14 Henrietta Street / Tenement Museum
The 14 Henrietta Street Museum, also known as the Tenement Museum, is located in Dublin. It preserves the history of Dublin’s tenement life from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Visitors experience the living conditions of working-class families through restored rooms and exhibits. The museum offers a unique, immersive look into the city’s social history.
Visit Tenement Museum's website
The Brief
In the early 20th Century, Dublin was alleged to have the worst slums in Europe. Following the foundation of the independance of the Irish State in 1923 the Government took over many of the large 18th C houses from an earlier period and turned them into tenements. Multiple families would be living throughout the hose occupying a room or two in crowded conditions and
Sharing vital services like access, water, waste etc. Life was intense as were relationships and they were vibrant places
The Approach
The Dublin City Council structurally renovated a building that had previously been an 18th C upper class residence converted to a tenement and occupied by multiple families in the early 20th C. . It would be used primarily for visitation as a social education museum to demonstrate this period of Dublin’s history
The Challanges
The challenge for us, Tourism and Heritage Management Services (THMS) was to source the furniture and material that would demonstrate the tenement life and reflecting the luxrious side of the 18th Century.
The Results
The tenement museum is different and has developed as a significant Museum attraction with very strong social educational value. It has developed information and artifacts directly related to families that lived in the tenement and relationships within the street and community.
