804, it was acquired in 1970 by the owners of Roches Stores and demolished in 1983 for the Frascati Shopping Centre.

The name Frescati is a deliberate corruption of the Italian resort town Frascati, given when the FitzGeralds enlarged the house in the 1760s. The house held its own theatre with Corinthian columns, and the long parlour ceiling was painted by Riley, a pupil of Joshua Reynolds. Emily FitzGerald invited Jean-Jacques Rousseau to tutor her children here; he declined, and William Ogilvie took the post.

The original building no longer stands, so visitors can only experience it through photographs and historical accounts. The site where it once stood is now occupied by the Frascati Shopping Centre.

Frescati's name is a deliberate corruption of Frascati, the Italian resort town, given when the FitzGeralds enlarged the house in the 1760s. The Duchess of Leinster invited Jean-Jacques Rousseau himself to tutor her children here; he declined, and she hired the Scot William Ogilvie instead, whom she later married six weeks after her husband's death.