The design of the new Marino development was heavily influenced by the Garden City Movement, which originated in the United Kingdom with Sir Ebenezer Howard.

A tunnel linking it to the main house for servants' use is where Michael Collins and his men carried out tests with their first Thompson sub-machine gun.

[citation needed] Jim Larkin lived in Croydon Park House and Countess Markiewicz and James Connolly were frequent visitors.

The area was developed for housing in the late 1920s and 1930s on the former estate lands of the Earl of Charlemont in the civil parish of Clonturk (now Marino, Fairview, and Drumcondra).

When it was first built, purchases of houses were restricted to large families, while alcohol, dogs without leads, and children after dark were banned from the parks.

After the Housing Inquiry of 1913 more plans were advanced, but with political instability in Ireland and World War I, any scheme was deemed too costly for the Corporation to both acquire land and build on it.

[2] The houses were built by private contractors, H. & J. Martin, G&T Crampton, John Kenny and Paul Kossel, a German firm.

[1][4] The hiring of German builders to build a portion of the houses at Marino was due to a labour strike because of the lack of union recognition, causing controversy.

Further schemes followed similar patterns, with regards to building these suburban working-class settlements - one in Drumcondra, for example, followed the same initiative but with more focus on owner-occupancy.

[7] Today, the area consists of about 1,300 houses built for the most part of concrete, which was an unusual building material at that time in Ireland.

However, when Marino was initially built, an area to park cars was not required, therefore residents today have converted their front gardens to driveways, as seen in the image, the original gate for pedestrians still remains.

[11] As of 2011, 3,000 people live in Marino, an almost 70 per cent drop from when it was built almost 100 years ago with a population of 10,000, presumably due to a decrease in family size in the 21st century.

Along Philipsburgh Avenue there is a strip of shops that serve the local people of Marino including a small supermarket, pharmacy, bakery, hairdressers and butchers.

Marino is home to St Vincent's GAA Club, based at Pairc Naomh Uinsionn just off Malahide Road, bordering Donnycarney.

The club fields successful senior sides and has a thriving juvenile section which caters for close to one thousand boys and girls.