Opened to the public in late 2021, the new Irish Arts Center adds to New York City’s rich cultural institutions by creating a premiere arts facility that expresses the talent, energy, tradition, and hospitality of Irish and Irish American culture. Founded in 1972, the IAC offers its audiences a window into Irish culture by providing a dynamic platform for Ireland’s top emerging and established artists. For most of its existence, the IAC had operated out of a converted three-story tenement building, whose ground floor garage was transformed into a small theatre.

Davis Brody Bond, a Page company’s expansion provides an adjacent new 21,700-square-feet facility on 11th Avenue with planned connections to the original facility’s historic theater on the ground level. The historic theater will be reenvisioned in a subsequent phase; when complete, the IAC will be a multi-venue destination with a 199-seat flexible theater and a the newly integrated 74-seat ‘historic’ theater, in addition to associated theater support facilities, a rehearsal studio classroom, multi-purpose classrooms, exhibit areas, and a café, and staff offices.

The new facility is built upon the site of another former garage, a building type common to the neighborhood. Though not a historic landmark, the community felt strongly about retaining the original two-story brick façade as a link to the community’s past. The main façade is therefore preserved as a feature of the new building.

Irish funding, support from the Dublin Office of Public Works (OPW), New York State funding, and donor contributions all made the project possible. Significant city funding, including the city’s grant of the property for the project, resulted in an extensive approvals process and consultations with the community board and city agencies.

Davis Brody Bond, a Page company completed a Phase II feasibility study for the IAC’s historic building and theater in January 2024 which completes the original vision of a connected IAC campus.

In collaboration with Ireland’s Office of Public Works