Georgian Dublin - Rebuilding Dublin's Core

Rebuilding Dublin's Core

A new body called the Wide Streets Commission was created to remodel the old mediæval city. It created a network of main thoroughfares by wholescale demolition or widening of old streets or the creation of entirely new ones. On the northside of the city, a series of narrow streets were merged and widened enormously to create a new street, called Sackville Street (now called O'Connell Street). At its lower end, a new bridge (now called O'Connell Bridge) was erected, beyond which two new streets in the form of a 'V' appeared, known as Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street. Westmoreland Street in turn led to a renamed Hoggen Green, which became College Green because it faced unto Trinity College Dublin. The new Irish Houses of Parliament, designed by Edward Lovett Pearce, also faced onto College Green, while from College Green a new widened Dame Street led directly down to the mediæval Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, past Dublin Castle and the Royal Exchange, the latter a new building, the former in the process of rebuilding, turning it from a mediæval castle to a Georgian palace.