14 Henrietta Street

As the most intact collection of early to mid-18th-century houses in Ireland, Henrietta Street represents how history has changed throughout the years. The vast houses on this cobblestone street have experienced Georgian majesty and tenement squalor during their existence.

Uncovering the layers of life
The building underwent a long-lasting restoration to preserve the house for generations to come. The restoration of the building has revealed the relationship between the city's people and the spaces they occupy. It's about preference—something stays, and something goes.

The idea was to keep as much as possible during restoration. It is undoubtedly harder than removing everything and starting again. Uncovering the layers of life in here requires erasing one era to showcase another. The house was in bad condition: poorly completed previous repairs, major structural failure, and moisture ingress causing decay. The wall surfaces inside, dating back to the late 18th century, were mainly intact. In the back hall, entrance hall, and stairs, blue and red walls survived.

Collection of stories and memories
Now, Number 14 Henrietta Street functions as a museum. It can share the story of the house that used to be the grand residence of a family in the 1720s or home to over 100 people by 1911. The residents here witnessed all the significant events of Irish history: the Act of Union (1801) and the dissolution of the Irish Parlament. Then, the Great Famine led to the poor relocating to the city. These are the well-known moments from a history book.

Here at 14 Henrietta Street, the impact lies in the personal stories. The smallest details have a story to tell. For example, a nail inside the front door was put by a father to hang a Holy Family picture. Another small story is about the main front door of the building, which was always left open at night. It was done on purpose so people without a roof over their heads could take shelter in the hallway. Some mothers, when praying with their children at night, always told them to remember “the poor unfortunates on the stairs.”

These emotive, surprising, and memorable stories are the heart of the tours. They give visitors a vivid image of what life was like here for past residents. Tour guides manage to keep the entire group enthralled with the stories and history of this great house. They will tell how generations of poor Dubliners lived and died in this ancient building or how the once great house became a tenement. Their humour and great knowledge of the house and surrounding area are enlightening and entertaining. That’s why the guide team and the tours earn awards and positive feedback.

High-level care
The museum's management policy ensures that all items are exhibited, stored, and maintained in accordance with accepted professional standards. The museum team protects, popularises, and develops the city's cultural life by connecting the long urban life history to the stories of the people who called this place home.

Tour guide Tracey Bardon, like her parents, was born in a tenement. She became involved with 14 Henrietta Street almost by accident. She passed the building almost every day on her way into town from her home on Constitution Hill. One day, she decided to step inside. “I felt like I belonged in that house; it felt really homely,” she says.

After taking a Culture and Heritage course, she now works as the museum's Engagement Coordinator. The visitors are always keen to share with her some memories of tenement times. Not all the stories and memories are happy. Someone says that “just because you were in a tenement didn’t mean you were poor. There was always someone worse off.”

Stepping through time
The tour begins in the grand rooms at the first storey. The wooden floors are uneven as thousands of feet have walked on over the years. The mint green drawing room has the high ceilinged splendour of the house, which has been here since Number 14 was built as part of the most fashionable street in Dublin. After Dublin's aristocracy left, the house slowly began to be destroyed. In 1877, the staircase was removed, and the space was divided into nineteen flats.

As you move forward from the fine rooms into the dimly lit hallway, there is a murmur of recognition. The survived Raddle Red and Reckitts Blue walls are characteristic features of the tenement era. At that time, women painted walls in red, just like they used blusher for their cheeks.

Then you go down the back stairs. In desperate times, the bannister was plundered for firewood. Because the building had no plumbing, there were 94 steps to climb with buckets and bedpans. The next is the dark basement, a typically bleak room with grey army coats as blankets on the beds. It is a recreation of the famous 1913 John Cooke photographs. Another room features black and white footage projection of children playing in the street.

Social history objects
Tourists’ favourite part of the tour is the flat of Mrs Dowling. She was the last tenant of 14 Henrietta Street in the 1960s. The place has been restored with care and respect, including the lino on the floor. Toy guns are slung on a bedpost. Once commonly used objects are now museum treasures. The precision of the displayed details triggers some collective memory, and people rush to those long-lost objects that speak to their childhood.

Original objects of social, civic, industrial, and historical significance relating to the house's social history are displayed in its rooms. These authentic items, artefacts, reproductions, and models help to tell the story of the times they represent and immerse visitors in their surroundings.

The number 14 building, which is over 300 years old, is itself an artefact. What makes it alive are the guides in the stairwell retelling the residents' stories. The chief executive of Dublin City Council’s Culture Company argues that 50% of the museum collection is the building itself. She emphasises that the research history and personal stories are also a huge part of the experience.

• Access is by guided tour only
• All guided tours of the museum are fully wheelchair accessible
• The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays