Natural History Museum (Museum / gallery) · Photo: William Murphy · CC BY-SA 2.0Old homes in St Stephen's Green: 18% built before 1919
Against 3.4% in the typical town, St Stephen's Green has 5 times the share. St Stephen's Green has 864 buildings on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, 40 of them of national importance. Few towns its size have as much: 1,624 per 10,000 residents, more than 99% of them. Its oldest building dates from 1660.
typical town: 48
Then and today: St Stephen's Green in 21 photos and 4 old views
The set opens with Natural History Museum (Museum / gallery) and Berkley Library. There are photos of 21 of St Stephen's Green’s recorded places so far. St Stephen's Green before 1950 appears in old photographs from 1865 to 1890.
Berkley LibraryNational rating (NIAH)
ChapelNational rating (NIAH)
National Library of IrelandNational rating (NIAH)
Leinster HouseNational rating (NIAH)
Government Buildings (college)National rating (NIAH)+16See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
St Stephen's Green from 1865 to 1890
4 old photographs, in date order. All made before 1950.
1865
1870
1875
1890From Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server: public domain, or from the National Library of Ireland’s collections (Lawrence, Poole, Eason and others) with no known copyright restrictions. Each credit opens the image’s page.
Where St Stephen's Green’s history is
Every building and site on the record inside the town, by its rating.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is the State’s survey of buildings from 1700 to today, county by county; each record gives a rating, dates, a type and an appraisal. Being on it is not legal protection: that is each council’s Record of Protected Structures.
Points from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and the Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0).
40 places of national importance in St Stephen's Green
Buildings the National Inventory rates National or International: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Each one opens its own page.
825 more historic places in St Stephen's Green
Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.
The first 200 of 218, A to Z
607 recorded by their type and address
607 are recorded only by their type and address: 529 homes, 32 inns, shops and warehouses and 13 public buildings; most date from the 18th century.
Merrion Square has the most
Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.
Of the 865 records, 814 give a street address.
St Stephen's Green’s record leans to homes: 77%
Nationally, churches and chapels are 7% of the record; in St Stephen's Green they are only 1%. The second-largest group on the record is public buildings, with 41. Among the highest-rated: Saint Stephen's Green and Huguenot Cemetery.
Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.
Most of St Stephen's Green’s dated buildings come from the 16th to 18th centuries
Each building by the first date on its record.
385 of the 864 dated ones were built before 1800. The oldest is Saint Stephen's Green, from 1660.
Archaeology in St Stephen's Green
The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:
235 archaeological sites inside the town
Sites on the Record of Monuments and Places, the statutory list drawn from this record, are protected by law: anyone planning work at or near one must give the National Monuments Service two months’ notice.
| Ogham stone (present location)50 records |
| Cross-slab (present location)41 records |
| Rock art (present location)15 records |
| House - 18th century11 records |
| House - 18th/19th century9 records |
| Graveslab (present location)9 records |
| Sheela-na-gig (present location)9 records |
| Cross (present location)8 records |
| Cross - High cross (present location)6 records |
| Stone head (present location)5 records |
| Cross-inscribed stone (present location)5 records |
| Memorial stone (present location)5 records |
| Inscribed stone (present location)5 records |
| Armorial plaque (present location)5 records |
| House - indeterminate date4 records |
| 32 more kinds48 records |
Only 3.2% of St Stephen's Green’s homes were built since 2011 (5.8% is typical)
Homes built from 1946 to 1980 make up just 12% of St Stephen's Green’s, against 24% in the typical town. 23% of St Stephen's Green’s homes were built between the wars, more than the typical town’s 3.9%. St Stephen's Green added comparatively little in the 2000s: 12% of its homes, the typical town 25%.
Census 2022, households by the year their home was built (CSO, Small Area Population Statistics, CC BY 4.0); the typical town is the middle Irish town of 2,500 or more.
4 notable people born in St Stephen's Green before 1900
From Isabella Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot (1784) to James Creed Meredith (1875): their lives on one timeline, earliest first.


Everyone born in St Stephen's Green → Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
St Stephen's Green has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 5,100 to 5,500 residents, by buildings on the record.
The typical town its size has 45. One of the 16 has none.
St Stephen's Green and its neighbours
| Town | People | National Inventory | National | Archaeological sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Stephen's Green | 5,319 | 864 | 40 | 235 |
| Grand Canal Dock | 8,320 | 320 | 5 | 2 |
| O'Connell Street | 6,749 | 465 | 16 | 31 |
| Ballsbridge | 12,743 | 8 | 0 | 7 |
| Temple Bar | 7,276 | 607 | 26 | 187 |
| East Wall | 15,907 | 122 | 6 | 2 |
| Summerhill | 11,911 | 284 | 2 | 2 |
St Stephen's Green in brief
Few towns are as rich in recorded buildings as St Stephen's Green: per resident it has more than 99% of Irish towns of 2,500 or more. In all there are 865 places on the record, 40 of them in the top tier, including Saint Stephen's Green. No town its size has more recorded buildings: it leads the 16 nearest in population. Its housing is old: 18% of homes date from before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.
Its places of national importance cluster together: 32 of them stand within 400 m of Dublin Institute of Design. On Merrion Square alone there are 83 places on the record. Most entries on the list, 77%, are homes.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The National Inventory. The State’s survey of post-1700 buildings, made county by county since 1990 (NIAH); a few records are older. It records; it does not protect.
- Ratings. International and National: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Regional: in its region. Local and record-only buildings get no page here.
- Archaeology. The Sites and Monuments Record (National Monuments Service) lists known archaeological sites; the national monuments to visit and the sites with an encyclopedia article get pages here.
- Protection. Both registers are surveys, not protection: a building is protected by its council’s Record of Protected Structures, and no national open list joins the 31 councils’ records.
- The grade. Ireland’s History grade is not built yet: the page describes, and gives no grade.
Questions about St Stephen's Green’s history
How many historic buildings are recorded in St Stephen's Green?
864 buildings on the National Inventory, 40 of them of national importance, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Which places in St Stephen's Green are of national importance?
Saint Stephen's Green, Huguenot Cemetery, Mansion House, Old Library, St. Ann's Church of Ireland and Printing House, and 34 more.
What is the oldest building in St Stephen's Green?
Saint Stephen's Green: the first date on its record is 1660.
Are there archaeological sites in St Stephen's Green?
Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 235 archaeological sites inside St Stephen's Green.
How old are the homes in St Stephen's Green?
18% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.
Are the buildings on this page protected?
Being on the National Inventory or the Sites and Monuments Record is a record, not protection by itself: buildings are protected by their council’s Record of Protected Structures, which each council keeps and no national open list gathers, so this page can’t say which are on it.
This page describes its history; it gives no grade.
Source: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0); Wikidata (CC0).
Sources: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (buildingsofireland.ie) · Sites and Monuments Record and the National Monuments Service’s monuments to visit · CSO Census 2022 (homes by the year built) · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, including the National Library of Ireland’s collections, each credited with its licence and copied to our own server · Wikidata and English Wikipedia for people born here · Wikidata (CC0) for other names and articles. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
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