Recently renovated to a high standard and home to much-loved restaurants, the prominent building on the corner of Henry Street and Sarsfield Street was built in 1778 as a sumptuous private residence. Over the course of its lifetime, it has been a private house, a bank, a library, a restaurant, a community space and a carpet shop. It is one of the oldest buildings in Newtown Pery, dating to when the city was just a plan on paper.
It remains one of the most handsome buildings in Limerick. John Dowdall Hammond (abt. 1732-1787) was a wealthy attorney and investor in the Shannon Navigation Scheme in 1768.
Clearly a man of means, he built his six-bay three-storey over basement house on a prominent street corner at a time when the river came much closer to the site and nothing obstructed the view from his magnificent new home, particularly from the large bowed window. The views up and down the river and across to Co. Clare must have been spectacular.
From the comfort of his new home, Dowdall Hammond must have borne witness to the economic development of the city that was very much centred on the river. During this period, the Shannon teamed daily with fully rigged ships resplendent with tall masts and large white sails as they arrived from far flung lands often with cargoes of exotic goods. John Dowdall Hammond was described as a ‘gent’ in May 1756 when he was sworn in as an attorney of his majesty’s court of exchequer.
He married Arabella Minchin in 1776. They had at least tw.
