The James Joyce Centre's home is a restored 18th century Georgian townhouse, dating from a time when the north inner city of Dublin was at the height of its grandeur. It had become a much less salubrious enclave when James Joyce knew it but the area is still filled with buildings, sites and streets of enormous Joycean significance.

From this central location in Joyce's heartland the Centre aims - through a programme of exhibition, education, outreach and activities - to foster an appreciation of this most remarkable and significant literary figure of the 20th century. On permanent exhibit is the door to number 7 Eccles Street - home to Leopold Bloom, possibly the most famous address in all literature - and furniture from the apartment of Paul Leon in Paris where Joyce wrote much of Finnegans Wake. Temporary exhibitions interpret and illuminate various aspects of Joyce's life and work.