Merchants' Hall | |
---|---|
Alternative names | Merchants' Arch |
General information | |
Type | guildhall |
Architectural style | Georgian |
Classification | Protected structure |
Address | 48-49 Wellington Quay, Dublin 2 |
Town or city | Dublin |
Country | Ireland |
Coordinates | 53°20′45″N6°15′46″W / 53.34597°N 6.26281°W |
Current tenants | The Merchant's Arch pub and restaurant |
Completed | 1821 |
Owner | Tom Doone (via Fusion Rock Limited), formerly owned by Brian and Mary Patricia O'Donnell |
Technical details | |
Material | Granite faced with brick chimneys and calp rear and sides |
Floor count | 2 storey over raised basement |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Frederick Darley [1] |
Designations | Protected Structure (RPS 8375) |
Website | |
www |
Merchants' Hall (sometimes Merchants' Arch) is a former 19th century guildhall, now a protected structure, on Wellington Quay in Dublin, Ireland. It is located opposite the Ha'penny Bridge and backs on to Temple Bar. The building was the last of the city guildhalls to be constructed and only operated as a guildhall for a period of 20 years before ceasing as the Merchants' Guild ended its main work, along with the other Guilds of the City of Dublin.
Since that time until 2021 it has had a number of uses including as a boys school, a factory, [2] a retail unit, a fast food restaurant and a pub. As of 2021, a pub named "Merchants' Arch" operates from the premises. [3] [4]
Wellington Quay was laid out by the Wide Street Commissioners in 1815 and, following completion of the quay, it offered a site to the Merchant's guild for the construction of a new dedicated hall. Previously, buildings in the area had backed directly on to the Liffey.
The Merchants' Guild (sometimes called Holy Trinity Guild) operated from the premises for a period of roughly 20 years from the construction of the building in 1821 until 1841, when the Municipal Reform Act saw the dissolution of the city guilds. This dissolution followed a move to directly elected Dublin Corporation members. Prior to 1821, the Merchant's Guild had operated from the Tholsel and City Assembly House on South William Street along with several other of the city guilds. [5]
The commissioners imposed a covenant which forced the construction of the vaulted archway synonymous with the building and provided for a public right of way through the site under the arch as a means of enabling public access from the quays and Ha'penny Bridge through to Crown Alley and Temple Bar. This laneway is today also named "Merchants' Arch" and forms the main entrance to the Temple Bar area for members of the public crossing over from the Northside of the Liffey.
From 1873, the hall became the Merchant Tailors' Endowed School after it moved from Tailors' Hall until the school finally closed in 1910. [6]
Later the building housed PA Noonan & Co Ltd (a shirt manufacturer) and R Atkinson & Company (poplin manufacturers).
The building is a three-bay two-storey over raised basement granite-faced Georgian townhouse. There are ashlar calp walls to the sides and rear of the property while the chimneystacks are constructed in brown brick. The roughly pyramidal shaped roof is partially hidden behind a parapet and there is a modern roof light to the apex of the roof. [7]
In 2021, a hotel development proposed to be built at 1-4 Merchant's Arch laneway, was controversially granted planning permission. [8] [9] [10]
The River Liffey is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. The river supplies much of Dublin's water and supports a range of recreational activities.
The Ha'penny Bridge, known later for a time as the Penny Ha'penny Bridge, and officially the Liffey Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in May 1816 over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. Made of cast iron, the bridge was cast in Shropshire, England.
The Wide Streets Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in 1758, at the request of Dublin Corporation, as a body to govern standards on the layout of streets, bridges, buildings and other architectural considerations in Dublin. The commission was abolished by the Dublin Improvement Act of 1849, with the final meeting of the Commission taking place on 2 January 1851.
Temple Bar is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin, Ireland. The area is bounded by the Liffey to the north, Dame Street to the south, Westmoreland Street to the east and Fishamble Street to the west. It is promoted as Dublin's 'cultural quarter' and, as a centre of Dublin's city centre's nightlife, is a tourist destination. Temple Bar is in the Dublin 2 postal district.
Grattan Bridge is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland, and joining Capel Street to Parliament Street and the south quays.
The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland, joining Eustace Street in Temple Bar to the north quays.
Father Mathew Bridge is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland, which joins Merchants Quay to Church Street and the north quays. It occupies the approximate site of the original, and for many years the only, Bridge of Dublin, dating back to the 11th century.
Dame Street is a large thoroughfare in Dublin, Ireland.
Eden Quay is one of the Dublin quays on the northern bank of the River Liffey in Dublin. The quay runs the bank between O'Connell Bridge and Butt Bridge. The quay is bisected by Marlborough Street and Rosie Hackett Bridge, roughly halfway along its length. The quay is also designated R105 as part of the Irish regional roads convention.
The Dublin quays refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but two of the names share the same "quay" designation. The quays have played an important part in Dublin's history.
The Clarence Hotel is a four-star 51-room hotel located at 6–8 Wellington Quay, Dublin, Ireland. It is in the Temple Bar neighbourhood, on the River Liffey. It was built in 1852, and bought by U2 lead singer Bono and lead guitarist The Edge and their business partners in 1992, and opened after refurbishment in 1996.
Tailors' Hall is the oldest of two surviving guildhalls in Dublin, Ireland. It is located on Back Lane, off High Street, in the part of the city known as the Liberties. Aside from meetings of its own and many other of the guilds of Dublin, the hall has hosted many social, cultural and educational events. It has been used as a court-house, a barracks, a school, a place of worship and in place of Dublin's City Hall. It was also a meeting place of the United Irishmen, and the site of the Back Lane Parliament. The Tailors' Guild having fully released it by 1873, the building hosted a Christian Mission and later the Legion of Mary. The building having become uninhabitable by the mid-20th century, the Irish Georgian Society launched a restoration campaign in 1966, and it was reopened in 1971. It now holds the headquarters of Ireland's national heritage charity, An Taisce, and can be visited, and rented for events.
The Guilds of the City of Dublin were associations of trade and craft practitioners, with regulatory, mutual benefit and shared religious purposes. In their eventual number they were sometimes called the "25 minor corporations", in contrast to the city's principal authority, the Dublin Corporation). They operated in various forms from near the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland - the Merchants’ Guild existed in some form by 1192 - until the mid-19th century, and a few of which have descendent operations to the present day.
Winetavern Street is a street in the medieval area of Dublin, Ireland.
Weavers' Hall was a guildhall at 14 The Coombe, Dublin, Ireland, which housed the Guild of Weavers, one of the 25 Guilds of the City of Dublin. The building was constructed in 1745 to a design by architect Joseph Jarratt to replace an earlier nearby weavers' guildhall in the Lower Coombe which was built in 1681–2 and was located in what was originally the Earl of Meath's Liberty. The building was demolished in 1965, with elements including furniture, fireplaces, door surrounds and stone floors sold off as scrap.
Crampton Court, also colloquially known as Love Lane since the mid-2010s, is a short lane or passageway located in Temple Bar in central Dublin, Ireland. A small open-air square exists at approximately the halfway point of the lane, measuring approximately 11.5 by 16.7 metres wide, from which narrow, semi-covered lanes lead to its northern and southern entrances.
The Custom House was a large brick and limestone building located at present day Wellington Quay in Dublin, Ireland which operated as a custom house, hosting officials overseeing the functions associated with the import and export of goods to Dublin from 1707 until 1791. It also served as the headquarters of the Revenue Commissioners, as a meeting place and offices for the Wide Streets Commission and was said to be Dublin's first dedicated office building.
Cook Street is a street in Dublin running from Bridge Street to Winetavern Street, in the heart of Medieval Dublin.