Often over-looked, Aungier Street is one of the great neighbourhoods in the historic core of Dublin and has a fascinating history. This project promotes revitalisation of the area through understanding its historic value as a district and its quality as a place to live, work and visit. This week a new online publication is being launched which uncovers the district’s history and its opportunities for the future, AUNGIER STREET: Revitalising an Historic Neighbourhood.
The street was laid out by Francis Aungier in 1661 through the former grounds of the Whitefriars monastery. Planning a street of this scale among the narrow lanes of the medieval city was a new departure. The grandeur of the street also gave rise to a new type of city mansion, several of which still survive to greater or lesser levels of intactness. These would have been the grandest houses in pre-Georgian Dublin and the known survivors are designated as both recorded monuments and protected structures.
The project is a pilot of the wider City Council Public Realm Strategy, adopted in September 2012, which recognises that condition, character and uses of enclosing buildings is critical to the experiential quality of the public domain. The publication sets out a number of recommendations and next steps to be undertaken in collaboration with local residents and businesses.
The project sets out possibilities and ideas to stimulate change on Aungier Street, transforming it from a place to pass through into a destination, showcasing the value of its heritage and unique character and promoting economic regeneration. This urban project is innovative in approach – looking at things afresh, rethinking the ground-rules and proposing change for the better. This is an opportunity to reinvent a part of the city; to make the undervalued valued and the ordinary extraordinary.
This project was initiated by the Conservation Officer and led by Dublin City Architects Division. Research was carried out in collaboration with Dublin Civic Trust with funding assistance from The Heritage Council.
The report is being officially launched tomorrow 23rd August in the Carmelite Friary on Aungier Street and you can download a copy of the report online here.