What is the most attractive bridge over the Liffey?
- This topic has 50 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 18 years ago by
.
- Posts
It has to be Queen Maeve Bridge for me – even if the name change was faintly ridiculous…
Such a graceful, simple structure. O’Donovan Rossa is a close contender, not least considering its similarity, but Maeve just beats it by her timeless hump-backed profile 🙂The Ha’penny, albeit an obvious choice is still in the top two/three – another classic profile that just cannot be beaten.
And it’s such a ‘friendly’ looking structure too – it looks like it’s reaching out from both sides to link the north and south together:
Those lanterns though have just got to go – a breathtaking insult to the structure. The most famous lanterns in the country and the CC tack on a handful of standardised factory-churned pieces of rubbish: it beggars belief.
The conservationists that restored the bridge must be fuming.By Pat Liddy:
From the records of Dublin Corporation 1913:
“Wellington Bridge [Ha’penny] is an unsightly structure. It is a narrow footbridge with a steep gradient and a toll of one halfpenny is made for crossing it. The lease will expire in a few years when a suitable new bridge will be builtâ€. 🙂
There’s many old guidebooks, travelogues from that time that slam the bridge as awful and ugly, or to use my new current favourite phrase “fugly” …
Really like O’Donovan Rossa myself, and Rory O’More Bridge. Cannot believe that so many people think that the Millenium footbridge is the best on the Liffey.
or that so few opted for Grattan Bridge.
I go for Queen Maeve as well. Such a pretty structure. Some smart pavinga nd lighting would do it wonders.I have reserved judgement on the OCasey Bridge till now. Im not at all happy with the finish – is it galvinised steel? The arms look clumsy and ungainly, very lacking in finese.
This was discussed before https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=3240&highlight=liffey+bridges+lighting with Plug’s post being very interesting.
The results of this poll have really surprised me, I really thought that the Ha’penny and Joyce bridges would have run away from the pack as opposed to such a dilution of support to all but three bridges. Matt Talbot and Frank Sherwin were predictable as would a similar level of support for the Eastlink were it included. The level of support for Grattan Bridge given that it has its pre fridges photo included is amazing. 1.78% for a bridge that had its restoration lauded lavishly 18 months ago on this forum and is one of the most used bridges in the City is sending out a very clear signal.
I noticed that only one of the Four Kiosks is now open and that it is selling little more than cigerettes, as if we didn’t have enough convenience stores as it is. I think it is time for DCC to cut their losses on this failed experiment.
Find the results interesting myself – like yourself I would have expected the Ha’penny to walk away with it – but I believe the James Joyce to be like Busaras, in the poll I ran five or six years ago, it won both the best building and worst building votes… I think that the JJB evokes similar reactions in people.
Yes.
Poor old Grattan Bridge, definitely in the top four for me anyway. The fridges certainly seem to have something to do with the result.
I was sitting there recently with two other people and it was they who were pointing out how ridiculous everything was, the fact that you’re facing the fridges rather than a view of the Liffey, the fact that there’s little room for pedestrians to get by, the fact that you have to stand in a flippin drainage channel to be served at the stalls, the fact that three of the fridges were closed or vacant, and the poor timber finish of the brand new benches.
The fridges ought to be removed and a pedestrian friendly scheme laid out to overturn the injustice done to the city’s most unusual bridge.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
Yes.
Poor old Grattan Bridge, definitely in the top four for me anyway. The fridges certainly seem to have something to do with the result.
I was sitting there recently with two other people and it was they who were pointing out how ridiculous everything was, the fact that you’re facing the fridges rather than a view of the Liffey, the fact that there’s little room for pedestrians to get by, the fact that you have to stand in a flippin drainage channel to be served at the stalls, the fact that three of the fridges were closed or vacant, and the poor timber finish of the brand new benches.
The fridges ought to be removed and a pedestrian friendly scheme laid out to overturn the injustice done to the city’s most unusual bridge.
Well said Graham. They simply do not function well. Would it be an idea to have a separate poll regarding their removal? Is there anywhere else that they could be put nearby? It would be an awful pity to see them wasted all the same.
Out of curiosity: even if these units did look right, how is it that the kiosks of O’Connell St are deserving of a decent wood-clad finish, but these even more prominent ones aren’t? Are the plasticy grey panels supposed to merge into the sky or something?!
@Dublin City Development Plan 2005-11 wrote:
Section 15.27.0 Street Furniture
Certain uses in the public realm including elements of street furniture can lead
to problems of visual clutter and to obstruction of public footpaths for
pedestrians, in particular people with disabilities. These elements include
newspaper stands, telephone kiosks, traffic and bus signs, tables and chairs,
taxi and bus shelters as well as unauthorised A-frames and spinner stands
erected by retailers. It is an objective of Dublin City Council to control the
location and quality of these structures in the interests of creating a high
quality public domain.
All outdoor furniture provided by private operators including retailers,
publicans and restauranteurs etc., and utility companies should be to the
highest quality, preferably in good contemporary design avoiding poor historic
imitation and respect the overall character of the area and quality of the public
realm and be so located to prevent any obstruction of all footpaths and paved
areas including landings.
In this regard, street furniture will require either a licence under Section 254 of
the Planning and Development Act, 2000 to 2002 or planning permission
(including street furniture erected on private landings).
In both instances, the applicant will be required to submit details of the
location, design, specification and quality of the proposed elements of street
furniture. Details of maintenance and cleansing schedules together with a
certificate of structural stability may also be required.The kiosks are not retail units they were notified as street furniture, what do you think street furniture or retail space?
Is there a definition of street furniture in the Dev Plan?
I would consider them very much so to be retail units due to their sheer individual scale. They are too substantial in size to be considered furniture, and especially a grouping of four of them.
A smaller unit, like the Boardwalk coffee outlet model would scrape it in as furniture, but not these.I would take the definition of Rateable Structures from the Telecom Eireann vs Valuations Office [1999] judgement as being ‘any structure that is capable of exclusive possession’. Telephone Kiosks are not capable of exclusive possession by their nature but I would contend that any structure where the occupier can open and close at will is a Structure as opposed to an item of street furniture. Have you ever heard of a bench opening or closing for the day?
I’m sure there’s a witty response to that….
Yes telephone kiosks would rate as street furniture in most people’s books, whereas such large scale structures restricted to use at only certain times generally are not. How can a closed up cube be called street furniture when it serves no function at all, not even decorative like lampposts can be?
Re: Cork bridges that would be interesting, but as there are no bridges in the Buildings of Ireland section you would need to send photos up to the moderator of the forum.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
I’m sure there’s a witty response to that….
Theres always a witty response 😉
They are certainly structures that did not translate from the drawing board to reality very well, in fact they look nothing like what was originally proposed and they do as you say look like mere cubes. I say sell them to the GAA and put the flagpoles back on top where County colours could be displayed on match days, they would make perfect match programme stands/vending kiosks.
Certainly one use for them – though if they were just slipped over into the Liffey when no one was looking that’d be good enough either…
Meant to ask before Plug if you’re around – what would you do to light the Liffey’s bridges?
What methods and colour palette would you use?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
