It is located off Chesterfield Avenue in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, with the building's design being credited to amateur architect Nathaniel Clements but more likely guided by professionals (John Wood of Bath, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and Richard Cassels) and completed around 1751 to 1757.

Some historians have claimed that the garden front portico of Áras an Uachtaráin (which can be seen by the public from the main road through the Phoenix Park) was used as a model by Irish architect James Hoban, who designed the White House in Washington, D.C.

The Chief Secretary for Ireland (the British Cabinet minister with responsibility for Irish affairs), Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his Under-Secretary, Thomas Henry Burke, were stabbed to death with surgical knives while walking back to the residence from Dublin Castle.

The new state intended to place the new representative of the Crown, Governor-General Tim Healy, in a new, smaller residence, but because of death threats from the anti-treaty IRA, he was installed in the Viceregal Lodge temporarily.

The house was left empty until 1938, when the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, lived there temporarily while plans were made to build a new presidential palace on the grounds.

[4] By 1945 it had become too closely identified with the presidency of Ireland to be demolished, though its poor condition meant that extensive demolition and rebuilding of parts of the building were necessary, notably the kitchens, servants' quarters and chapel.

Compared to other European royal and presidential palaces, Áras an Uachtaráin has only a handful of staterooms: the state drawing room, large and small dining rooms, the President's Office and Library, a large ballroom and a presidential corridor lined with the busts of past presidents (Francini Corridor), and some fine eighteenth and nineteenth century bedrooms above, all in the main building.

[5] Various visiting British monarchs stayed at the Viceregal Lodge while Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, notably Queen Victoria and King George V. American presidents hosted there include John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.

[7] She was welcomed by President Mary McAleese, inspected a guard of honour, signed the visitors book and planted an Irish oak sapling.