Subsérie 2 - The Church Street Tenement Disaster (1913)

On the evening of 2 September 1913 two overcrowded tenement buildings at 66 and 67 Church Street collapsed. The two buildings were situated opposite the Capuchin Friary on the street. Of those trapped in the buildings, seven died (including three children) and many others were left seriously injured. Over 100 people were left homeless and destitute. The tragedy, occurring at a time of heightened political and labour unrest, 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 inner city tenements. A report on the disaster was presented to the British Parliament in February 1914, but with the outbreak of war in the summer of that year housing conditions in Irish capital ceased to be a political priority.