Beresford Place is a street in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

originally laid out as a crescent surrounding

The Custom House The Custom House ( ga, Teach an Chustaim) is a neoclassical 18th century building in Dublin, Ireland which houses the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is located on the north bank of the River Liffey, on Custom House Qua ...

in 1792.

History

Beresford Place was developed in 1792 as a continuous crescent which was aligned to the axis of the central dome of the

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

. Along with the Custom House and the old Custom House Dock, the houses were also originally designed by

James Gandon James Gandon (20 February 1743 – 24 December 1823) was an English architect best known for his work in Ireland during the late 18th century and early 19th century. His better known works include The Custom House and the surrounding Beresford ...

. The main crescent was developed specifically for

John Claudius Beresford John Claudius Beresford (23 October 1766 – 20 July 1846) was an Irish Tory Member of the UK Parliament representing Dublin City 1801–1804 and County Waterford 1806–1811. Early life Beresford was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. From ...

. At that time it was located at the edge of the city, with Marlborough Bowling Green and Pleasure Gardens and

Tyrone House Tyrone House in County Galway is a ruined manor house, built in the 1770s on a promontory by the estuary of the Kilcolgan river, about from the village of Kilcolgan, County Galway, Ireland. The house was destroyed by the local Irish Republ ...

to the north and Mabbot Street to the south. Later a corresponding crescent was intended to be developed by Luke Gardiner at the other end of Gardiner Street near the Mater Hospital however these plans never reached construction stage owing to the economic downturn following the Acts of Union. The crescent was bisected in 1888-1889 by the construction of the Loop Line railway, and since further impacted by the destruction of some buildings during the Irish War of Independence and in the 1970s by the development of the new headquarters of

Irish Life Irish Life Assurance plc, commonly known as Irish Life, is an Irish life assurance and pensions company. Irish Life has been part of the Great-West Lifeco group of companies since 2013, when the Irish Government sold the business. Prior to 201 ...

at the Irish Life Centre. Five houses between two radial streets, Gardiner Street and Store Street, now remain, with the houses west of Gardiner Street having been demolished. The site now occupied by

Busáras Busáras (; from '' bus'' + '' áras'' "building") is the central bus station in Dublin, Ireland for Intercity and regional bus services operated by Bus Éireann. Designed in the International Modern style, Busáras is also a stop on the Red L ...

was originally a further terraced crescent of store houses which were part of the Custom House Docks and gave Store Street its name. The extant Gandon houses are 4 storeys over basements, built with red brick with rusticated granite ground floors. The end houses are both on an irregular trapezoidal plan, and are entered from

Gardiner Street Gardiner Street () is a long Georgian street in Dublin, Ireland. It stretches from the River Liffey at its southern end via Mountjoy Square to Dorset Street at its northern end. The Custom House terminates the vista at the southern end, and th ...

and Store Street respectively. They are among very few specifically unified formal terraces from the 18th century and the only surviving example. There were tentative plans to demolish and redevelop the site in the 1960s, with a design by Michael Scott. In 1996 a statue of

James Connolly James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...

by Éamonn O'Doherty was erected on the street just west of the Custom House, facing onto

Liberty Hall Liberty Hall ( ga, Halla na Saoirse), in Dublin, Ireland, is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU). Designed by Desmond Rea O'Kelly, it was completed in 1965. It was for a time the tallest b ...

. At the other end of the street, at the junction of Beresford Place, Amiens Street, and Memorial Road is the sculpture '' Universal Links on Human Rights'' by

Tony O'Malley Tony O'Malley (25 September 1913 – 20 January 2003) was an Irish artist. He was born in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. O'Malley was a self-taught artist, having drawn and painted for pleasure from childhood. He worked as a bank officìal u ...

, erected in 1995.

References

Sources * * {{refend Streets in Dublin (city) Georgian architecture in Ireland Crescents (architecture)

History

See also

References