The Best Address in Town

Henrietta Street, Dublin and Its First Residents, 1720-80

Melanie Hayes

“The author’s scrupulous scholarship and highly readable prose is complemented by an elegant design with clever use of computer-generated elevations allowing the street to be re-imagined at different moments of its history. This is one of the most satisfying and appropriately handsome volumes on Dublin’s architectural history to appear in many years”. (William Laffan, Irish Arts Review, March - May 2021)

“Provides new insight into Georgian Ireland's elite, and structures her work around four core chapters spanning 1720-80 … [Melanie] Hayes cuts a dash with her literary flair, an outstanding command of sources, and her historical sleuthing. Characters and their lavish abodes are expertly brought to life. Superb renditions of original portraits and specially commissioned drawings … This work fills a pivotal gap in the story of a street and its city." (Graham Hickey, The Sunday Times, 24th January 2021)

"A stunningly beautiful and immensely interesting book - the ideal gift for the lover of Georgian architecture and the history of eighteenth-century Dublin - it is highly recommended" (Ireland's Genealogical Gazette, Vol. 15, No. 12, December 2020)

“This is a lavishly illustrated book with fine portraits, interior and exterior views, and architectural drawings. The explanatory notes at the end of the book helps the reader to unpack arcane aspects of Irish eighteenth century life such as practices in relation to land ownership and various offices and positions in the Irish administration … this book, consulted over a coffee before you set out, will transform for you a stroll down this extraordinary street or a visit to one of its mansions currently open to the public.” Séamas Ó Maitiu. Dublin Historical Record. Vol. 74. 2021