Report on Housing Improvements on Church Street

A report titled ‘housing in Dublin’ by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. referring to the corporation-sponsored Church Street and Beresford Street Improvement Schemes. Fr. Angelus refers to the history of Capuchin involvement in the campaign for housing improvement in the areas around Church Street. He wrote: ‘The Capuchins were directly responsible for the improvements that began in 1890, when Father Columbus [Maher] erected the Father Mathew Hall. Later on Father Nicholas [Murphy] obtained possession

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Level of description
Item
Date
1934
Reference
3
Extent and medium
5 pp; Typescript
Scope and content
A report titled ‘housing in Dublin’ by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. referring to the corporation-sponsored Church Street and Beresford Street Improvement Schemes. Fr. Angelus refers to the history of Capuchin involvement in the campaign for housing improvement in the areas around Church Street. He wrote: ‘The Capuchins were directly responsible for the improvements that began in 1890, when Father Columbus [Maher] erected the Father Mathew Hall. Later on Father Nicholas [Murphy] obtained possession of the area extending from the Hall down to the Church. This was a very insanitary area, with a number of courts and alleys of ill-repute. It is now occupied by an extension of the Hall and by the garden attached to the Capuchin Friary. Reference is also made in the report into the Church Street Tenement Disaster of September 1913. This article was published in 'The Father Mathew Record', Vol. 27, No. 8 (Aug. 1934), pp 407-16.
Repository
Irish Capuchin Archives
Context
Irish Capuchin Archives > Papers of St. Mary of the Angels, Capuchin Friary, Church Street, Dublin > Relationships with Local Communities > Housing Improvements

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Sample passages

  • (I) This scheme included the area, from Mary's Lane to Stirrup Lane, and did not embrace a small area extending to North King Street. Mr. P.C. Cowan, Local Government Board Inspect…
  • This portion of the street from Mary's Lane to the Quay, has been very much improved. The top part of it, from Mary's Lane to Chancery Street is included in what is known as the Ma…
  • Church Street has been so completely transformed and improved, that those who knew it in even the recent past, would not recognize it to-day in its altered appearance. This improve…
Full Transcript (OCR, 6 pages)

Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.

Page 1

HOUSING IN DUBLIN. FATHER ANGELUS, O.M. Cap.

Page 2

HOUSING IN DUBLIN. A TRANSFORMED AREA. The Housing question in Dublin is a many sided problem and its consideration must to a large extent be coloured by a person's outlook or interest. It will be approached from a very different angle by the owner of slum tenement property, the social worker, or the person interested in Civic improvement. It must be admitted that much has been done towards dealing with this question, yet the problem has not been solved, only the fringe of it has been touched. In a City where so many families live in single rooms, many in basement kitchens, where parents and children of both sexes have to sleep in one apartment, there is no need to stress the urgency of providing other accommodation for the poor who are forced to live under such conditions, but, what is the remedy? It is easy to say, build houses, build more houses, and continue building them, easier said than done. In any building scheme there are many points that have to be considered, many obstacles that must be overcome. The best intentioned Housing Committee or City Manager is confronted with difficulties that thwart the best endeavours. I have no sympathy with those who have nothing but critism and blame to hurl against those who are doing their best, and that in the face of difficulties of which their critics know very little. In providing new houses, there are three considerations that must be borne in mind - the sites on which to build - the class of houses to be built - and the rent for which they can be let to the tenants, this must be within the means of the people to be provided for, and at the same time the scheme must as far as possible be made a sound economic proposition. SITE: VIRGIN SOIL OR CONGESTED AREA. As to the site on which to build. Should this be virgin soil on the outskirts of the City, or should it be a congested area within the City? In favour of selecting the virgin soil site, it is advanced that this can be acquired at far less cost than an area of the same extent within the City, where many interests have to be bought out and huge expense incurred in clearing the site. In two building schemes within the City, the cost of obtaining and clearing the sites worked out in one case at £ 4625: 0: Od per acre, and in the other at £ 4975: 0: Od per acre. The principal objection to the virgin soil site is that the worker requires to be within easy reach of his place of employment. Bus or tram fare to and from the City is a big drain on the family budget. It is only within recent years that this plan of building on the outskirts has been adopted by the Corporation. But it is interesting to recall that in 1913, Dr. Lorcan Sherlock, Lord Mayor stated that "if houses were built on the outskirts of the City the tenement house question would settle itself". Earlier still in 1903 a Conference presided over by the late Mr. Timothy Harrington, Lord Mayor declared unanimously that "the most desirable

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