Pearse Square () is a Georgian

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is bounded on its southern side by

Pearse Street Pearse Street () is a major street in Dublin. It runs from College Street in the west to MacMahon Bridge in the east, and is one of the city's longest streets. It has several different types of residential and commercial property along its le ...

History

Originally named Queen's Square after the newly crowned British

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, the square consists of 48 houses, built between 1838 and 1855. The park at the centre of the square was in private ownership until the late 1880s, when it was purchased by

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660–1661, even more si ...

for £200. The Corporation added a

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...

and landscaped the park as a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

pleasure garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, b ...

which opened to the public on 23 April 1889. It was renamed Pearse Square in 1926, in honour of the Irish political activist

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, Irish poetry, poet, writer, Irish nationalism, nationalist, Irish republicanism, republican political activist a ...

. In the 1940s, the park was remodelled to include a playground and tarmac sports area. The square was a popular residence for actors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, due to its proximity to the Queen's Royal Theatre on Pearse Street and the Theatre Royal on Hawkins Street. The Dublin South Docks Festival Fair has been held in the square.

Design

The houses on the square are 2 storeys over basement. The park in the centre of the square is approximately 0.5 hectares (1.24 acres) in size. The sunken cruciform path contains

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. Pearse Street and Pearse Square are built on land reclaimed from the River Liffey; as a result, the area is prone to flooding.

Refurbishment

In 1991,

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

Parks Division applied for

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) funding to renovate the square. Although EU funding was refused, the Council itself funded a £100,000 refurbishment of the square in 1996 using a design based on the formal layout from an 1838

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map of the area. The square was re-opened on 2 July 1998 by the then-

Lord Mayor of Dublin The Lord Mayor of Dublin () is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent, since December 2024, is Fine Gael councillor Emma ...

, John Stafford. The park features a 3.5m bronze sculpture by Sandra Bell titled "Harmony", which was designed based on stories from the Pearse Square residents.

References

Squares in Dublin (city) {{dublin-geo-stub