Donnelly Centre - Cork Street

[rucannon]

Does anyone know when Phase 2 of the Donnelly Centre in Cork Street was erected? Was planning permission obtained in relation to it, or was it pre-63? Who was the architect? In addition, when did the demolition of the houses in front of it take place? Would be much obliged for this information. Very ugly building, incidentally!

Ruth Cannon

Law School
Trinity College
Dublin

[PVC King]

Ruth,

I don't know the answer off the top of my head, I'd say late 1970's approximately in line with the acquisition strategy for the southern tangent road project. If you go to the land registry the dealings on the folio should nail it exactly for you. You can also check the microfiche at the planning section of Dublin City Council.

[rucannon]

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the trouble to reply. I am trying to ascertain the date of the Centre for the purposes of an application under the Ground Rents Acts. I am hoping that the buildings were erected after 1961 since same is necessary if this application is to be successful. I have been informed that there is no planning permission record in respect of same, but perhaps this is a mistake. I will call in to the Planning Office to find out. Ordnance Survey maps have not been of huge assistance and the Valuation Office records are ambiguous.

Regards
Ruth

[PVC King]

With almost total certainty from the design you could say that it is no older than 1970 as eaves heignt, external cladding and roof elevations would have been very different pre 1970 and even in early 1970's construction. I have little doubt that the building would have been erected sometime shortly after the land acquisitions for the inner tangent and mass demolitions to accomodate same. I would try Saving the City by Frank McDonald in Bolton St library as there may be a reference to it as being the first commercial building to mark out the new streetline on the eastern side of Cork St. Also it was the land registry (transfer of title) as opposed to the Valuation Office (rates) that I was referring to, if the building was in government use it would have been subject to a nil rate and therefore there would be no listing. But any land transfers including leases and mortgages would be recorded in the folio.

[dc3]

Am I correct in thinking that this building was once Donnelly's bacon factory which closed in the early 1970's ?

[J. Seerski]

This building could in fact be even older - it may date back to the fifties - The road widening demolitions date back to the 1940s and seeing the state of the buildings it may well be older than you may think - it was in very very poor condition in the 1980s when I used to pass the building on the way to town. It is a very peculiar set of buildings indeed.

[Rory W]

Originally Posted by dc3

Am I correct in thinking that this building was once Donnelly's bacon factory which closed in the early 1970's ?

Yep - it was Donnelly rashers and sausage factory

[GrahamH]

I like them - goodnes knows why...

Nice few merchant Georgians about the area too, pity about their semi-derelict condition in some cases.

[PVC King]

Originally Posted by rucannon

Does anyone know when Phase 2 of the Donnelly Centre in Cork Street was erected?

I can't believe I have to post this;

[rucannon]

Sincere thanks to all forum users who replied to my email.

I have since located title deeds which strongly indicate that Phase 2 of the Donnelly Centre was erected post 1962. Some of the land on which it is situate was only acquired by Donnelly (Dublin) Ltd from Dublin Corporation as part of a land exchange in 1962. This makes it unlikely that it was erected before then. The Centre was in all probability erected between 1962 and 1964. Unfortunately relevant Dublin Corporation records from this period (along with an entire slice of Irish history) were lost when the Corporation moved to Wood Quay.

The book "Tales from a City Farmyard" by Patrick Boland deals with Patrick's childhood growing up in an urban farm situate on what later became Phase 2 of the Centre. This book is well worth a read for those interested in the local history of the Coombe/Cork Street area.

Donnelly (Dublin) Ltd and the Donnelly sausage factory were owned by the O'Mara family who were active in Irish political life in the first half of the twentieth century and were in-laws of the Limerick novelist Kate O'Brien. Stephen O'Mara is referred to briefly in Kate O'Brien's book "Presentation Parlour".

Regards
Ruth Cannon