After visiting Trieste, the writer James Joyce was determined to bring a cinema to Ireland, so after receiving the backing of his Italian[1] friends, he set up the Cinematograph Volta on Mary Street.

The opening night featured an eclectic program, with the comedy Devilled Crab, the mystery Bewitched Castle, La Pourponièrre, The First Paris Orphanage, and The Tragedy of Beatrice Cency.

Joyce soon became disillusioned with the venture, as the cinema mainly showed films from Europe and Italy, which were largely shunned by Dubliners at the time.

Penneys bought the building along with adjacent shops and built a department store on the demolished site.

However, on 12 June 2007, a plaque was unveiled on the original site marking the significance of 45 Mary Street.