No 16 Moore Street, the house believed to be the last headquarters of the 1916 Rising leaders, should be included on Dublin City Council's list of protected structures, according to a new report.
Prepared by architect Gráinne Shaffrey of Shaffrey and Associates and urban historian John Montague, the report on the historical and architectural significance of the building is to be presented to councillors next month.
According to a letter from Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, seen by The Irish Times, it recommends initiating formal legal proceedings to add No 16 to the record of protected structures, subject to ratification by councillors. The move should help secure the future of the building, which has fallen into disrepair.
Controversy had arisen over its preservation after it emerged that the renumbering of Moore Street in the 1930s could have moved No 16 to No 18.
There were also suggestions that the facades of the buildings had been destroyed during the Rising. It is understood, however, that the report concludes the building is of significant historical value.
No 16 is in the middle of the site originally earmarked for redevelopment by the Carlton Group as part of the O'Connell Street area regeneration programme. However, the plan to develop the former Carlton cinema through to Moore Street failed to materialise and the scheme and the sites are locked in legal wrangles.
A campaign to save the building began last August and called for a 1916 Rising museum and interpretive centre to be opened there.
Damien Cassidy, secretary of the 16 Moore Street Campaign, welcomed the recommendations of the report, saying that the building was of great historical value. He also said that the group was pleased at the intervention of the Taoiseach and added that a meeting would be held next week to put in place plans for a museum.
It is believed members of the provisional government, accompanied by three Cumann na mBan members and soldiers, entered 16 Moore Street after leaving the besieged GPO on April 28th, 1916.
Pádraig Pearse, James Connolly, James Plunkett, Thomas Clarke and Seán MacDermott held a council of war there, before sending Nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell out to the commander of the British forces with a message of surrender on April 29th.
