Fatima Mansions (housing)

Fatima Mansions is an extensive public housing complex located in Rialto, Dublin. In recent years it has undergone a substantial urban renewal programme with the assistance of public and private funding.^[1] All existing apartment blocks were demolished to make way for 600 accommodation units, consisting of social, affordable and private housing along with community, business and leisure facilities at a cost of €200 million.^[2] The blocks have since been renamed Herberton Apartments, but the area is still referred to locally as Fatima.

History

The original complex, built between 1949 and 1951 by Dublin City Council, consisted of fifteen blocks, each of four floors in height. They replaced tenement housing for the area's working-class residents, and were initially considered a great improvement in living conditions.^[3] The area was notorious for its high levels of heroin use and drug dealing^[4] which eventually led to the original complex's demolition due to the drug problem's severity.^[5]

References