1967 – Apartments, Simmonscourt Castle, Dublin

Architect Brian Hogan’s first completed project in Dublin was this low-rise apartment scheme at Simmonscourt Castle in Ballsbridge, commissioned by Irish Life. Tucked away in a private corner of Ballsbridge, Irish Life had originally wanted to construct a much larger scheme in the mid-1950s, six twelve storey blocks of flats – but the government intervened, and the land was given to the RDS for their Simmonscourt property. Described by Frank McDonald as one of Hogan’s better works, Hogan described his philosophy as “Architects are not artists; we manipulate other people’s money and reach some sort of balance of all the conflicting priorities.”