[10] Gardiner also laid out a mall down the central section of the street, lined with low granite walls and obelisks.

[14][15] Work did not start until 1757 when the city's planning body, the Wide Streets Commission, obtained a financial grant from Parliament.

[10] The Wide Streets Commission had envisaged and realised matching terraces of unified and proportioned façades extending from the river.

[17] Because of a dispute over land, a plot on the northwest of the street remained vacant; this later became the General Post Office (GPO) which opened in 1814.

[18] The street became a commercial success upon the opening of Carlisle Bridge, designed by James Gandon, in 1792 for pedestrians and in 1795 for all traffic.

Lower Sackville Street became successful as a commercial location;[10] its terraces are ambitiously lined with purpose-designed retail units.

Similarly, the Gresham Hotel opened on numbers 21 and 22 in 1817 to the north of the street in adjoining Georgian townhouses and was later remodelled, as it became more successful.

[31] Dublin Corporation was anxious as early as the 1880s to change the name but faced considerable objections from residents and business owners on the street.

With the unveiling of the O'Connell Monument on the street in 1882 and subsequent renaming of the Carlisle Bridge as O'Connell Bridge in his honour, it marked "an important move away from commemorating only members of the Castle administration or the British royal family" in the street,[32] according to a 2003 report commissioned by Dublin City Council.

[34] On 31 August 1913, O'Connell Street saw the worst incident in the Dublin lock-out, a major dispute between workers and the police.

During a speech given by workers' rights activist James Larkin, police charged through the attending crowd and arrested him.

[35] During the Easter Rising of 1916, Irish republicans seized the General Post Office and proclaimed the Irish Republic, leading to the street's bombardment for a number of days by the gunboat Helga of the Royal Navy and several other artillery pieces which were brought up to fire on the north of the street.

[36][39] In addition, during the chaos that accompanied the rebellion, the inhabitants of the nearby slums looted many of the shops on O'Connell Street.

[46] Fighting lasted from 28 June until 5 July, when the National Army troops brought artillery up to point-blank range, under the cover of armoured cars, to bombard the Republican-held buildings.

This house was originally the home of the State physician and professor of anatomy at Trinity College, Robert Robinson and later Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Commercial Club.

There were plans to incorporate the house into the hotel to provide additional bars and function space in 1975 and 1978, but the work was never carried out.

[50] Apart from the GPO building, other significant properties rebuilt after the hostilities include the department store Clerys which reopened in August 1922.

[56] The Metropole and Capitol cinemas next to the GPO were demolished[57][58] in 1973, McDonald noting this removed the central social hub of O'Connell Street.

[62] The so-called "Carlton site" encompasses almost six acres facing onto O'Connell, Moore, Parnell and Henry Streets.

[63] This vacant site immediately to the right of the Carlton was Gill's bookshop and a branch of Penney's until 1979 when it was purchased by the Bank of Ireland.

[64][63] Many of the older buildings were replaced with fast-food restaurants, shops and offices, that continue to be the main features along O'Connell Street in the 21st century.

[30][65] The plan was designed to go beyond simple cosmetic changes, and introduce control of the wider area beyond the street's buildings, including pedestrian and vehicle interaction, governance and preservation of architecture.

[69] Numerous monuments were restored, including those of late 19th century Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell, radical early 20th-century labour leader Jim Larkin, prominent businessman and nationalist MP Sir John Grey,[70] and the most challenging of all: the conservation of the O'Connell Monument standing guard at the southern entrance to the thoroughfare.

[71] All public domain works were completed in June 2006, finalising the principal objective of the IAP at a cost of €40 million.

A protest against a planned Loyalist march degenerated into vandalism and looting, with building materials from the works in progress being used as weapons and for smashing windows and fixtures.

[74] This means that no buildings can be altered without Dublin City Council's permission, and fast food outlets, takeaways, cafes and amusement arcades are strictly controlled.

[77] The street is used as the main route of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade,[78] and as the setting for the 1916 Commemoration every Easter Sunday.

[80] In his 1937 book "The Way That I Went", Irish naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger noted that "undoubtedly the most interesting zoological feature that Dublin has to offer is the Wagtail roost on O'Connell Street".

[81] Early in the winter of 1929, a number of pied wagtails settled in a London plane tree on the north side of Nelson's Pillar.

It was removed in 2001 as part of the reconstruction plans for O'Connell Street and moved to the Croppies' Acre Memorial Park in 2011.