Previously housing first British Armed Forces and later Irish Army garrisons through three centuries, the barracks were the oldest continuously occupied example in the world.

Since 1997 the barracks have been home to collections of the National Museum of Ireland (for Decorative Arts and History exhibits), and the original structures have seen some award-winning redevelopment and conservation work to support this new role.

Save for the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, the barracks is the earliest public building in Dublin, and was built from 1701 by the then Surveyor General under Queen Anne, Thomas de Burgh.

However, the main focus of the galleries is on arts, crafts and wares, including exhibits on: Irish coins and currency, silverware, furniture, folklife and costumes, ceramics, glassware, etc.

The area was comparable to the Monto whose activities reached a zenith during the 1860s–1950s period and whose profits were also aided by the enormous number of British Army garrisons in the city over the centuries.

[14] In the late nineteenth century the street was chosen as the location for the first Dublin Corporation housing scheme,[15] due to the cheaper cost of purchasing land in areas with long-standing social problems.