2050 - Cork Hill, Dublin 02 (former Newcomen Bank)

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Protected-structure research note — vacancy & dereliction assessment. Subject is a nationally-rated protected structure in public (Dublin City Council) ownership, vacant since April 2019.

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Quick facts

Field	Detail	Confidence
RPS reference	2050 (Dublin City Council Record of Protected Structures)	Medium — dataset value, not independently re-confirmed online
NIAH reg. no.	50910004 — rating National; interest: Architectural, Artistic, Social [1]	High
Address	16 Castle Hill, at the junction of Cork Hill, Lord Edward Street and Castle Street, Dublin 2 [1]	High
Irish Grid coordinates	315414, 233995 (Irish Grid easting, northing) [1]	High
Coordinates (WGS84 — paste into Notion Place)	`53.34387, -6.26773` (decimal degrees lat, long for the Newcomen Bank building) [2]	High
Built / altered	c. 1781; Cork Hill elevation doubled 1862; Lord Edward Street gable added 1884 [1]	High
Architect(s)	Thomas Ivory (orig., assisted by James Hoban); William Caldbeck (1862); D. J. Freeman (1884) [1][2][3]	High
Original / last use	Private bank & residence → DCC Rates Office [1][2]	High
Ownership	Dublin City Council (public) [1][4]	High
Occupancy	Vacant since April 2019 [4][6]	High
Condition (dataset)	"3 – Major disrepair (needs works)"; DCC report flags structural repairs required [4]	Medium
Statutory protection	Protected Structure (RPS) and NIAH National rating [1]	High

Summary

The building catalogued in this row as "Municipal buildings (former Newcomen Bank)" is one of Dublin's finest surviving 18th-century structures: the former Newcomen Bank on Cork Hill, latterly Dublin City Council's Rates Office. Designed by Thomas Ivory c. 1781, it occupies a prominent corner opposite City Hall, framing the ceremonial approach to Dublin Castle [1][2].

It has been vacant since April 2019, when the Rates Office function moved out [4][6]. A DCC steering group was appointed to bring the building back into a public/cultural use, with a proposed reuse as an exhibition / events-and-conferencing venue at an estimated project cost of roughly €9.47m [4][6]. As of the most recent sources reviewed, the building remains a council-owned, vacant protected structure progressing through a conservation-led reuse process rather than an abandoned or formally "derelict" site. The dataset's "major disrepair" condition score is consistent with DCC's own references to structural repairs, but the precise extent of fabric deterioration is not independently verified here.

Identification

Common / historic names: Newcomen Bank; Newcomen's Bank; Gleadowe-Newcomen's Bank; (later) the Rates Office [1][2].
Site: Corner-sited, terminating the east end of Castle Street / south side of Lord Edward Street and facing Cork Hill [1].
Building-match note: The corner location and multiple street addresses (Cork Hill / Castle Street / Lord Edward Street) mean the structure appears under several names and numbers across sources. The RPS description, the "former bank" type and the public/institutional classification all align with NIAH 50910004, so the match is treated as High confidence. The RPS number 2050 itself is taken from the dataset and was not separately located in an online RPS extract during this review (Medium confidence).

History & significance

Built c. 1781 for the banker William Gleadowe (later Gleadowe-Newcomen), to designs by Thomas Ivory, who created a sophisticated interior from an irregular corner plan [1][3]. James Hoban — later architect of the White House — is associated with the works [2].
Constructed in polished ashlar Portland stone over a limestone L-plan, three storeys over a raised basement, with channelled rusticated ground floor, Ionic entrance portico, balustraded parapet and richly carved friezes [1].
Notable craftsmanship includes carving attributed to Simon Vierpyl and a first-floor oval drawing-room trompe-l'œil ceiling possibly by Vincent Waldre [1].
The banking firm failed in January 1825; the premises were subsequently acquired by the Hibernian Bank (which moved in c. 1831). The Hibernian Bank was itself absorbed by Bank of Ireland in 1958 [2][10].
The Cork Hill elevation was doubled in length in 1862 by William Caldbeck (a mirror-image extension); the Lord Edward Street gable was added in 1884 by D. J. Freeman, bearing the plaque "Lord Edward Street AD 1886" [1].
Acquired by Dublin Corporation in 1886, it served for over a century as the city's Rates Office [1][2].
Heritage value: NIAH rates it National for Architectural, Artistic and Social interest; together with City Hall it forms part of the civic ensemble at the entrance to Dublin Castle [1].