Across the road from Portobello Gardens was the Emorville Estate, which was sold and developed from around the mid-1860s by Joseph Kelly, proprietor of the City Saw Mills in Thomas Street. Today Emorville Avenue marks the spot. Before it was broken up Leinster Cricket Club (founded 1852) used it as their grounds, until they moved to their present grounds in Observatory Lane in 1865. Portobello had a cricket team of its own, but the location of its grounds has yet to be discovered. Included in this development was a small DMP police station at the corner of Emor Street and South Circular Road, which closed after the Free State came into being.