The street prospered from the time of its construction and quickly attracted the city's wealthier residents who then resided in the Englishtown area of medieval Limerick. The cramped and lofty Dutch styled dwellings of Englishtown and Irishtown were no match for the new, grand and spacious housing & thoroughfares of Newtown Pery. Although the street functioned as the main retail & commercial district of the city, this was (and remains today) primarily focused on the northern end of the street. The southern end of the street, in contrast, was more residential in character with the barrier being located about midway on the street (from the Cecil Street junction). Today, most of the residential townhouses on the street are now occupied by offices.