The North Circular Road, designated as the R101 regional road, is an important thoroughfare on the northside of Dublin, in Ireland. It is the northside equivalent of the South Circular Road.

Location

The regional road was constructed as the northern boundary of the city, and was proposed in an Act, along with the South Circular Road, in 1777. In 1776, it was announced that "the Commissioners for continuing the circular road have marked out its course from Island Bridge to the North Wall, where it will conclude with a horse ferry". The road is considered as a marker to separate the city centre from the inner suburbs, and runs from the Phoenix Park in the west through Phibsboro, to North Wall in the east. A number of important institutions are located along the road, including the Mater Hospital, Dalymount Park and Mountjoy Prison, and both Croke Park and St. Brendan's Hospital are nearby. The majority of the original, large Victorian red brick houses have been converted into flats or apartments. The R101 and the NCR overlap for most of their lengths, and the entire NCR forms a section of the R101. In the west the R101 connects the NCR to Parkgate Street via the short Infirmary Road ; at the eastern end the R101 becomes Portland Row after the junction with Summerhill. It continues the northern loop through Saville Place , then turns east for its final kilometre via Sheriff Street (Upper) before terminating at North Wall Road (the R131). The official description of the R101 from the Roads Act 1993 (Classification of Regional Roads) Order 2012 reads: between its junction with R135 at Berkeley Road and its junction with R131 at East Wall Road via North Circular Road, Portland Row, Seville Place, Sheriff Street Lower and Sheriff Street Upper all in the city of Dublin.

Buildings

At Hanlon's Corner, there is one of the largest office blocks built in Dublin in the 20th century, Park House. Built on the site of the Kirwan House orphanage, the block is 7 storeys over a raised basement car park. It was originally planned to be a hotel but was abandoned in 1969, with the almost completed reinforced concrete structure converted to office use. This was completed in 1973. It was leased to a number of tenants, including the Department of Justice, Special Olympics Ireland, the Northern Area Health Board and the Mirror Group. In 2017, the buildings was purchased by the Technological University Dublin to incorporate into the Grangegorman campus.

Sources