Seán McDermott Street

The street was originally named Great Martin's Lane or Saint Martin's Lane, having that name by 1712. ^[7]

In 1764 it was renamed Gloucester Street for Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, brother of King George III.^[8][9] Many fine Georgian townhouses were built, but they were allowed to degrade into tenements by 1900 with most being demolished during the 20th century.^[10]

In the 1860s–1920s, Gloucester Street was the northern end of the notorious Monto red-light district, where thousands of prostitutes lived and worked.^[11][12]

Its intersection with Gloucester Place was known as the Gloucester Diamond, and was a centre for street football in the mid-20th century.^[13] The Gloucester Diamond is mentioned in Pete St. John's song "Johnny McGory", about a First World War veteran who returns to Dublin having lost a leg.^[14]

An IRA safe house was located at 36 Gloucester Street Lower during the Irish War of Independence; Conor Clune, Dick McKee and Sean Fitzpatrick were arrested there on 21 November 1920, the day before Bloody Sunday.^[11][15]

In 1933 the street was renamed for Seán Mac Diarmada (McDermott, 1883–1916), an executed leader of the Easter Rising.^[16][17] The area was plagued by juvenile crime, including by the so-called "animal gangs."^[18] In 1943–53, over 500 new homes were provided in the area by reconditioning.^[19] Nevertheless, the area continued to be plagued by poverty and crime, with Michael Keating criticising the squalor of the area in the late 1970s.^[20]

A Magdalene laundry for unwed mothers, including "repentant" prostitutes, opened in 1887 and did not close until 1996.^{[21][22][23][24]}

A temporary Catholic chapel was built in 1915; it was replaced by the Romanesque Revival Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1954.^[25] The church is known for its association with the ascetic Matt Talbot (1856–1925), whose remains were translated to the church in 1972.^[26][27] Pope John Paul II visited the street in 1978, but did not enter the shrine. A banner was erected reading "John Paul Rules OK".^[28]

Today, the Irish headquarters of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul are located on Seán McDermott Street as well as a Simon Community hostel which is housed in the former carpenters' asylum, an impressive regency style former guildhall at number 35.^[29][30][31]

There is also a large public swimming pool, closed since 2019 for refurbishment.^[32][33]

Since the establishment of the street, there have been numerous notable buildings, some of which have now been demolished while others are in a state of dereliction.

The Scots Presbyterian Church is a notable Greek-revival style church built on the street in 1846; it was later a Salvation Army building and a grain store and the façade of the building remains a landmark on the street as of 2021.^[34]

Gloucester Terrace was a Regency terrace of six houses constructed around 1831 to a design of John Thomas Papworth with a unified pediment located at what was later referred to as 45 to 50 Lower Seán MacDermott Street but originally forming a portion of Gloucester Street. The houses were demolished in the 1950s to be replaced with an ESB substation and other public buildings.^[35][36][37]

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  Facade of the Scots Presbyterian Church
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  Dublin City Council offices, 52 Seán McDermott Street Lower
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  Playground on Seán McDermott Street
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  Multi-storey flats on the corner of Seán McDermott Street Upper and Lower Gardiner Street
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  Larkin Community College
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  A rear view of Lourdes Parish Schools
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  Carpenters' Asylum

 

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• List of streets and squares in Dublin