Beresford Place
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Poor James Gandon.
Were he alive he would no doubt be astonished at the insensitive painting of the railings on cnr Gardiner and Beresford in a lurid green and gold (previously commented on here) However the other day I noticed that the Stella Maris – whos building is in disgraceful condition – have PVC windows installed. Probably there a while but I never noticed due to all the ivy cladding on the building which has recently been removed. The comparison between this building and the fantastic restoration at No 1 is stark. How are such blatant infringments of the protected status of buildings allowed. It begs belief! This beautiful crescent has been allowed develop into pale shadow of its former glroy and all in fine view of the Minister for Heritage’s office. Ireland personified. 😡
doubt if said minister could see it properly due to that big suburban garden style tree in the way, Another national treasure like the trees on O’Connell st. and College green…
The PVCs are there quite a few years – but yes, their exposure with the removal of ivy is most unfortunate, whatever about their presence in the first instance. They’re a nasty chunky type too which doesn’t help, not that any manifestation PVC is appropriate here – but considering that PVC still prevails in attic storeys on Merrion Square, its presence in the comparitive backwater of Beresford Place is hardly surprising.
The corner Georgian is looking fantastic after its restoration, it really is the best looking Georgian in the city now – I have a pic of it somewhere to dig out.
And what was particulary impressive about the Luas works here were the curved replica railings that had to be installed in place of the original right-angled ones outside the house – they are perfect in every detail, as is the granite plinth.
And the sashes look so fine now that even the idiot who threw in the PVCs next door muct be kicking themselves.This terrace must be fully restored, just a pity the Victorians gave the left-hand corner their trademark treatment.
That Stella Maris building is in terrible condition it even has broken windows on the ground floor, who ever owns it should contact me immediately for a discount job.
Sadly, getting rid of PVC windows and fixing the colour of railing paint is practically pointless. This is one you’ve got to let go from an architectural point of view – it’s a lost cause. I can’t see any way back with the ILAC, the elevated loop line and the fact that it’s part of one of the busiest traffic arteries in the city.
Bond is gone and their 100s of types of mineral water with them.
I can’t agree with you on letting this one go jimg.
Beresfort Place forms part of a great cluster of great architecture built over many stages of Dublins development – Liberty Hall, Irish Life Centre (rather than ILAC), Loop Line, Busaras, Phase 1 IFSC (Burke Kennedy-Doyle bit) and of course the customs house. Throw in the Amnesty sculpture and the luas and you really do have a greeat area from an architecture point of view. [There’s acually a sizable area of Dublin here without bad buildings!]The only downside is of course the traffic but that can be managed. the luas has already impoved to feel of the area and as soon as we get real about limiting car use we’ll have our city back. No point giving up on buildings just ‘cos there’s cars going by – the cars will not always be with us!
Its hardly a lost cause! All it requires is a bit of investment or at the very least some replacement wooden sashes and a lick of paint. What a ridiculous thing to say. The fact that so much attention has been lavished on No 1 highlights what can be done with the rest of this fine crescent. It is after all the creation of our most rpized Georgian architect, I can apprecuiate that the Georgian mile of Gardiner Street is a lost cause however that doesnt negate the need for some attention to be paid to the remaining Georgian section either side of Talbot St.
Sorry I should have been clearer; I read the original message as referring the whole of Beresford place. Of course it’s worth preserving those buildings. Beresford Place in it’s entirety is horrible and fixing railings and installing sash windows will make very little difference to the street. The nice thing about the above picture is that it removes that terrace from its context with the elevated rail lines, the wall of the Irish Life centre (sorry not the ILAC), the dirty end of Busaras and what is effectively a six lane traffic interchange junction.
If ever there was a case where a faithful Georgian reproduction building was justified, it’s No 5 Beresford Place. I don’t know if the Victorian-looking No 5 is a complete replacement or just a refacing of the original building, changing the window opes and ground floor arrangement, but it would certainly be worth a reconstuction to original design and detail.
It’s still a beautiful terrace despite all the negative points jimq mentions about the road in general. The recent restoration of Nos 1 & 2 certainly shows the potential. Both of their brick facades were repointed to a high standard with a fine line of white mortar. Though one slightly irksome point is that, while the new sash windows in No 1 are accurate replicas of the original 1790s sashes, the new windows in No 2 wrongly include sash horns & glazing bars which are slightly too fat. You would think that, since both buildings were having new sash windows fitted at the same time, they would be able to get the details right. But, hey that’s just for obsessives. Also some dodgy mock-Victorian gaslamps & replacement front steps were installed in No 2 – the standard of restoration wasn’t as high as that of No 1.
It’s true that Luas & its pavement-widening effect has improved amenity for the terrace.
Have to say I like Beresford Place for its unusual layout and mixture of architecture. Also largely a fan of the Irish Life Centre, the central block horribly looming over the Custom House aside (and yellowing roof)
It would be great to see Gandon’s terrace fully restored as an entity – on first impressions it would seem the Victorian facade is just that, a facade – you’d wonder why they bothered to change it, and even then a slap of render usually did the job rather than brickwork.
Agreed about the window details, if the other houses are to be restored the co-ordination must be better – or rather sticking to the original design in the first place.
No 1 or 2 looks great now at night with the red walls inside glowing and the Christmas tree with lights positioned just inside the window – all it needs now is some snow to pile up in the corners of the glazing bars 🙂I remeber seeing a photo of Beresford Place in the fifties before the erection of the present Liberty Hall, there appears a cresent of houses starting at Liberty Hall – which was then cut by the Loopline, the question I have is did the cresent continue to present-day Busaras and the AIB Trade centre?
I have a 1970s photo of Customs House Quay and its almost like a different world…. No IFSC, no Matt Talbot Bridge, Warehouses where the present IFSC House and AIB centre stand…few cars and boats right up to the Customs House. 😮
Busaras was the site of a set of dockside warehouses for a now filled in dock belonging to the Custom House…. Prior to the building of Busaras, the crescent around the Custom House ended at Store Street…
In 1927 The Irish Builder and Engineer had reported a far sighted plan to fill the dock with an underground car park for two hundred cars and placing a new road over it to the quayside.
More information
http://www.irish-architecture.com/busaras/chapter_2.htmlI’ve seen some closer-up photos of those stone dockside warehouses – they were very nice. I’d say the curved streetscape views with the dark limestone of the warehouses and the red brick of the Georgian houses were rather good 🙂 . Still, the Beresford Place facade of Bus Aras does at least provide a Georgian-scale Portland stone-clad wall so as to maintain the the line of the Place and respect the Custom Hse & brick houses at Nos. 1-5 materials wise. I suppose that’s why it’s such a great building; it manages to do those things and still be utterly 20th century.
Regarding the continuation of Beresford Pl around to the river, I suppose it was just too irresistable from a traffic-planning point of view not to make a full semi-circle road behind the Custom House and build a new bridge over the river, thus turning the Custom Hse into a traffic island – such was the prevailing climate 🙁 .
Although first planned in 1927 as you say, the continuationof the Place to the river doesn’t seem to have happened til the ’60s.
That end facade of Busáras is one of the best features of the building I think, the stark simplicity and quality of material complements the Custom House so well, and as mentioned continues the parapet line of the houses. Wasn’t there a scupture planned for here?
The other gable wall facing the IFSC is even better though, often ignored but by far my favourite part of the building. The contrast between the clean cut Portland stone of the upper floors and the gently curved brick wall of the ground floor is fantastic, as are the bricks themselves, almost Tudor in shape, and the colour is great.
The wonderful chimney yoke on top is a real givaway as to the building’s age though – Victoria still clinging on 🙂It’s a nice link (although the description ‘link’ is undermined by the fact that one of the buildings it links is very good and the other is very crap).
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