Historic: The Church Street Tenement Collapse

Historic: The Church Street Tenement Collapse, originally uploaded by infomatique.

There is a little park in Church Street which contains a plaque with details of "The Church Street Tenement Collapse" as well as an attractive street-light.

Two tenement buildings at No. 66 and No. 67 Church Street collapsed on the evening of 2 September 1913. Of those trapped in the buildings, seven died – including three children - and many others were seriously injured. The tragedy highlighted the dreadful conditions of many of the buildings in Dublin, both in terms of the physical fabric of the dwellings and the endemic overcrowding in the city’s tenements and courts. A report was presented to Parliament in February 1914, but with the outbreak of war in the summer of that year the housing conditions of Dublin ceased to be a political priority.

The buildings were owned by Mrs, ryan of Church Street it should be noted that a family of eight, the Connor family, lived in one room in No. 66.