14 Henrietta Street

 

The best preserved row of early to mid-18th century homes in Ireland may be seen on Henrietta Street. When residences were constructed for Dublin's wealthiest families in the 1720s, construction on the street officially started. In 1911, there were more than 850 residents on the street, with more than 100 of them residing in one home at 14 Henrietta Street.

Much of Dublin is lined with elegant Georgian residences, and No. 14 is a perfect example of Georgian Dublin. When the first residences on Henrietta Street arose in 1720, the street was named for Henrietta, Duchess of Grafton, whose husband served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. No. 14 is one of three tastefully designed Georgian houses on the block that Irish real estate developer Luke Gardiner constructed in the 1840s. 

Viscount General Richard Molesworth of Swords and his second wife Mary were the first family to live at the house. During the War of the Spanish Succession, Molesworth led his soldiers at the battles of Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706). He had a brilliant military career. Henrietta Street had six titled inhabitants, two army generals, three archbishops, two Speakers of the House of Commons, and the Lord Chancellor of Ireland during its first thirty years of existence.

Dublin experienced the beginning of a sharp downturn in 1800. The British Parliament annexed the hitherto autonomous Irish Parliament. Many of the most powerful politicians and aristocrats in Dublin departed for London, leaving behind their homes in the city.

Thomas Vance, a Blackrock, County Dublin, real estate speculator, purchased number 14 Henrietta St. in 1876 with the intention of profiting by converting it into a tenement housing fourteen apartments. He took down the ornate Georgian-era marble chimneys and mahogany doors, then put them up for auction. In order to accommodate additional rooms, he also dismantled the grand staircase and converted the old servants' stairway into the common area. He had two toilets installed.

Henrietta Street saw a sharp increase in population as other formerly magnificent residences on the street were converted to tenements. In 15 dwellings on the block, an incredible 835 individuals resided.
Although No. 14 housed seventeen families and housed over one hundred people in a house originally occupied by a single family, Henrietta Street was not the only poor neighbourhood. These inner-city tenements were home to around 26,000 families, 20,000 of whom shared a single room. These inner-city tenements in Dublin were dirty, crammed, plagued by diseases, and full of undernourished kids—roughly one-third of them never made it to maturity.

It's incredible that people tolerated such filth until 1979, when No. 14's final occupant departed. The structure was in such terrible shape that it might crumble. The third (attic) floor and the basement were unusable long before that. A group of local activists saved No. 14, but the historic building was under fear of collapsing due to rotten floor joist ends, window heads and rafter ends, lost ornate plasterwork and vandalism. Some members of the Dublin Council even urged for the historic building's demolition. Significant structural failure of the house was imminent by the late 1990s.

The Dublin City Council declared that the property would be renovated in 2008. Over a ten-year period, three phases of a comprehensive restoration of the home were assigned to architects. A wide range of skilled artisans were recruited by the five million euro conservation project to repair stone, conserve wallpaper, replicate linoleum, joinery, restore old paint and surface finishes, do speciality decorative plasterwork and fix tiled fireplaces from the mid-to-late 20th century. 

Dublin City Council said in 2014 that No. 14 Henrietta St. would be turned into a museum with the purpose of examining city tenement life and chronicling the house's social, cultural, and architectural background. A large number of the home's prior occupants were still living, and many of their recollections and the exhibition it now houses were directly influenced by them. They also assisted in furnishing and decorating particular rooms, and provided antiques. The history of the house is brought to life by the artefacts and anecdotes. 

Much more information about the house's history, restoration, conservation, and collection can be found on the museum's website, along with videos featuring testimonies from previous occupants who called

the 1970s home home.

The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; admission is €10.