Developed by three generations of the Gardiner family between 1720 and 1820, the estate was made up of holdings bought in individual segments leaving it interrupted by other holdings. This left the estate disjointed with several large set pieces existing without reference to each other.

The first Luke Gardiner (died 1755) started around 1714 by buying some land around Bolton Street and George's Quay. This land was part of the lands belonging to St Mary's Abbey and was previously owned by the Moore family. His first development was Henrietta Street (1720). Originally open to the fields at one end, it was intended as an upmarket cul-de-sac and was very successful and was responsible for turning the northside of the Liffey into a fashionable place to live.

He was also responsible for creating Sackville Mall out of Drogheda Street. After purchasing the street from the Moores, he demolished it and replaced it with a mall 1050 ft long and 150ft wide. Each roadway was 50ft with a 50ft mall decorated with obelisks and trees in the centre. This was also a very fashionable place to live and was lined with large mansions. He originally intended to continue the street to the river and have the vista terminated by a large public building on the south side of the river. At the northern end Dr Bartholomew Mosse took a lease on land on Great Britain Street and built the rotunda hospital complex and assembly rooms. The lack of cohesive planning in Dublin is again shown where the rotunda is not placed on the axis of Sackville Street but to one side allowing the assembly rooms to terminate the vista.

Behind and to the north of the Rotunda were the Pleasure Gardens, later turned into Rutland Square. The square was developed as three separate streets, Cavendish Row( 1753-55), Gardiners Row (1769) and Palace Row (1755). Palace Row on the high ground behind the Rotunda contains Charlemont House and its curved sweep walls mirrors that of the Rotunda. The square is more uneven and irregular that any of the other Dublin squares but the houses are more varied and were once the most sophisticated and elaborate of all Dublin residences. The houses all still survive some modernised and some in decay. The land to the west of the square was owned by the Dominick family and was developed by them.

The second Luke Gardiner opened up new streets on the Eccles Estate, Gardiner Street and was responsible for the laying out of Mountjoy Square (1792-1818). Gardiner Street was a series of sloping terraces that led from the crescent of Beresford Place on a radius of the Custom House to the proposed new square almost three quarters of a mile. This is shown on one of the proposed designs for Mountjoy Square with a note: "Gardiner's Street extending in a right line from the centre of the new Custom House". Until the completion of the Loop Line Railway bridge, the Custom House presented a magnificent ending for the vista.

Original schemes for the design of Mountjoy Square show symmetrical terraces with domed pavilions at each end. Mountjoy Square, the only square in Dublin at 600x600 ft was designed as a single symmetrical design with a church in the centre. Two streets exit each corner of the square with Belvedere Place a short dead end to complete the arrangement. The streets running north south run straight through while those east west are offset by two houses to allow corners to be formed confirming the space. The sides were to have uniform façades with central cupolas and end pavilions. These were not built and the ubiquitous elevation was adopted. Unity with the Gardiner estate holdings around Rutland Square was prevented by the land that became North Great Georges Street and was owned by another family.

The Gardiners also developed Hardwicke Place around the new St George's Church. Of this was to radiate several new streets several of which were built while others were left unexecuted. The final and most ambitious Gardiner plan was the construction of a Royal Circus to the north of Mountjoy Square with radiating avenues to their three major holdings at Rutland Square, Mountjoy and Hardwicke Place. This was never constructed but would have assimilated their three separate developments into one cohesive unit. Luke Gardiner was killed leading the County of Dublin Militia at the battle of New Ross in 1798.

With the third generation of Gardiners, the estate started its final descent into decay and bankruptcy. The estate's collapse between 1846-48 effectively destroyed the northside of Dublin with the loss of an overall guiding hand. The estate survived as slums until the 1950s when demolition and redevelopment led to the decimation of Gardiner Street, Mountjoy Square and others. Much of the estate still survives but in very poor condition.