From Lavatory to Latte Kevin Street’s Historic Toilets Set for a New Life as Tearooms
In the heart of Dublin 8 at the corner of Kevin Street Upper and New Street South stands a modest but historic piece of Dublin’s urban fabric an underground Victorian public toilet long out of use and largely forgotten. Built in the early 1900s this granite plinth and cast iron vented structure once formed part of a citywide network of more than sixty public conveniences that served the capital in a different era when a man might doff his cap hail a horse drawn cab and could step into the street below for a quick comfort break. Now more than a century later the old toilet is being given a second chance at life not as a place of necessity but as a space of leisure.
Dublin City Council has announced plans to convert the disused site into a heritage tearoom complete with public toilet facilities preserving its historic character while offering something altogether new. The proposal modest in scale but ambitious in spirit is part of a wider rethinking of how Dublin treats its disused public spaces. This is no ordinary adaptive reuse. The Kevin Street toilet is the last physical remnant of the infamous “Four Corners of Hell” a crossroads where four rowdy pubs once stood notorious for fights and full of character. That past has largely faded from the physical cityscape but the toilet remains quietly marking its place in the civic memory. The structure is now protected as a listed building and though it has been sealed off and unused for decades its architectural details particularly the distinctive cast iron vent pipe still catch the eye of passers-by.
Transforming it into a tearoom is not without challenges. Restoring it to its original use as a functioning toilet was deemed too complex and costly. Being underground, it would require extensive excavation and modernisation far beyond what the small structure could reasonably accommodate. Instead the council has allocated €68,365 in its 2024–2026 capital programme for the development of a new plan that reimagines the site while respecting its heritage. The concept involves creating a small café with modern facilities integrating public toilets into the space and potentially opening the door to local business involvement through a lease or operating tender. But this idea isn’t without precedent. Across Europe old public toilets have been repurposed in creative and culturally sensitive ways. In London for example several former subterranean loos have become popular cafés, cocktail bars, art galleries and even florists.
One of the most famous is The Attendant in Fitzrovia an elegant café tucked inside a restored Victorian toilet where customers sip cappuccinos beneath repurposed porcelain urinals. In Berlin underground toilets have become pop-up exhibition spaces and Amsterdam a city that prizes inventive reuse has seen several disused public urinals repurposed as information points and micro offices. It has long been argued that in Dublin the city council should be doing more to creatively reuse its scattered but historically interesting convenience buildings. The Kevin Street project then could set an important precedent both for the respectful treatment of minor heritage and the practical re-use of neglected public spaces.
The public reaction so far appears supportive. Local heritage groups have praised the proposal for preserving an overlooked architectural oddity while community members are enthusiastic about the prospect of a new local café in an area that has seen extensive roadworks and redevelopment over the past decade. If successful the Kevin Street tearoom could offer a unique blend of the old and new a chance for residents and tourists alike to pause, relax and take in a little known piece of Dublin’s past while enjoying a cup of tea below ground. From a city planning perspective the scheme also addresses broader issues. As Dublin struggles with public toilet provision underused urban spaces and the ever present challenge of preserving heritage while allowing for modern use this project offers a clever middle ground. It’s an example of “gentle urbanism” making small smart interventions that quietly improve the public realm. In turning a site once associated neglect into a space for community,
Comfort and conversation Dublin isn’t just reviving an old toilet it’s making a quiet symbolic gesture toward something bigger. The granite and iron bones of this little structure mirror the city itself worn overlooked and bruised by time and underinvestment but not without value, not beyond care. Like the city that surrounds it the Kevin Street toilet had become a forgotten fixture an object of indifference at best and embarrassment at worst. Yet with a little imagination, a little civic will and a modest investment it is being reimagined not just as a café, but as a statement that even the most rundown corners of our urban landscape can be made useful beautiful and welcoming again. Perhaps in that way this humble tearoom stands as a kind of hopeful metaphor for Dublin itself. A city that many feel has grown rough around the edges too expensive, too fast-paced, too indifferent to the needs of its citizens might still have the chance to reclaim its character to renew its social fabric to remember the value of the small and the shared. If an old toilet can be turned into a tearoom perhaps Dublin too can rediscover what makes it worth loving.
