Town Hall / An Táin Arts Centre

The place

John Murray designed this elaborate Italianate building as a corn exchange; it was sold to the Town Commissioners on completion and became the Town Hall. Its dressed stonework and layered façade show how commerce and civic identity could share an architectural language. Today An Táin Arts Centre gives the building a lively public role through theatre, visual art and creative activity. It is also a useful link to Dundalk-born director Tomás Mac Anna, who traced his love of theatre partly to performances he saw in the Town Hall.

What survives, and why it matters

An enduring meeting point between commerce, local government and the performing arts.