Newtown Pery, Limerick

It is one of the three towns that make up modern-day Limerick City Centre, the other two being the older Englishtown and Irishtown, which date from the medieval period.

Early photographs of the old city areas also show the old (pre-Georgian) continental and Dutch gabled styled townhouses as being altered somewhat to appear more Georgian.

[2] The Custom's House (Hunt Museum), designed by Italian architect Davis Ducart, is also one of the city's finest examples of Georgian Architecture.

In 1807 its leading residents secured a private act of the UK parliament to establish a body of improvement commissioners as municipal authority for the civil parish of St Michael's, within which Newtown Pery was located.

[7] One brake on the town's development was that the only crossing point on the Shannon remained at Thomond Bridge in the old and now less fashionable Englishtown district.

In addition to the quality of the Georgian heritage in the district, another striking feature of the development is the grid plan layout of the streets in the area running north–south and east–west in similar fashion and design as found in New York City, Philadelphia, Glasgow, Bristol and Berlin albeit on a smaller scale.

Limerick continued to expand following the Act of Union and into the early 19th century; however, Pery's plan for the city was never fully realised.

It was intended that the city would continue further southwards; however, a crippling economic decline in Ireland caused by the Great Irish Famine put an end to the development.

Economic decline and stagnation plagued Limerick during the 20th century which saw some townhouses converted to tenements such as at Arthur's Quay and Bank Place.

During this time very little investment was seen in Newtown Pery, only the exodus of families and industries to new suburban districts around the city due to modern requirements.

Lax development controls enabled the almost complete rebuilding of the northern end of O'Connell Street and replacing what were some iconic and illustrious buildings with more modernist, cheaper 1960s-style architecture.

Despite the architectural losses and economic conditions, Newtown Pery remained the premier retail and services district for Limerick and the greater Mid-West Region well up into the late 20th and early 21st century.

[11] Many of the buildings along the area are occupied by solicitor's offices, accountants, auctioneer's and English schools, and hospitality establishments (such as 101 O'Connell Street and Maggie Choo's).

[14] Another plan is the Living City Initiative, which provides tax relief for residents who refurbish Georgian houses in designated areas.