ESSEX QUAY WHERE THE SMOCK ALLEY THEATRE IS NOW LOCATED
Smock Alley Theatre on Essex Street consists of two buildings.
A former boys’ school designed by Dublin architect John Burke. It is one of a number of nineteenth-century buildings in the vicinity associated with the former Catholic Church of Saint Michael and John.
The school was built on the site of three former buildings. While the building now faces onto Essex Quay, historic maps show that it was once fronted by a narrow lane with buildings forming a northern edge to Exchange Street Lower.
The church, built in 1812, had an impact on the surrounding built environment through the construction of two schools and a presbytery, as well as being of considerable social significance as reportedly being the first since the Reformation to have a bell rung for mass and the angelus, with threats of legal action successfully countered by Daniel O’Connell.
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