I dropped in to Sweny’s chemist today to buy some Lemons soap wrapped in brown paper and twine and would recommend anyone visiting the Westland row, Dublin area to do the same, it is a curiosity shop full of all things old and interesting from soap to original wooden drawers and shelves full of bottles and everything you would find in a chemist of its day.
Leopold Bloom, one of the main character's in Ulysses, stopped off at Sweny's pharmacy on December 16, 1904, to purchase a bar of lemon soap for his wife Molly. The shop has survived since 1853, despite four separate fires, with its original sign still hanging over the door and its mahogany fittings intact.
"The interior has survived…. It has the original shop fittings and the counters, so if you go in there you can feel how Bloom felt on Bloomsday. It's the only commercial interior that's unchanged since Ulysses."
The shop is run on a voluntary basis and relies on donations from visitors dropping in to help pay the rent.
" Mr Bloom raised a cake to his nostrils.Sweet lemony wax.
-I'll take this one, he said."
Ulysses, J. Joyce ( 1922 )
11 comments:
awww, these are fab Jackie. Like some out of Dickens! Fav is the B&W one at the end.
Love the O2 pic in the banner.
Great photo's Jackie...... TFS!
Fabulous photos Jackie. The shop reminds of those in the Harry Potter films.
I drove past there today and I wondered why I had never noticed it before :s Great pics and I am going there for lemon soap next time I'm in town!
Wow Jackie, makes me want to go to the shop. I can smell the musty scent of everything in it. Love the soap in the brown paper too. Love the one of the chair with the box of books on it and the black and white one. Gorgeous!
Jackie - great photos of a great shop! DH used to work around the corner and I popped in one day and it was like walking back in time. Well captured in the photos.
How come I never noticed this shop? it is beautiful, the shop front, the sweet jars and the furniture gives the feeling of stepping back into the past.
Great Photo's Jackie - never new this place existed !!! looks to be well worth a visit TFS
Your photos are great Jackie, they capture a piece of history. The shop/chemist looks like a treasure throve of all things "old".
Beautiful photos Jackie and very interesting bit about the chemist and it's history. Just spent ages looking back over posts I'd missed. You have such a wonderful eye.
Wonderful pictures Jackie you do have an eye for lovely and unusual things.
We have a shop like that in Letterkenny, it sells clothes, uniforms and any old fashioned garment you care to name. The cupboards are the same as in your pictures, they store shirts and sweaters in them and they even have the old stove in the middle of the shop. Next time I'm in town and have some time I will ask if I can take some pictures. I would never think of this myself, thanks for the idea.
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