3062 - Warehouse, Robert Street

Research metadata

RPS Reg. No.: 3062
NIAH Reg. No.: 21513021
Overall identification confidence: High
Vacancy / dereliction status at a glance: Long-vacant former corn warehouse (last in use as the Limerick Printmakers gallery, vacated 2015); entered on Limerick's Derelict Sites Register and the subject of a confirmed compulsory-purchase process; roof missing and structure exposed; a redevelopment to apartments has since secured planning permission (a 12-apartment scheme granted on appeal, June 2026). (High)

Quick facts

Address	Former corn warehouse, 3–4 Robert Street, Limerick city centre (corner of Robert Street and Upper Denmark Street; St Michael's Church adjoins to the rear), V94 FY06 [1] [2]
Building type	Detached six-bay six-storey random coursed stone corn warehouse, with two hoist bays to the street front and nine-bay side elevations [1]
Period / date	Built c. 1800 (Georgian; part of Newtown Pery's corn-store industry) [1] [9]
Heritage refs (RPS / NIAH)	RPS 3062 / NIAH 21513021 [1] [2]
Apparent status	Vacant / derelict; roofless and exposed; on Derelict Sites Register; compulsorily acquired; redevelopment to 12 apartments granted on appeal (June 2026) [2] [6] [15]
On Derelict Sites Register?	Yes — Derelict Sites Register ref DS-020-18 (Limerick City and County Council) (High) [2]
Owner	Was privately owned; compulsorily acquired by Limerick City and County Council under the Derelict Sites Act 1990 (An Bord Pleanála consent, case ABP-317504-23) (High) [2]
Floor area / site	Six floors of warehouse space on a site of c. 0.032 ha (0.0302 ha) (High) [2]

Summary

The building at 3–4 Robert Street is a six-bay, six-storey random-coursed limestone corn warehouse of c. 1800, one of the largest surviving corn stores of Limerick's Georgian Newtown Pery and a reminder of the city's corn-trade industrial past. [1] [9] Its best-known modern use was as the home of Limerick Printmakers, a fine-art print studio and gallery (founded 1999) that occupied the building for about eleven years before leaving in March 2015 when fire-safety breaches were found in the ageing structure. [10] [11] It has since stood vacant and progressively derelict — losing its permanent roof and standing fully exposed to the weather — and was placed on Limerick's Derelict Sites Register (ref DS-020-18). [2] After several years of unsuccessful engagement with the owners, Limerick City and County Council secured An Bord Pleanála consent to compulsorily acquire the site (ABP-317504-23). [2] [3] In 2025 a planning application was lodged to convert the warehouse into apartments with a part-commercial ground floor; permission was ultimately granted on appeal by An Coimisiún Pleanála in June 2026 for a 12-apartment scheme. [6] [7] [15]

Identification

Address: Former corn warehouse, 3–4 Robert Street, Limerick city centre, towards the corner of Robert Street and Upper Denmark Street; St Michael's (Roman Catholic) Church adjoins to the rear and is itself a protected structure. Eircode V94 FY06. (High) [1] [2]
Building type: Detached six-bay six-storey random coursed stone corn warehouse, facing south, with two hoist bays to the street front and nine-bay side elevations; M-profile natural slate roof with gables hidden behind a high parapet wall with stone coping; squared and tooled random-coursed limestone walls (random rubble limestone to other elevations); cast-iron wall tie plates; squared quoins; gauged red-brick flat-arched window openings with fixed-pane timber windows; boarded-up camber-headed red-brick loophole openings; stone flat-arched openings with timber windows and double-leaf timber doors at ground level. (High) [1] [9]
Approx. date of construction / period: c. 1800. (High) [1]
Architect / builder: Not confirmed; built as part of the corn-store building programme associated with Edmund Sexton Pery's Newtown Pery. (Medium) [9]
RPS / NIAH references: RPS 3062 (Limerick City and County Council Record of Protected Structures); NIAH 21513021. (High) [1] [14]
Coordinates / map link: approx. 52.6639, -8.6236; map: Google Maps (Medium) [12]
Building-match confidence & ambiguity notes: High match — the row's RPS number (3062), NIAH ref (21513021), name (Limerick Printmakers), location (Robert Street) and description all correspond exactly to the NIAH record and the council's CPO documentation; no significant discrepancies found. Minor note: the property is variously cited as "3–4 Robert Street" (NIAH / planning) and "4 Robert Street" (Derelict Sites case), which reflects the same building/curtilage. (High) [1] [2]

History & Significance

Built c. 1800 as a stone corn store within Edmund Sexton Pery's Newtown Pery, when stone corn stores and large mill buildings were built across the grid of the new Georgian town, many near the River Shannon quays. (Medium) [9]