Denmark Street was part of Gardiner Row until 1792.[5] Gardiner Row had itself been laid out from 1765-68 by property developer John Ensor who developed many of the grandest houses on the street near Parnell Square.[6][7]
The area was largely a semi-rural area until the 1760s when a number of townhouses were built for the landed gentry in the area.[8]
The street was possibly renamed after the sister of George III in 1775; Caroline Matilda had married the Danish king Christian VII in 1766, divorced in 1772 and died in 1775.[8][5]
The more modest Victorian red brick buildings close to the junction with Temple Street were built around 1900 as retail premises.[9]
Dillon Cosgrave mentions in his book North Dublin, City and County that there was once a private school situated at Number 2 which was run by Reverend George Wright and attended by Charles Lever, the novelist, and that the school were fierce competitors of another private school at Grenville Street.
As the college expanded in the 20th century, Georgian houses to the right of Belvedere House were demolished. In April 1968, the college published a planning application notice in newspapers with plans to demolish two houses to the left of the college due to "structural defects". Both had been listed for preservation, one having been the home of the 18th century stuccodore, Michael Stapleton, with a surviving interior from him. The same month, the houses were demolished prematurely and illegally. The houses were replaced with a pastiche extension designed by Jones and Kelly. The college demolished another Georgian house on the street, number 9, in 1982 as part of an extension to the school playground.[14]
