Parnell Street () 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, which 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 west to

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

Mountjoy Square Mountjoy Square () is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square in Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside (Dublin), Northside of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. One of five Georgian squares in Dublin, it was planned and d ...

in the east. It is at the north end of

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, 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 ...

, where it forms the south side of

Parnell Square Parnell Square () is a Georgian square sited at the northern end of O'Connell Street in the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is in the city's D01 postal district. Formerly named ''Rutland Square'', it was renamed after Charles Stewart Parnell (18 ...

History

Rotunda Hospital, Parnell Street, Dublin - geograph

Originally, Parnell Street was part of the ancient road connecting the old city to the northern coast, with Father Matthew Bridge connecting Church Street and

Wood Quay Wood Quay () is a riverside area of Dublin that was a site of Viking settlement. It is now the location of the Dublin City Council offices. Location The site is bounded on the north side by Wood Quay on the River Liffey, on the west by Win ...

in the east, to

Ballybough Ballybough () is an inner city district of northeast Dublin city, Ireland. Adjacent areas include the North Strand and Clonliffe. Location Ballybough is an inner city district of northeast Dublin. Neighbouring districts include Drumcondra to ...

and Fairview in the west. During the 18th century, the development of Amiens Street and Annesley Bridge provided a new coast road, and Parnell Street and its continuation to the east,

Summerhill Summerhill or Summer Hill may refer to the following places: Australia * Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Summerhill, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston * Summerhill (Mount Duneed), a prefabricated iron cottage in Victoria Canada * ...

, became home to

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...

. The

Rotunda Hospital The Rotunda Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal an Rotunda; legally the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women, Dublin) is a maternity hospital on Parnell Street in Dublin, Ireland, now managed by RCSI Hospitals. The eponymous Rotunda in Parnell Squ ...

, the Ambassador Theatre and the

Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre is a Theater (structure), theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Ge ...

are all on Parnell Street. Formerly Great Britain Street, the street was renamed after

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

when

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

adopted a resolution on 1 October 1911, after the erection of the statue to Parnell on the street as it meets O'Connell Street. The western end of Parnell Street has been substantially redeveloped in recent years. The

urban regeneration Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

came after road plans by

devastated the street in the 1970s, when it was scheduled to be part of the Inner Tangent Road scheme, causing massive dereliction and blight. Virtually all of the original Georgian architecture was destroyed, the numerous business and houses demolished and subsequently replaced by buildings of a much larger scale. The street was developed into a dual-carriageway. The

Ilac Centre The Ilac Centre is a shopping centre, located in central Dublin, north of the River Liffey. It has entrances opening onto Henry Street, Parnell Street and Moore Street. History The Ilac Centre was opened in 1981, and was one of the first shoppi ...

is the oldest shopping centre in the city centre and has an entrance onto Parnell Street. Ireland's largest independent bookshop, Chapters Bookstore in Parnell Street, traded for 40 years before closing in 2022.‘It’s like an institution so it’s just so sad’ – customers shop in Chapters for last time as the iconic bookstore closes its doors
Irish Independent, 2022-01-31.

Regeneration

The Moore Street Mall also has an entrance on Parnell Street. Cineworld (UGC) cinema on Parnell Street is the largest cinema in Ireland, with 17 screens. The street also has flagship city centre stores for German discount supermarket chains such as

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

and

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

. A Stringfellow's restaurant and strip club operated on Parnell Street for a number of months before closing because of poor trading performance. Various residents' associations, women's groups and Christian groups had campaigned against it, and its demise has been linked to those protests. The eastern end of Parnell Street, having remained comparatively undeveloped, is now home to a thriving immigrant community. Most notably, a plethora of authentic Chinese and Korean restaurants have lent the east side the reputation of being Dublin's

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

. There is also a significant presence of African and East and Central European businesses at the eastern end.

References

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History

Regeneration

References

See also