Please explain the relevance of the garage

[Niall shanahan]

While I totatly agree the destruction of listed buildings is wrong I am at a bit of a loss in this case. I came to your site hoping to find an explanation as to why this garage is important to Irish architecture and maybe to society at large. However while everyone seems quite upset no-one seems to have taken the time to add a page that justifies preserving what seems to me quite an eyesore.

[James McQuillan]

It is a pity that Shanaghan hasn't received a reply - are conservationists so self-absorbed that they can't expain themselves?

I don't know enough about the genesis of the building to give an authorative evaluation, except to state that Archer's Garage seems a robust example of early modernism in Ireland, a corner design with large-scale spans accompanied by sufficient 'decoration' to relate it to the street-scene. However, the Corp. must have a report on why it was listed, and a bit of prodding in the right quarters should reveal the reasons for listing.

Why ARE the defenders of the Garage so silent? Shanaghan deserves a few more answers, eh!

[Paul Clerkin]

Well for me it's as much the principle as the design: the building was listed therefore it should be safe.

IMHO the importance of the Archer's Garage case is the fact that the lisiting stood for nothing. Where does the buck stop? At which building do we make a stand? Christchurch? Busaras? George's Street Markets? Leinster House?

For the record, I always fancied the building as offices.....

[John W]

I'm glad somebody has answered him.

I didn't because I'm not qualified enough to give reasons other than the usual 'early example of..', 'individuality', 'rarity', and that "it looks good to me." I could go on with a bit more effort than that and get emotional but if you read through the posts elsewhere in this forum you'll see some good arguments for it.

Thanks for the question though.

John