Until the creation by The 1st Baron Iveagh, as he then was, of the park north of St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1901, hundreds of street traders had stalls in the neighbourhood.

The site was cleared by 1900, with the objective of the new indoor market offering local traders a dry place to sell vegetables, fish, and clothes.

Construction started in 1902 and the market was opened in June 1906 by George William Addison as a representative of the then Viscount Iveagh.

[8][9] This was an innovation in the Dublin market world, and was influenced by Iveagh's sponsorship of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London a decade earlier.

[10] In September 2019, an architectural condition report commissioned by the city council found that the market was "unsafe" and in an "advanced state of dereliction".

[13] In October 2023, Dublin City Council, Keane and Lord Iveagh all appeared before the High Court claiming ownership of the property.