An Stad
An Stad was a guest house located at 30 North Frederick Street, Rotunda, Dublin 1, which was frequented by notable historical figures, including Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland, Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin, author James Joyce, Gaelic Athletic Association founder Michael Cusack, writer Brendan Behan and poet William Butler Yeats. It was a tobacco shop, guesthouse, restaurant and meeting place and its guests had wide-ranging influence over the Irish Nationalist movement, well-known works of literature and the development of Irish sport in the early 20th century. It has been located in various buildings on North Frederick Street, including 1B, 9 and 30 North Frederick street.
Background
An Stad was founded on North Frederick Street in Dublin in the late 19th century by Cathal McGarvey, author of the traditional Irish song Star of the County Down, as a meeting place for nationalists and Irish language enthusiasts. The activities that took place at An Stad included early morning pro-Independence rallies, Irish language storytelling and even reviews in Irish of works of art.History
Early history
The house that contained An Stad from the 1920s to the 1990s was built based on a 1795 design ascribed to a builder or architect employed by Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy.The street was initially laid out by Thomas Sherrard of the Wide Streets Commission following surveys and planning carried out from 1789-90. Another one of the commissioners, Frederick Trench, took ten lots on the west side of the street for development from 1793 and it is likely that the building housing An Stad formed one of these lots. Trench likely also influenced the naming convention of the street although it may have officially been ascribed to Frederick, Prince of Wales and been influenced by its namesake Frederick Street on the South side of the city developed some decades earlier as well as to a fellow developer, Frederick Jebb who also built houses on the street.
The Cathal McGarvey Era
Just before 1900, An Stad began to influence the Gaelic revival and Irish nationalist movements. In the 1890s, Donegal native Cathal McGarvey established a tobacconist and pub at 1B North Frederick Street. McGarvey was a well known humorist, storyteller and songwriter. Despite laws restricting the use of the Irish Language in business names, McGarvey insisted on naming his business "An Stad", Gaelic for "The Stop". He was fined 5 shillings. His reputation spread quickly, and soon people were coming to An Stad at night to hear him tell stories, to smoke and to promote the Irish language. McGarvey's literary capabilities, anti-British attitude and magnetic personality attracted a mix of a literary and pro-nationalist audience. Public functions including poetry readings, literary discussions and official Oireachtas week activities often went on until sunrise, and sometimes ended with early-morning Pro-Independence rallies emerging onto North Frederick Street. McGarvey also established a guesthouse on the premises which helped to attract athletic visitors from the Irish countryside coming to Dublin to watch or play in the adjacent Croke Park sports ground. Among his guests was Michael Cusack, founder of the GAA and the man after whom Croke Park's Cusack Stand was named. At McGarvey's Gaelic evenings at An Stad, ideas for promoting Nationalism and Independence were proffered aggressively, from Arthur Griffith promoting Sinn Féin to Douglas Hyde espousing the idea of ignoring the British and establishing an Irish system of rulership without direct war, to Michael Cusack promoting Gaelic Games as a unifying force behind the Nationalist movement, An Stad was a place of lively debate and ideas. Being a literary hub, An Stad is mentioned in the Biographies and works of several of its guests, including Oliver StJohn Gogarty, James Joyce and others.McGarvey sold An Stad in 1905, but An Stad continued to serve as a center for lively Nationalist debate for some years after McGarvey's decision to move on. As the Abbey Theatre gained prominence in the early 20th century, An Stad's role as a literary centre gradually declined.
The Mollie Gleeson Era
However, as the Irish War of Independence broke out in 1919, An Stad played a pivotal role as a chief safehouse for republican activists including Michael Collins, Douglas Hyde, and Harry Boland, and is now a stop on Sinn Féin's 'Rebel tour of Dublin'.In June 1916, Republican activist Mollie Gleeson came from Tipperary to Dublin and some time later she became the proprietor of at least three establishments in Dublin, including An Stad. Gleeson was an influential figure in the Republican movement, an unapologetic Nationalist and gun-runner, a fearless Republican who often asked British soldiers to help her carry her luggage on trains from Tipperary to Dublin without their knowing that she was carrying ammunition and weapons. She used her relationship with leaders like Sean Tracey, Dan Breen and most notably Michael Collins to make An Stad a Republican safehouse. Gleeson worked as an IRB spy by serving as a waitress at the West End Restaurant on Parkgate St., where British Officers and members of the Black and Tans were regular customers. She used intelligence from the restaurant to warn IRB members on Bloody Sunday, in 1920, that the British were on their way to Croke Park to exact revenge for the killing of British Intelligence officers earlier in the day. 12 civilians were killed in the incident, but due to Gleeson's intelligence, IRB members at the game were able to conceal their identities and escape with the crowd.
Under Gleeson's tutelage, An Stad continued to serve as a leading safehouse for Nationalists throughout the war of Independence. Sinn Féin and IRA members were regularly hidden at An Stad, and it was used as a transit point for weapons shipments, military orders, uniform manufacture, and the provision of food, clothing and shelter for soldiers. Gleeson was also an ardent feminist, and a leader in the Cumann na mBan movement. Several accounts in the Irish military archives list the bravery of Gleeson as she moved arms, ammunition and messages, co-ordinated Cumman na mBan activities, hid soldiers and did whatever was needed to get intelligence from British officers and Black and Tan soldiers.
During the Irish Civil War, Gleeson sided with anti-treaty forces, and she orchestrated an underground command center for the IRA and Cumann na mBan at An Stad. Gleeson was fiercely opposed to the Anglo Irish Treaty that ended the war of Independence, and was upset that the Irish Free State formally rejected feminism in order to keep the Catholic Church onside. She remained in charge at An Stad until shortly before her death in 1949. During this time, An Stad retained its role as a centre for the Gaelic Revival, with authors frequently reviewing works of poetry and prose in the Irish language. It retained this role at least until World War II. The 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty established an Irish "Free State" that retained the King of the United Kingdom as head of state, kept Ireland within the British Commonwealth and separated the six counties of Northern Ireland from the 26 counties of the Irish Free State. In 1938, a dissident Irish Republican Army group, protesting that agreement, attempted unsuccessfully to destroy Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street in Dublin, less than a mile from An Stad. The IRA had long seen Nelsons Pillar as a symbol of continued partial British sovereignty in Ireland. The IRA activists used An Stad as their safehouse, the perpetrators staying at and storing the gelignite at An Stad. The plan was cancelled at the last minute. Nelson's Pillar was eventually destroyed in 1966, but there is no evidence that the bombers used An Stad as a safehouse at that time.
After Mollie Gleeson's Death
After the death of Mollie Gleeson, there is no evidence that An Stad had any more association with the nationalist movement. There are no known records about An Stad during the "Emergency" as World War II was known in Ireland, nor from the time of the "Troubles"An Stad continued to operate as a guesthouse throughout the latter half of the 20th century, with Maureen Walsh taking ownership of No.30 in 1937. Maureen married Laurence Walsh, who was a member of a prominent Republican family from Ballinabarney, County Wicklow. Their daughter Mary Anne never married and remained at the An Stad until her death.
Recent Developments
30 North Frederick Street – the last location of An Stad – has been vacant since a fire broke out in the mid-1990s. It was placed on Dublin's 'derelict building' register in 2011. In June 2015, Dublin City Council intervened in an attempt to prevent the collapse of the building, after a large section of the back wall collapsed following years of neglect. They closed off northbound traffic on North Frederick Street and attempted to stabilize the structure to prevent outright collapse.In 2023, it was announced that Dublin City Council applied to An Bord Pleanala for a compulsory purchase order to take possession of the property from the owner Patrick Walsh.
In July 2024, An Bord Pleanala, granted the application.