The land at Adare has been contested since the Norman invasion. In 1226, King Henry III granted rights to hold an annual fair here. The Earls of Kildare held the lands until 1536, when Thomas FitzGerald's attainder forfeited everything to the crown. The boy king Edward VI granted Adare to the Earls of Desmond in 1547, but the Desmond Rebellions transferred control to the St. Leger family. Over the next century, the property passed through ten families -- St. Leger, Zouch, Gold, Rigges, Wallop, Norreis, Jephson, Evans, Ormesby, and finally Quin. Thady Quin purchased the moiety in 1669, received the last land grant in 1684 on a thousand-year lease, and his descendants would hold it long enough to transform a modest tower into one of Ireland's grandest houses.

The first Earl of Dunraven made significant alterations to the property around 1785, and by 1786 it was described as "a very noble structure with fine and extensive demesnes." But the transformation came under the second Earl, who inherited the title in 1824 and set about converting the Georgian mansion into a Tudor Revival showpiece. He began with architects James and George Richard Pain, but dispensed with their services and carried on with English architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham and, increasingly, his own drawings. His wife Lady Caroline later claimed the design was entirely her husband's work. Master mason James Connolly executed the vision. In 1846, Augustus Pugin was brought in to design interior features including the great hall. The southern range and pyramidal-roofed tower were completed by the third Earl between 1850 and 1862, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick.

Despite its grandeur, Adare Manor's financial history is surprisingly modest. At the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1868, the entire property was valued at just 130 pounds; by 1906, the buildings were assessed at 182 pounds. The twentieth century brought conversion to a hotel, but financial difficulties followed. After a protracted sales process, Limerick businessman J.P. McManus purchased Adare Manor for an estimated 30 million euros in 2015. Many of the hotel's contents were auctioned publicly in January 2016. The property was then extensively renovated, and today operates as a five-star resort on an 840-acre estate. The Oak Room restaurant, named for oak panelling commissioned by Augustus Pugin, earned a Michelin star in 2020. Most significantly, Adare Manor will host the centenary Ryder Cup in September 2027.

Along the parapet of the south front, verses from Psalm 127:1 are etched in old English characters. Additional inscriptions -- "Love God onely," "Honour and obey the Queen," and "Eschew evil and do good" -- run along the colonnade. These are not merely decorative. They reflect the deep religious conviction of the Quin family and the Victorian-era belief that architecture should instruct as well as shelter. From the air, Adare Manor presents as an improbably large stone building beside a quiet river in a small Irish village, its chimneys and windows arranged with a mathematician's precision. The calendar house concept may have been a whimsy of the gout-ridden earl, but the building it produced has outlived its creator's pain and become, improbably, one of the finest luxury hotels in Europe.