Mountjoy Square

Georgian garden square in Dublin, Ireland,

Mountjoy Square is a garden square in Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. One of five Georgian squares in Dublin, it was planned and developed in the late 18th century by Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy. It is surrounded on all sides by terraced, red brick Georgian houses. Construction of the houses began piecemeal in 1792 and the final property was completed in 1818. Over the centuries, the square has been home to many of Dublin's most prominent people: lawyers, churchmen, politicians, writers and visual artists. The writer James Joyce lived around the square during some of his formative years, playwright Seán O'Casey wrote and set some of his most famous plays on the square while living there, W. B. Yeats stayed there with his friend John O'Leary, and more recently, much of the Oscar winning film Once was made in the square. Historic meetings have taken place there, including planning for the Easter Rising and some of the earliest Dáil meetings. Prominent Irish Unionists and Republicans have shared the square. Mountjoy can boast of being Dublin's only true Georgian square, each of its sides being exactly 140 metres in length. the houses are now numbered continuously clockwise from no. 1 in the north west corner. While its North and South sides are continuous from corner to corner, the East and West sides are in three terraces, interrupted by two side streets, Grenville Street and Gardiner Place to the West and Fitzgibbon and North Great Charles Street to the East. Gardiner Street passes through the West side of the square, while Belvidere Place and Gardiner Lane run off the North and South East corners. Although some of the original buildings fell to ruin over the 20th century and were eventually demolished, the new infill buildings were fronted with reproduction façades, so each side of the square maintains its appearance as a consistent Georgian terrace.

Mountjoy Square has had many famous inhabitants throughout its history. The earliest was Arthur Guinness, who died there in January 1803. Subsequently, his descendant Desmond Guinness and first wife Mariga, attempted to save and restore the gracious character of the square in 1966–75, buying No. 50 and several demolished lots with members of the Irish Georgian Society. lived at no. 53 Mountjoy Square West in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Yeats, as a friend of O'Leary, is known to have stayed at 53 Mountjoy Square and sent letters from there. Dáil Éireann, the parliament of Ireland, having been suppressed by the British authorities as a dangerous organisation in September 1919, met before the foundation of the Irish Free State at the home of the republican Walter L. Cole in Mountjoy Square. When the volunteers met on Easter Monday 1916, the 1st battalion met at Blackhall Street in the liberties with the intention of taking over the Four Courts. The exception was the twelve men of D company under the command of Captain Seán Heuston who met at Mountjoy Square with the mission of taking the Mendicity Institution across the river from the four courts. Tim Healy resided at 1 Mountjoy Square, having lived previously on the adjacent Great Charles Street in number 50. James Whiteside (1804–1876), writer, orator, politician and barrister lived at no. 2 Mountjoy Square North in the mid 19th century. The eminent family of architects which included Jacob Owen and James Higgins Owen lived at no. 2 Mountjoy Square West (now no. 54) from the 1830s to the 1860s. Joseph Napier, an Irish Conservative party MP and member of the Privy Council of Ireland lived at No. 17 Mountjoy Square South (now no. 52). Richard Dowse (1824–1890) lived at no. 38 Mountjoy Square. Born in Dungannon, during his career he was MP for Londonderry (1868–1872), Attorney General, Solicitor General and a Baron of the Court of the Exchequer. Sir Robert Anderson (1841–1918) was born at Number 1 Mountjoy Square West (now 53). An infamous brothel, known as The Kasbah Health Studio, frequented by numerous senior Irish businessmen, politicians and churchmen was located in the basement of number 60 Mountjoy Square West This room is thought to have been based on O'Casey's former tenement home. Although the original house was demolished in the 1960s, it was later replaced by a building with a Georgian façade that now stands on the site. O'Casey subsequently lived in another Georgian house very close to Mountjoy Square at 422 North Circular Road; in that house which still stands today, is where he wrote the trilogy, before later moving to London during the nineteen twenties. The stuccatore Michael Stapleton, who built three houses there, was resident in the square from 1793 to 1795. Stapleton subsequently moved into a house at 1 Mountjoy Place, just off the south east corner of the square. Charles Thorp, another stuccadore also developed three houses on the east side, numbers 19 to 21, and is recorded as residing in number 19 in the 1835 Almanac Registry Directory. Sculptor Thomas Farrell (1827–1900) lived in number 30, which is sited along the east side of the square. Two of Farrell's sculptures can be seen on the central median of nearby O'Connell Street at the junction with Abbey Street, with a statue on either side of the Luas tracks. Padraig O'Faolain, an Irish painter, lived next to the Kasbah on Mountjoy Square West in the 1980s. Much of John Carney's 2007 feature film Once which won the Academy Award that year for best original song was filmed in an apartment on Mountjoy Square East, where the female lead character, played by Marketa Irglova, lives with her family. Several scenes from Georgie's Story, the third episode of Mark O'Halloran's award winning television mini series Prosperity, screened on RTÉ in 2007, were filmed in and around Mountjoy Square park. The rock/pop band U2 used to rehearse in a squat on Mountjoy Square in the late 1970s and were photographed by Patrick Brocklebank, published in "The Dublin Music Scene and U2, 1978–81".

The School of Art, Design & Printing and the Department of Social Sciences of the Dublin Institute of Technology are based at nos. 40–45 Mountjoy Square. Public Affairs Ireland is based at 25 Mountjoy Square. The Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Schools in Ireland and Mountjoy School were located at nos. 6–7 Mountjoy Square until a move to Malahide Road in 1950, is based on the east side of the square in an historic Georgian house. Divinity Hostel, for the training of Anglican priests, was located at 25 Mountjoy Sq., from 1913 until 1964 eventually becoming the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.

The square's own park has both playing areas for football, basketball and table tennis, playgrounds for children and a green park area. It's also a short walk to the Blessington Street Basin in Broadstone.

In 2010 as part of the preparation by Dublin City Council of their City Development Plan, they received a number of representations calling for Mountjoy Square to be designated as an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA). On 14 May 2012, a meeting of Dublin City Council formally established Mountjoy Square as an Architectural Conservation Area. ACA designation gives protection to the entire streetscape of the square. Works to any building in the area now require the permission of the Planning Authority, whether the building is a Protected Structure (Listed Building) or not. In 2018, the Dublin City Council proposed restoring Mountjoy Square to its 1837 design by re creating the 4.4 acre park at its centre. These plans were withdrawn in 2019.

Close to the centre of Dublin city and having the major artery Gardiner Street as its West side, Mountjoy Square has considerable transport links in its immediate locality. The Dublin Bus termini for the 7, 7a, 7b, 7d and 46e are on the north side of the square and run toward the southeast of the city. Routes 33, 41, 41b and 41c stop on the west side of the square on their way to the northern suburbs. The square's bus stops are also covered by the hop on, hop off city centre 75 cent fare. The 41 bus is almost certainly the cheapest transport link to Dublin Airport from the city at €2.70 (as of 2017) from the square. The main entrance to Dublin Bus' Summerhill Depot is on Mountjoy Place, just off the southeast corner of the square. In 2009, the Dublin Bikes bicycle sharing system was launched and has one of its more northerly stations on the west side of Mountjoy Square, providing easy access for commuters, locals, and tourists. In 2013 a similar pay as you go car hire scheme stationed a car on the square. The "Go Car" is parked on Mountjoy Square West.

Over the centuries, new features have been added to the street furniture while for various reasons others have been removed. The footpath was originally paved with granite. On the inner (park) side of the street, a slightly more modest design is used, apparently consistent with a more recent 1940–50 design. and horses were also common on the streets. To avoid this muck being tramped into the houses, boot scrapers were commonly placed outside their front doors. Many of these were highly elaborate and many remain to this day. Some of the houses still contain their original wrought iron balconettes while others have since been replaced with more modern replacements.