Mary Street is a predominantly retail 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 on the northside of the city contiguous with Henry Street. It is not to be confused with the nearby Little Mary Street which runs parallel on the West side of Capel Street.

Location

Mary Street runs from

Capel Street Capel Street is a street in Dublin, Ireland. On 20 May 2022, it was made traffic-free, following a campaign by people who wanted to improve the quality of life on the street. It is now the longest traffic-free street in Dublin. History Capel ...

in the east to the junction of Henry Street and Liffey Street Upper in the east. It is crossed by Upper Jervis Lane,

Wolfe Tone Street Wolfe may refer to: Places Canada * Wolfe (provincial electoral district), a former electoral district in Quebec * Wolfe Lake, Ontario * Wolfe Island (Ontario), in Lake Ontario, Ontario * Wolfe Island (Nova Scotia), in the Atlantic Ocean near Nov ...

, and

Jervis Street Jervis Street is a street on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland laid out in the 17th century and named for Sir Humphrey Jervis. Location It runs from Parnell Street in the north to Ormond Quay Lower in the south. It is crossed by Mary Stree ...

History

The name is derived from the area being part of the historical lands which made up St. Mary's Abbey from 1139. The Abbey was dissolved in the 1530s and later the street became part of the parish of

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

from 1697. It is likely that Mary Street was laid out by Jervis in the mid 1690s. The street is part of a larger general area developed by

Humphrey Jervis Humphrey Jervis (1630–1707) KBE was the first private developer in the history of Dublin. He was Lord Mayor of Dublin during the reign of Charles II of England. Life Jervis was born in 1630 in Ollerton, Shropshire. He was one of the yo ...

after 1674 and is located in what was then one of the richest parishes in the city.

Notable buildings and businesses

Various important institutions and buildings have been located on the street or on the location of what was later to become the street.

Langford House

Langford House was one of the earliest and the grandest structures in the area which later made up the street and was later named for

Hercules Langford Rowley Hercules Langford Rowley PC ( – 25 March 1794) was an Irish politician and landowner. Early life Rowley was born . He was the only son of Frances (née Upton) Rowley and Hercules Rowley, a Member of Parliament for County Londonderry from 1703 ...

when it was acquired in 1743. It was described as a four-storey over basement, five-bay townhouse and was said to be originally almost Jacobean in style. In 1697, Paul Barry, Keeper of the

Pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

, took a lease of the site with a frontage of 170 feet and depth of 210 feet and erected the house in the years following before being sold on again in 1712. It is likely that the construction of Langford House and St Mary's Church were being undertaken at the same time. In 1765,

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

redesigned the interior of the house giving it more of a Georgian appearance with extensive ceiling and wall stucco work across the main entertaining rooms. The much altered Georgian style house which was set back from the rest of main building line of the street. The house was finally demolished in 1931, and replaced with nurses school for Jervis Street hospital and later with commercial and retail buildings which now form part of the facade of the

Jervis Shopping Centre The Jervis Shopping Centre is a major shopping centre in Dublin, Ireland. Opened in 1996, the centre is located in the area bordered by Jervis Street, Upper Abbey Street, Mary Street, and Liffey Street. The centre has a total of 70 stores incl ...

Todd Burns department store

The former Todd Burns department store is one of the most prominent buildings on the street. It was designed by W. Mitchell and was built in 1905. It is now the location of the flagship store and head office of the retail chain Penney's (Primark) having been acquired out of bankruptcy by

Galen Weston Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Weston and his family, with an esti ...

in 1969.

Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland The Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland is one of only two extant successors of a medieval Dublin guild. Medieval apothecaries in Dublin were first organized as members of 1446 Guild of Barbers, Apothecaries and Periwigmakers, with St Mary Magdelene as t ...

In 1791, Apothecaries' Hall was erected at 40 Mary Street, at a cost of £6,000. The hall was described as a plain building and contained a spacious chemical laboratory where medicines were prepared. Lectures were delivered at the hall, and part of it was also a wholesale warehouse, where the apothecaries could procure their materials.

Volta Electric Theatre The Volta Electric Theatre (later renamed the Lyceum Picture Theatre) was a film theatre in Dublin and was Ireland's first dedicated cinema. The site at 45 Mary Street was later demolished and is occupied today by a department store. In the ear ...

Number 45 Mary Street was the location of the first cinema in Dublin, the Volta Electric Cinema, which opened in 1909 and was managed by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church is a former Church of Ireland building which now operates as a pub and restaurant. The churchyard and adjacent graveyard now form what is called Wolfe Tone Square.

References

External links

{{commons category, Mary Street, Dublin
Mary Street listings in the Thom's Directory 1862

Old photo of Mary Street from the UCD digital library (1922)
Streets in Dublin (city)