
Archer's Garage, located at the corner of Fenian Street and Sandwith Street Upper, is Dublin's most famous Art Deco building. Designed by architect Arnold Francis Hendy, it opened in 1949 for Richard Archer, Ireland's first Ford motor car agent.
It was historically groundbreaking as Ireland's first building made with reinforced concrete and fluorescent lighting. The original structure featured a striking curved corner tower, projecting fins, and a flagpole.
In a notorious 1999 incident during the Celtic Tiger (the period of rapid economic growth in Ireland from 1995 to 2007), developers illegally demolished the protected Grade 1 structure on a June bank holiday weekend. Following a massive public outcry, Dublin City Council forced the developer to reconstruct the building. The faithful replica we see today was completed in 2004.