1927 – Gresham Hotel, O’Connell Street, Dublin

Rebuilt (1925-27) after the ravages of the Civil War, the Gresham Hotel is a Dublin landmark which originally opened in 1832. It was designed by Robert Atkinson (1883-1952), an English architect who was Director of the London Bartlett School of Architecture. Inline with many of the later buildings on this stretch of O’Connell Street, it has quite a restrained almost austere façade. The ornament has almost been completely removed leaving a stripped Classical style. This style was quite popular in Dublin, especially on O’Connell Street when it was being rebuilt after the twin destructions of the Easter 1916 Rising and the Irish Civil War.

Atkinson had some of his renderings and drawings for the building published in Academy Architecture and Architectural Review 1928: Vol 60.