THE PARK IS OPEN TODAY
CELEBRATING A NEIGHBOURHOOD WITH DEEP LITERARY CONNECTIONS
In the 1950s, this was the most bohemian community in the city. Brendan Behan, Mary Lavin and Flann O’Brien lived and wrote in this neighbourhood.
Wilton Park Studios
Thriving cities make room for creativity. Responding to the crisis in spaces for artists to work in Dublin, we partnered with the Royal Hibernian Academy to fully fund three artist’s studios at Wilton Park.
Our current residents are Siobhan O’Callaghan, Aoife Dunne and Bassam Al Sabah.
Art and culture play an important role in city life. Initiatives like this give artists a step up, which is important because it’s not easy being an artist. Studios are hard to find and expensive to rent – and you also have the cost of materials. Residencies like this make people aware of professional artists and the work involved in being an artist.
Inspiring female writers.
Mary Lavin was one of the most influential writers of her generation. A pioneer of women’s writing in the 1950s.
We are dedicating a beautiful new public square in Wilton Park to celebrate her. This is the first public place in Ireland named after a female Irish writer.
We hope that Mary Lavin Place will introduce new readers to her work and encourage a new generation of female writers.
Dedicating space for a writer-in-residence quarters.
Our commitment to building on Mary Lavin’s legacy has been realised by establishing the IPUT Writer in Residence, which offers the selected writer an apartment in Dublin for a year to pursue a literary project.
Novelist and Playwright Patrick McCabe is the 2026 Writer in Residence. His novels, Breakfast on Pluto and The Butcher Boy, were both adapted into films directed by Neil Jordan.
Situated in the historic Baggotonia area, known for its deep literary roots, Wilton Park is home to Mary Lavin Place, Ireland’s first public square named after an Irish female writer. This residency, along with the Artists’ Studios, highlights IPUT Real Estate’s commitment to supporting arts and culture in Dublin City.
This remarkable residency will mark for me a return to a part of the city of Dublin with which I am well acquainted – having completed the greater part of my novel The Dead School there, many moons ago. From both my native Monaghan and Dublin, I am well aware of the spectral presences of Patrick Kavanagh, and of Mary Lavin, for I too once haunted the shelves of Parson’s legendary bookshop. It’s a great part of the city, and I cannot wait to encounter its drifting, immortal literary spirits
Exhibitions
Our photo bench exhibitions at Wilton Park transform everyday public spaces into open-air galleries. Carefully curated they showcase the best of Irish art and local stories resonate with the community. The exhibitions change regularly, offering fresh perspectives and encouraging repeat visits. By blending art with urban life, our photo benches create meaningful cultural touchpoints and spark conversation directly to where people live, work, and pass through each day.
'Dipping the Other Wing'
The park features a beautiful new abstract sculpture by Eilis O’Connell. Dipping the Other Wing was commissioned by IPUT in memory of the writer Mary Lavin.
Excerpt from
‘One Evening’ by Mary Lavin 1967
By the time he’d reached the street that went down to the canal alongside which he lived, he’d got up such speed that, as a bird on the hover dips a wing, he had only to drop his shoulder and the bike turned into the sloping street. Then, near the end, dipping the other wing, he swept into Wilton Place.
Bringing art into the community.
We’re turning Wilton Park into a public gallery for Irish artists.
The new 7-metre covered street has a statement ceiling by stained glass artist James Earley.
And the photo benches scattered around the streets will feature art created on-site at Wilton Park studios.
As part of our commitment to creating cultural space in the city, we have partnered with the RHA to create three permanent artist in residence studios within the Wilton Park development. In conjunction with the RHA, we will be announcing three new year-long residencies in early 2025.
Forging new cultural partnerships.
Wilton Park is a short stroll from some of the most important arts institutions and organisations in the country. And we’re using their help and expertise to guide us, as we turn this neighbourhood into a new cultural hub.
We’ve already been working closely with the RHA, the National Concert Hall and the Graphic Studio Gallery. And we’re getting ready to bring exciting music, art and literary events to Wilton Park’s new public spaces.
Wilton Park presented me, and everyone I worked with, with an incredible opportunity that is rare in a city like Dublin.
A walk in Baggotonia
Is there something in the water? The stretch of the city at Wilton Park, along and around the banks of Dublin’s Grand Canal has seen such a concentration of writers, poets, artists and thinkers, it is something of a wonder. Inspiring the likes of Mary Lavin, Patrick Kavanagh, Elizabeth Bowen, Maeve Binchy, JP Donleavy and more, it almost seems as if fresh ideas and well turned phrases may be waiting around every corner.
Follow Dublin’s literary footsteps along the Grand Canal, with some artworks along the way.
