William Street has served as one of Limerick City’s principal commercial streets since its creation within the Newtown Pery development in 1789. Extending from O’Connell Street towards Mulgrave Street, it was named after William Cecil Pery, brother of Edmund Pery, who promoted the city’s Georgian expansion. Its red-brick terraces, fanlights, sash windows and underground vaulted cellars reflect ambitious eighteenth-century planning. Over time, the street witnessed destructive fires, overcrowded tenements and major changes in transport and retail. Shops, drapers, chemists and public houses later made William Street a busy commercial route that remains central to city life today in modern Limerick.
