Highlights from 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us on a tour, came to a Teatime Talk or took part in a workshop with one of our Artists in Residence this year. We would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and we look forward to sharing and uncovering more history, heritage and culture with you in 2026.

14 Henrietta Street has three key aims - here we look back at just some of the things we’ve achieved this year under each aim.

Share
We retell the story of the lives of the people of 14 Henrietta Street.

In 2025, we welcomed 38,000 people on our guided tours to hear the stories of the humans who lived in the house, their changing circumstances, their experience of family life, politics, and the impact of world affairs.

We worked with Clarkes of Dublin to develop new soaps inspired by stories from former residents, from the gifting of oranges at Christmas to the popularity of lavender soaps and cleaning products. Each soap is carefully crafted to capture the essence of the house’s rich heritage and offers a sensory connection to those who once lived here. They are available to buy from our front desk at 14 Henrietta Street, or from our new online shop here.

Engage
We make connections by listening and talking with visitors, citizens, historians, local residents, former residents and their families.

This year brought the contributions of Orlagh Meegan Gallagher, whose responses to the house spoke about the women of 14 Henrietta Street and explored the fabrics, embroidery and sewing done over the 300 years of the building's life and Fiona Harrington, developed her creative response to the history of the building by working directly with the museum's collection, including oral history interviews and our Your Tenement Memories programme.

Discover
We uncover history by continuing to research the house and its occupants and continuing to learn from the memories and knowledge of others.

We made a film as part of our Making a Museum series, to look at our Your Tenement Memories programme and the process of how we capture oral histories and people’s memories of tenement life in Dublin.

Our latest publication, 14 Henrietta Street: Unfolding the History, is a beautifully crafted booklet that brings together exclusive essays by Dr. Melanie Hayes, Dr. Timothy Murtagh, and social historian Donal Fallon. It also includes never-before-seen photographs of the house and a detailed account of its conservation journey.

We thank you for your Feedback

By listening and talking with visitors, historians, local residents and their families and through the knowledge of others, the museum continues to discover new stories, gathering memories and adding to the museum’s collection and visitor experience.

In 2025 we continued to receive a consistently high level of feedback from our visitors. Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out a visitor survey or send us an email. We read and value every single piece of feedback and we share it across our teams.

Below is a just a small snapshot of what some recent visitors have told us:

“A hidden gem of a museum in Dublin which is definitely a must-see.The fully guided tour is full of artefacts, informative videos and interesting anecdotes. Would highly recommend”

“A really personal reflection of the place and time. Made it all come alive for us, as harrowing as some of it was - he made the humanity shine through.”

“My favorite museum in Dublin. They did a fantastic job of using the house to tell stories with amazingly restored/preserved spaces. Being in the space, hearing peoples' voices, and realizing this history continued into our modern lifetimes, really made an impact. The engaging guide was an integral part of the experience. I had known a little bit about Irish history, but this expanded it and made me feel connected to the people who passed through this house. A moving, fiercely human place and experience.”

Thank you again for visiting us here and we hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year.