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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TIVOLI THEATRE AND CARPARK – DID YOU EVER WONDER ABOUT THIS

These days every development in Ireland [both parts of the island] must have “quarter” in the name, address or description so you will no doubt have guessed that the replacement for the Tivoli Theatre is the Tivoli Quarter.

The Tivoli Theatre was a theatre on Francis Street in The Liberties, Dublin which closed in 2019 and was demolished shortly afterwards for replacement by a hotel.

The theatre opened on 21 December 1934 as a replacement for an earlier Tivoli Theatre located on Burgh Quay, which had closed in May 1928.

Built to the designs of architect Vincent Kelly with seating provided for 700. The Tivoli Theatre opened as a cine-variety theatre, but by the late-1930s it had converted to full-time cinema use and was renamed Tivoli Cinema.

The Tivoli Cinema was closed in September 1964. It was converted into a nightclub and a shop; before finally re-opening as a live theatre in 1987 and renamed Tivoli Theatre. At time of closing, the upper theatre could seat 475; and the lower venue was in operation as a nightclub

The walls of the carpark had become a noted street art location and the planning permission to demolish the theatre required the extant art to be photographed and documented prior to demolition.

Planning permission was achieved March 2018 for a major urban regeneration scheme on a complex site in Dublin’s Francis Street in the heart of the Liberties Quarter of the city centre.

The scheme includes:

A 260-bed Apart-Hotel
3 Restaurant Units
Gymnasium
Retail and a new Theatre venue.
The design is centred around a proposed new civic square, to be known as “Tivoli Square”, named in honour of the existing theatre which forms part of the site and which is to be rebuilt as a modern performance and arts facility as part of the redevelopment.

The new Tivoli Theatre/ Performance facility, the restaurants and the anchor Apart-Hotel public areas will all address and open onto the new central square which will form the living heart of the development.