Dame Street (; ) is a large thoroughfare in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

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 ...

History

Dame Street in the centre of Dublin (31402703004)

The street takes its name from a dam built across the River Poddle to provide water power for milling. First appears in records under this name around 1610 but in the 14th century was also known as "the street of Theng-mote" or Teyngmouth Street. It appears later as Dammastrete and Damask-street. There was a medieval church of

St. Mary del Dam St. Mary del Dam is a former parish church in Dublin, Ireland that for many years occupied an important position in the city, and after which Dame Street is named.Peter, p. 45 The church In 1319 the Irish Parliament ordered that the belfry of ...

which was demolished in the seventeenth century. Sir Maurice Eustace, Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1660–1665, built his townhouse, Damask, on the site. There was a side street called Dame's-gate, also known as the gate of S. Mary, which was adjoining St. Mary del Dam church, recorded in 1552 and demolished in 1698. The street was widened by the Wide Streets Commission in 1769, and developed into the city's financial centre. Among the notable residents was

Francesco Geminiani 230px Francesco Saverio Geminiani (baptised 5 December 1687 – 17 September 1762) was an Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist. BBC Radio 3 once described him as "now largely forgotten, but in his time considered almost a musical god, ...

, whose house on Dame Street had a concert hall attached. Unlike

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry ...

and other previously fashionable streets, Dame Street continued to remain fashionable and prosperous after the Act of Union in 1801.

Location

During the day, the street is busy, due to its central location in the city. It is a five-minute walk to the shopping area of Grafton Street and ten minutes from

. The Temple Bar area of the city is located directly north of the street.

Daly's Club Daly's Club, with premises known as Daly's Club House, was a gentlemen's club in Dublin, Ireland, a centre of social and political life between its origins in about 1750 and its end in 1823. History Daly's had its origins in a Chocolate House ...

was founded in the 1750s at numbers 1-3 Dame Street and remained there until 1791, when it moved to College Green.

Architecture

The former Central Bank of Ireland headquarters, now known as Central Plaza, on Dame Street was built in 1975. It was initially higher than planning permission allowed, though this was retrospectively rectified. The new building was built on a parcel of land on which was a collection of Victorian and Georgian buildings including the Commercial Buildings. The Commercial Buildings dated from 1796, and were associated with the Ouzel Galley Society. This building also featured a paved courtyard which served as a pedestrian shortcut between Merchant's Arch and the Ha'penny Bridge beyond. Initially, planners wanted the facade of the building retained, but it was discarded, and eventually, a replica was constructed in the scheme. Commenting on the scheme in September 1972, ''

Architects' Journal ''Architects' Journal'' is an architectural magazine published in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It sta ...

'' stated that the proposed building was "an exercise in how to do the greatest urban damage". The Bank left the premises in March 2017, and moved to North Wall Quay. In comparison, Northern Bank, retained the Italianate headquarters of the Hibernian Bank both the exterior and interior, with redevelopment taking place behind the streetscape. The Allied Irish Banks opposite the Olympia Theatre was designed by Thomas Deane in 1872 for the Munster & Leinster Bank and is based on the design of the Museum Building at Trinity College. The glass and cast iron canopy of the Olympia Theatre which extends out over the footpath is a prominent landmark on the street. The Montague Burton Building is a notable example of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style on Dame Street, situated on the corner with South Great George's Street. It was constructed between 1929 and 1930 and designed by architect Harry Wilson. The ground level retail unit of this building is a large

Spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well ...

shop and delicatessen. Due to its proximity to the gay pub and venue, The George, this Spar became known colloquially as the "Gay Spar". During the 2022 Pride celebrations in Dublin, the Spar officially adopted the name when it "came out" as the Gay Spar. The street features a modern square, Barnardos Square in front of

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the ...

and to the side of

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. The site had been occupied by a row of shops, one of which was the birthplace of the square's namesake, Thomas John Barnardo. Before its redevelopment, the site had been cleared of the Georgian terrace of buildings which were demolished in the mid-1970s as part of a road-widening development. One of the surviving buildings from the block is the headquarters of

the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers' Society ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

. In the 1980s there was a proposal to create a park on the site.

Occupy protests

The Occupy Dame Street protest began in October 2011 directly outside the then headquarters of the Central Bank of Ireland, as part of the global

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed prim ...

, and lasted until March 2012.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Streets in Dublin city, state=autocollapse Streets in Dublin (city) Restaurant districts and streets