11 Parnell Square sits at the heart of the Parnell Square Cultural Quarter. A dynamic group of agencies - Irish Heritage Trust, Irish Landmark Trust and Poetry Ireland - have come together to restore and repurpose the house, transforming it from a set of static offices into a public space for discussion, meeting, music, poetry and the spoken word.

Located on the East side of the square, No. 11 is a magnificent Georgian five bay, five story mansion. It was built as one of a pair around 1755 and occupied in the 18th century by the Butler Earls of Ormonde. It was further adapted in 1901 as the Headquarters of Dublin County Council, the rooms re-fashioned into offices and Council Chambers.

The building is already a palimpsest, full of beauty and unexpected detail, and the project is about bringing this out. Careful conservation will restore the grandeur of the original rooms, making a significant contribution to the cultural life of the city. In this vision, the ground and first floor of the house, along with ground floor of the 20th century extension to the rere, will be a new type of ‘public space’ within the city - with poetry events such as readings and recitals, an education/outreach space, and a new Seamus Heaney Library. The upper two floors will remain in office use, and the basement of the house will function as an independent set of offices and meeting spaces.

This is a project about dualities and layers - using old things in new ways. Without extending analogies, it seeks to construct a world in space, much as poetry constructs worlds out of words and silences. It is about working to uncover the essential nature of the building so it can find new expression as a host for cultural experience.