Spin off work includes an inventory of No 7 Eccles street built from the pages of Ulysses
and also the contents of Leopold Bloom's pockets
Revised and Expanded 2022 edition of James Joyce's Dublin, A Topographical Guide to the Dublin of 'Ulysses'
Well, because it's not there?
The history of No 7 Eccles Street is one of missed opportunities, neglect and property speculation. This once grand Georgian town house declined into a multi-family tenement and Clive Hart recalls 7 families living there when he visited in the late 1950s. In 1965 the property was put up for auction by Jackson, Stops and McCabe of Dawson Street. By 1973 Nos 6, 7, 8 and 9 Eccles Street had been reduced to single-storey facades and were then put up for auction on the 7th March by T. T. L. Overend, McCarron & Gibbons, 9 Upper Mount Street. Ten years later they were still vacant plots until finally having built the Mater Private Hospital which currently occupies the site.
As a spin-off from the revision work for James Joyce's Dublin, A Topographical Guide to the Dublin of Ulysses it was decided to create a 3D computer model of the house. The 3D model of No 7 was part of a project with Stephen Paterson of Napier University, Edinburgh and Dermott McMeel then of the University of Edinburgh. The model is now being redrawn by Stephen in the light of the new discoveries detailed in the updates section below.
Detailed information on the lost No 7 is in rather short supply. While Joyce pilgrims from the 1940s onwards have left us with numerous helpful and tantalising shots of the street frontage little material appears to exist of the internal or rear aspects of the property. We are therefore keen to contact anyone who might have useful information or resources pertaining to No 7 Eccles Street either as photographs or family memories.
Below are links to two transparent Quicktime fly-bys of the house as we originally conceived it. The examples are at reduced resolution to make them suitable for transmission over the Internet. The Internal file mimics Bloom's journey over the area railings and back through the house in the Ithaca episode of Uysses
A book on the history of No 7 Eccles Street both in fact and fiction is in preparation and hopefully an updated computer model, incorporating the new information.
Update 2009 - Further research has revealed that the staircase starts on the left side of the ground floor and that the rear chimney stack was semi-circular in construction. Also the upstairs toilet would have been facilitated by means of an added on cantileavered extension from the upper landing. Details of these changes including an amended bedroom layout can be found in:
Ian Gunn and Clive Hart, 'Rearranging the Furniture at No 7', James Joyce Quarterly, Vol 44.4 Summer 2007, p785-792.
Update October 2010 - The discovery of a series of aerial photographs of Dublin taken in 1966 indicates that the semi-circular form at the rear of No 7 is actually a small single window bay. So more furniture shuffling.
Update November 2011 - A picture of Anthony Burgess staring out of Molly Bloom's back bedroom in the ruins of No 7 Eccles street in 1965 confirms what the blurry aerial photographs indicated - that No 7 has an unusual, and so far unique, one-window bay formation. There is also no indication of any cantileavered extension so any internal toilet has to be accommodated within the original building and is likely to be at the top of the stair with an added return. Examples of this feature can be found in Eccles street.
Update February 2013 - A further picture of Anthony Burgess in the rear ground back room confirms that the bedroom has a corner fireplace similar to others in the area.
Update November 2016 - An article on on-going research looking into why No. 7 Eccles street was demolished in 1967. The Demise of Ithaca
Update December 2019 - An article on the possible location of an internal toilet. Sanitary matters at No. 7 Eccles street
Update September 2020 - An article on the history of the discovery of the structure of No. 7.. Beyond the façade – Uncovering the physical structure of No. 7 Eccles Street
Update January 2022 - Final 3D versions of No. 7 can be found on pages 84-86 of the revised and expanded James Joyce's Dublin