A slice of Dublin working-class life is set to disappear this week with the departure of the last tenants from the former tenements at York Street, near St Stephen's Green.
The remaining eight residents were due to leave yesterday to make way for the demolition of the block of nine houses, parts of which date back to the 1750s.
Last month Dublin City Council, which owns the properties, sought tenders for their demolition and preparatory work has already begun.
One-third of the site has been sold to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) for €12 million, while the council plans to build 66 social housing units on the rest of the land.
Residents who spoke to The Irish Times yesterday said they would comply with the order to leave with great reluctance.
"This is the last day. We tried to hold out as long as we could, but there were too many powerful elements behind the council and the college," said Maurice Timmins, whose two sisters and niece also live on the street.
Mr Timmins can recall gaslight being used in the buildings, and said his family was one of the first to get electricity. "There was no running water or baths in the old tenements and one toilet served eight to 10 people," he reminisced.
Although most of the block is now empty and boarded up, Mr Timmins insisted the buildings are structurally sound. "They could have been refurbished, but money talked."
However, Eileen Martin, the council's local area housing manager, said the options of refurbishment and "knock and rebuild" had both been explored as part of an extensive consultation process. "Ultimately, refurbishment was not feasible and we went for the option which was of the greatest benefit to everyone."
The majority of tenants supported the plans of the council, she said, with only a small minority resisting a move.
Ms Martin assured these tenants, most of them elderly, that all former York Street residents would qualify for a flat in the new block. She denied a claim that tenancy rights could not be passed on to sons or daughters.
She also rejected a claim by the remaining residents that the council deliberately ran down the flats to force tenants to leave.
Last year, the council removed the ornate stone doorcase surrounds of the houses from the list of protected structures. However, Ms Martin said these and a "vast amount" of other material would be salvaged from the demolition process and reused on the site and elsewhere.
The RCSI, which is located across the road from the flats and has already built a hotel and multi-storey car park in the area, would not comment yesterday on its plans for its part of the York Street site. The street's grim facade and tenement stairs have featured in several films. In 2001, the buildings were used for a St Patrick's Day greeting card from An Post.
According to Mr Timmins, Jack B Yeats once had a studio in the building and residents of the street included James Clarence Mangan and - briefly, during the planning of the 1916 Rising - Eamon de Valera.
