18th century The street is situated on the grounds of the old Mount Eccles estate which had formed part of the extensive private estate of
Sir John Eccles,
Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1710. The street was laid out for development by Nicholas Archdall after Royal Assent was given on 7 June 1766 for long leases to be granted for the purposes of building and the directional layout still follows the route of the old driveway to Eccles House. The street is similar in design and width to the earlier
Henrietta Street and
Dominick Street and maintains many of its original features including Leinster granite paving, steps, coping and parapets, cast iron ornate coal holes, boot scrapers, snuffers, railings, grilles and gas lamp holders, original doors and ornately fenestrated fanlights and sidelights, granite and calp stone-faced basements, some rusticated granite and portland stone first floors and wooden sash windows with hand blown glass. Many of the interiors still have original stucco and even fresco work while others have original panelling and wainscoted walls with original lime plastered lathes. Other features which were added during later periods have now become part of the historic fabric of the street including some of the Victorian era cast iron balconettes, cast iron lampposts and gas lamps from various different periods and various creeping plants which extend over the front of several buildings and change colour with the turning of the seasons. As with many Georgian townhouses of the period, the external appearance is subdued with plain red-brick facades however this often contrasts with elaborately decorated interiors with stuccoed walls and ceilings and ornate marble and Portland stone floor surfaces and carved wooden bannisters and cantilevered stone staircases. Interiors such as at number 19 were often designed and plastered by some of the leading craftsmen of their day such as
Michael Stapleton and Andrew Callnan.
19th century By the mid 19th century, the street was in decline through a combination of economic stagnation, the movement of the protestant middle classes and schools to the south of the city and southern suburbs and the decline and move of the gentry more generally after the
Acts of Union 1800 and again after the famine in the 1840s and 1850s.
20th century Having largely fallen into disrepair in the early to mid 20th century, a group of conservationists from the
Irish Georgian Society including politician
David Norris were involved in restoring many of the buildings on the street. One group of houses towards the South end of the street owned by
Dublin Corporation, which was leased to the
Legion of Mary, became so derelict that they were demolished in 1984 despite objections and appeals for their preservation. They were later replaced with facsimile Georgian house frontage. On the southeastern side of the street, seven Georgian houses were demolished from numbers 28-34 between 1984 and 1989. These were also later replaced with facsimile Georgian house frontage. In 2000, a campaign to enclose one end of the street was launched which included installing gates which were donated to the
Irish Georgian Society by Pino Harris and had originally come from
Santry Court. ==Residents==