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An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage ofDublinSouth City An Introduction tothe Architectural FUTURE PUBLICATIONS Cities:CorkandLimerick andWicklow. Wexford Westmeath, Waterford, South Tipperary, Roscommon, Sligo, NorthTipperary, Limerick, Longford, Louth,Mayo,Meath,Monaghan, Offaly, Laois,Leitrim, Kildare,Kilkenny, Kerry, South Dublin,Fingal, Galway, Cork,Donegal, Cavan,Clare,EastCork,North Cork,West Carlow, AVAILABLE CURRENTLY THE HIGHLIGHTSOFAREA. BOOKLETSHOWCASING BYANILLUSTRATED EACH COUNTYORREGIONALSURVEYISACCOMPANIED WWW.BUILDINGSOFIRELAND.IE OFIRELAND,PUBLISHEDONTHEWEBAT ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE THE OF SURVEY A UNDERTAKING IS HERITAGE ARCHITECTURAL OF INVENTORY NATIONAL THE Department of the Department of the Environment, Heritage NATIONAL INVENTORY Environment, Heritage NATIONAL INVENTORY & Local Government of ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE & Local Government of ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE WE HOPEYOUENJOYTHESERIES. Department of the Department of the Environment, Heritage NATIONAL INVENTORY Environment, Heritage NATIONAL INVENTORY & Local Government of ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE & Local Government of ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE C C H A TO THE TO N ERITAGE AVAN OUNTY I NTRODUCTION A RCHITECTURAL of © Government ofIreland 2015 of N A ATIONAL RCHITECTURAL I NVENTORY H Department of the Department of the Environment, Heritage NATIONAL INVENTORY Environment, Heritage NATIONAL INVENTORY ERITAGE & Local Government of ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE & Local Government of ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE M C H A TO THE TO M C H A TO THE TO N ERITAGE OUNTY OUNTY N ERITAGE ONAGHAN OUNTY I AYO NTRODUCTION I NTRODUCTION A A RCHITECTURAL RCHITECTURAL of of D H A I A C N UBLIN of ERITAGE RCHITECTURAL THE TO NTRODUCTION N ITY ORTH Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht C N D ITY UBLIN ORTH AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURA L HER ITAGE of DUBLIN NORTH CITY Merlo Kelly AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of DUBLIN NORTH CITY ORMOND QUAY LOWER Foreword PETTIGREW AND OULTON’S DUBLIN DIRECTORY (1830s) Reproduced with the permission of the Board of Trinity College Dublin Dublin, Ireland’s capital city, has a This Introduction seeks to give a distinguished architectural legacy that stretches representative picture of the north city and its from the medieval period to the present. There historic structures. are the large set-pieces, public buildings and The Architectural Inventory of Dublin public spaces, such as the Four Courts and North City was carried out in phases in 2011- Mountjoy Square, and the historic Liffey quays 14. Over 2,800 structures were recorded. and bridges. However, most of the city’s However, it should not be regarded as historic structures are domestic and exhaustive as, over time, other buildings and commercial, and many of them are barely structures of merit will come to light. The noticed. The canals and railways, which frame purpose of the Inventory and of this book is to the north city, have provided vital explore the social and historical context of the infrastructure, but also leave their own legacy buildings and their setting and to facilitate a of historic structures. A significant aspect of the greater appreciation of the built heritage of the cityscape is the host of well-crafted details, city. ranging from integral parts of façades, such as fanlights and balconies, to boundaries formed The NIAH survey of the architectural by cast-iron railings and gates, and street heritage of Dublin City can be accessed on furniture such as coal hole covers and post the internet at: www.buildingsofireland.ie boxes. NATIONAL INVEN TORY of ARCHIT ECTURAL HERI TAGE 3 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of DUBLIN NORTH CITY Introduction A MAP OF THE CITY AND SUBURBS OF Dublin’s topographical setting on the east Dublin’s status as a major city, the sixth DUBLIN by Charles coast, at the mouth of the river Liffey and largest in Europe in the eighteenth century, is Brooking (1728) sheltered by mountains to the south and clearly reflected in the magnificence of the Courtesy of Royal Irish architecture dating from this period. southwest, has shaped its character as the Academy Unadorned red brick terraces formed the capital city. The narrative of Dublin’s layered elegant streets and squares, creating a backdrop history is manifest in its built heritage. The for stately public buildings and palatial town city’s phased development hinges around the houses, these latter typically expressed in earliest Gaelic and Viking settlements, and its granite, limestone and Portland stone (fig. 1) . medieval core remains embedded in the urban The culture of the developer, which began in form. Dublin North City is bounded by the the late seventeenth century, contributed to a Liffey to the south, the Royal Canal to the re-working of the historic urban form. The north and includes Phoenix Park to the west. ideologies of the European Enlightenment permeated Irish culture, influencing literary, The morphology of the district was largely artistic and architectural endeavours. Much of defined by the lands of St Mary’s Abbey and the inherited cityscape belongs to this era, a was shaped by developers in the seventeenth time of pivotal growth and visionary thinking and eighteenth centuries. A series of land in terms of urban design, which saw the reclamation projects at the seaward end of the consolidation of the Jervis and Gardiner estates city facilitated an eastward expansion. north of the river. (fig. 1) LOWER GARDINER STREET (c.1825) 5 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of DUBLIN NORTH CITY (Fig. 2) CHURCH OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER Dominick Street Upper (1832) St Francis Xavier’s dramatic classical interior is dominated by the sumptuous reredos. The establishment of the Wide Streets many Georgian town houses falling into Commission in 1757 created a body with an tenements. Social issues began to drive the overview of planning and design within the building programme, resulting in the city. With their increased powers over construction of housing, hospitals and prisons. developments in private estates, the The completion of the Royal Canal and the Commissioners were poised to oversee and arrival of the railway facilitated new levels of implement urban improvement on a grand trade and commerce, accompanied by an scale. By the close of the century, a pattern of economic boom that led to the establishment routes, civic spaces and composed vistas had of many new commercial premises across the become imprinted on the north city, city. Ornate façades and shopfronts decorated interwoven with the medieval road pattern. the earlier buildings that were commonly The early nineteenth century was marked adapted to house these new businesses. by a surge in church building, which The twentieth century was a time of intensified after Catholic Emancipation in upheaval, defined in its opening decades by an 1829 (fig. 2) . Rising levels of poverty and a lack ongoing housing crisis and by the civil unrest of adequate housing resulted in appalling slum that accompanied the movement for national conditions as the century progressed, with independence. The north city, ravaged by the turbulence of the period, was the subject of an (Fig. 3) ambitious reconstruction project undertaken in 18-19 HENRY STREET (1917) the 1920s (fig. 3) . Despite significant infrastructural change, Dublin remained a The date plaque testifies to the relatively compact city at the start of the rebuilding of much of century, but the demand for housing led to the the O’Connell Street creation of expansive suburbs in the 1930s and area in the wake of the Easter Rising. The 1940s, in addition to city centre housing façade displays good schemes (fig. 4) . Economic prosperity in the craftsmanship in brick 1960s inspired new confidence as Modernist and stone. influences from the United States and Continental Europe permeated the Irish architectural scene. This phase was accompanied by slum clearances, leading to the destruction of swathes of Georgian fabric. Prompted by a re-evaluation of civic development, Dublin experienced what has been referred to as an ‘urban renaissance’ in the closing decades of the twentieth century, where an emphasis was placed on urban regeneration and considerable investment was made in the conservation of historic structures. (Fig. 4) CHANCERY HOUSE Chancery Place/Charles Street West (1934-5) Herbert Simms, City Housing Architect, designed this housing block, fronted by a small park with arched gateways and a kiosk. It stands across the street from the side of the Four Courts. 7 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY DUBLIN NORTH CITY Pre 1700 DUBLIN (1610) St Michan’s Church, St Mary’s Abbey and St Saviour’s Priory are all depicted on John Speed’s map of Dublin, which presents a portrait of the medieval city on the brink of a rich phase of expansion. Courtesy of Royal Irish Academy Viking settlers established Dyfflin in 841 on natural advantages: a sheltered port with the the south bank of the river Liffey, having opportunity for sea trade and a network of travelled from the Norwegian fjords as raiders. river connections providing natural harbours. The settlement was strategically placed at Áth The Hiberno-Norse period (c. 980-1170) saw Cliath (Irish, ‘ford of wattle-work’), a historic the emergence of settlement north of the river crossing point at the confluence of the Liffey in Oxmantown Wood. St Michan’s Church and and Poddle rivers, and a nucleus of ancient St Mary’s Abbey date from this time. These two routes across Ireland. The location presented religious houses acted as generators of urban Pre 1700 (Fig. 5) ST MICHAN’S CHURCH Church Street (1685) A church was founded here in 1095 by the Hiberno-Norse. The present building dates from 1686 and was renovated in 1825. The tower and stair turret have rubble calp limestone walls, with cut stone to the ground floor. St Michan’s was an early medieval ecclesiastical site, its round enclosure being identified in archaeological excavations. form, affirming the arrangement of ancient Hiberno-Norse population was displaced to the thoroughfares converging on the urban core to northern suburb of Oxmantown.

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