A theatre or circus has stood on this site on Lower Abbey Street since at least the early 19th century.
In the mid-19th century, at the urging of Dublin's gentry, John Classon, an upper-class merchant, acquired the buildings then on the site, one of which had housed a circus, in order to establish a joint concert hall and civic institution for the lower classes.
The Music Hall, which could seat 4000 persons, hosted concerts, lectures, and popular entertainments.
[1][2] The renowned black American abolitionist Frederick Douglass lectured at the Music Hall in 1845 during a four-month visit to Ireland.
In 1850 and 1851 Pablo Fanque, the popular black equestrian and circus owner (immortalised later in The Beatles' song Being for the Benefit of Mr.