Liberty Hall Film

Ah that was nice 🙂 sigh, does it really have to go?

Yes it is a shame to see it go. Would like to see the full movie, post any info of screenings.

Liberty Hall will be screened at the Blackbox in Belfast next Thursday the 3rd of July at 7.30pm.
Karen Latimer will also chair a discussion on Conservation and Restoration on Modernist buildings, with Graham Moore and Robert Miles of Consarc on the current proposals for the restoration of Transport House.
See attached or visit the below sites for more info.
http://www.paddycahill.com
http://www.blackboxbelfast.com

Great flyer!

is there any news on the future of liberty hall?

@cgcsb wrote:

is there any news on the future of liberty hall?

Not much news lately, I understand Gilroy McMahon are working on a design to replace the present building.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/property/2008/0103/1198880258007.html

Check out The Twentieth Century Society’s current building of the month.
http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/building/current.html

Hi

This documentary will be on next Monday the 11th of May on RTE1 at 20:30.

more at http://www.paddycahill.com

Paddy

what about the emigrants?;)

This looks very good, will definitely be checking this out. Thanks for the heads-up.

And plans for more Irish architecture related documentaries?

@magwea wrote:

This looks very good, will definitely be checking this out. Thanks for the heads-up.

And plans for more Irish architecture related documentaries?

Thanks,

No plans for anymore architecture documentaries but would like to, any ideas?!

@Paddy wrote:

Thanks,

No plans for anymore architecture documentaries but would like to, any ideas?!

Really enjoyed that documentary last night, perhaps one about Croke Park or the inspriration behind the IFSC.

I’m afraid I missed it. Did they show a potential design for it’s replacement? any good?

@cgcsb wrote:

I’m afraid I missed it. Did they show a potential design for it’s replacement? any good?

they showed nothing like that at all.

damnit missed it and it isn’t on the rte player :/

Watch the trailer on http://www.paddycahill.com, then insert 20 minutes of Shane O’Toole shouting over traffic, gives you a pretty good idea of what you missed.

I enjoyed it though, good to see architecture related stuff on rte that isn’t about once-off housing down the country somewhere.

Paddy- I’d love to see a feature length documentary on the architecture of Liam McCormack. RTE radio did an interesting series called The Architect’s Eye while it was good it would have work much better as television. I wonder if it was popular enough to justify?

@Paddy wrote:

Not much news lately, I understand Gilroy McMahon are working on a design to replace the present building.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/property/2008/0103/1198880258007.html

you mean

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2008/0103/1198880258007.html

ireland.com is now a news/travel portal thingy

Its online now:

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1047775

Paddy

Thanks Paddy, got a chance to watch it there, very nicely put together and to be fair included much more than the worthy comment of Shane O’Toole.

You don’t often see a shot of the original from the north side –

It was such a simple structure to start with that any alteration no matter how insignificant would always impact heavily, and likely adversely. What stands today bears little relation to the original, such a shame it was tampered with and routinely neglected thereafter.

(Hope you don’t mind the screen grab Paddy.)

I think I need to break the cables…

We’re sorry but RTÉ player is currently only available to viewers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

How is geo-access enabled?
Where a programme or service is only available in certain territories, access is determined by the location of your computer’s IP address. An IP address is the numerical address that each computer uses on the web. It is provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). An ISP is the company that provides Internet connections to private and business customers. Examples of ISPs include Eircom, UPC, Smart Telecom, Irish Broadband, UTV Internet, and BT.

this is how great the internet is…

Saw this programme on RTE the other night. Very good insight into the history of the building.

Incredible how it once looked quite similar to the Altro Vetro building that’s now down the docks.

An overhall and makeover of Liberty Hall would be great. Give it back it’s original glory. Gas how the ‘botchers’ have fucked this building up too in the space of just 40 years, plastering over the mosaic tiles, putting in that unsuitable and awful glass etc….

A good programme, Well done Paddy!

Right ok this rte player yoke just wont work for me at all.

Is there a torrent I could download or even a youtube link?

you wouldn’t be suggesting breaching copyright green jesus, are you outside ireland,or have you not got flash installed properly, if paddy doesn’t intend releasing on dvd or trying to sell it other broadcsters it he could release it to public domain, bittorrent but he has to at least break even first/pay himself

that a cool photo of liberty hall at night inspired by
eric mendalsohn photographs of his buildings
http://greaterbuffalo.blogs.com/photos/jn_adamamas/schocken_stuttgart.html

i see the reason for your poster

the light/dark flip isn’t something i never really noticed before,I guess its is diminished a bit by the reflective glass covering, the footage they show after is of liberty hall with a random amount of its windows lit up, rather then all of them maybe there should be one night a year where buildings leave all their lights on?? 🙂

@lostexpectation wrote:

you wouldn’t be suggesting breaching copyright green jesus, are you outside ireland,or have you not got flash installed properly, if paddy doesn’t intend releasing on dvd or trying to sell it other broadcsters it he could release it to public domain, bittorrent but he has to at least break even first/pay himself

Yep all in order just not working it as it wont load. Its probably my internet connection strength but rte player is not working for me. 🙁

Thanks for that, lostexpectation. Here’s some more of day and night by Erich Mendelsohn:

@lostexectation wrote:

the light/dark flip isn’t something i never really noticed before, I guess its diminished a bit by the reflective glass covering, the footage they show after is of liberty hall with a random amount of its windows lit up, rather then all of them maybe there should be one night a year where buildings leave all their lights on??

ask and you shall receive ]http://www.webeireann.com/archiseek/liberty_hall_night.jpg[/IMG]

Ah yes, a quirky quick shot from the the opening sequence to the 1994? Eurovision Song Contest? (:o) where each floor illuminates as yer man rises. Still not sure how that was achieved so perfectly.

Great Mendelsohn pictures there.

@GrahamH wrote:

Ah yes, a quirky quick shot from the the opening sequence to the 1994? Eurovision Song Contest? () where each floor illuminates as yer man rises. Still not sure how that was achieved so perfectly.

Thought you might come back on that one 😉 at least i’m not the only sad-o ’round here! 🙂 not a clue how they managed it either.

A fairytale sequence indeed :p

Interestingly, I passed the Central Bank late the other night and the entire building’s lighting was suddenly turned on a single switch. No floor-by-floor isolation as one would expect. Quite a sight to see it suddenly land into the streetscape!

@GrahamH wrote:

A fairytale sequence indeed :p

Interestingly, I passed the Central Bank late the other night and the entire building’s lighting was suddenly turned on a single switch. No floor-by-floor isolation as one would expect. Quite a sight to see it suddenly land into the streetscape!

They did some work on the top floor a little while ago a whole interior fit-out…
maybe they tinkered with things

Still the same cigarette-stained murky 1970s lighting system…

Got round to watching your documentary Paddy. Well done: an elegant, simple piece. Nicely lit, shot and edited, with some fine original music of a subtle oriental theme. Loved the almost-vertical mosaic pans 😉

Desmond Rea O’Kelly is very much a man of his time, and reminds me of some of his other contemporaries, many of whom share the same charming, traditional traits of that generation. One question stands out as unanswered though (I get the impression a clean edit didn’t allow for it), is whether Rea O’Kelly was responsible for the installation of reflective glass, and if so why he chose to use it. Perhaps this could be clarified? It appears he was.

Also, if there’s one thing I’d have liked to have been included in the programme, it would be his thoughts, then and now, on the impact of Liberty Hall on the Custom House and indeed the city at large. It’s something we’ve never actually heard in public to my knowledge. Also a slight expansion on his thinking behind the design concept relative to the brief would have been interesting – why exactly a tower form was chosen, how its proportions were arrived at, a little on the somewhat compromised floorplates etc. But hey, when you bag a big ‘un, you squeeze out as much as ya can before they turn on you 😉

i don’t think he was responsible for the reflective glass, he clearly says that, but he admits to being not so clever, with the floorplate, i think you’d have to ask siptu those other questions as to why they wanted such a colossal building for a union. and why they want another one.

@lostexpectation wrote:

i don’t think he was responsible for the reflective glass, he clearly says that, but he admits to being not so clever, with the floorplate, i think you’d have to ask siptu those other questions as to why they wanted such a colossal building for a union. and why they want another one.

I would assume the lift core will be on the north side of the building sticking out abit in the middle? Has everything gone cold turkey? Or is the movie setting the stage for the final show?

The stairwell occupies the middle part at the back, with the lift shaft in the centre, i.e. each office floor is effectively horseshoe in shape.

I didn’t note Rea O’Kelly saying he wasn’t responsible for the mirror glass, lostexpectation, although I get that impression too. There’s a bit of confusion with this, as he was brought back on board after the bomb to oversee or at least advise on the repair works, and yet he refers to an unnamed ‘they’ when referencing who ordered the use of the new glass, as well as the coating of the mosaic in a putty-like substance (the latter possibly at a later date). If he was brought on as consultant architect, how could something as major as the choice of glass have been outside his control? It doesn’t make sense – to the extent that the choice of glass is really the only major decision an architect would actually be brought back to advise on!

I wonder what Eamon’s take on the heritage of the building is.

I see you got a decent short review by Liam Fay in The Sunday Times Paddy! Alas it was so apathetic regarding the building itself – shock! – that the entire review became worthless, having understood nothing of the structure’s significance – the very essence of the programme.

Good documentary. I even saw my late grandfather on top of the building during construction. He was working on the air ventilation system 🙂 As ever, reaching for a cigarette 😛

@murrmurr wrote:

Good documentary. I even saw my late grandfather on top of the building during construction. He was working on the air ventilation system As ever, reaching for a cigarette 😛

lovely thing to have 🙂

@murrmurr wrote:

Good documentary. I even saw my late grandfather on top of the building during construction. He was working on the air ventilation system 🙂 As ever, reaching for a cigarette 😛

That is great, well spotted!

Sorry for the late reply to everyone and thanks for all the comments.

Regards putting it online apart from the RTE Player I personally cannot as I only have permission for the archive footage for broadcast etc.. I have no objections to anyone else putting it up if you have it and want to, I certainly won’t be trying to sell it.
The RTE Player will not work outside the republic for copyright reasons, it will be removed in about a week from the RTE Player aswell.

As for the light/dark thing it is great when you see images of the building with all the lights on, I had not seen the Eurovision shot before, I’m glad as I might have been tempted to put it in! For me the best angle to see the building when a lot of the lights are on is coming around Pearce St. on to Tara Street in the winter, below.

Regards the reflective glass it is my understanding talking to him that he had absolutely nothing to do with it or the covering of the mosaic tiles, it is a coating (3M) on the glass rather than different glass which was added. He did do work on the building after the bomb but I think it was more inspecting the building for damage as he says.
I noticed in the last few weeks on about the 10th floor on the west side they have taken away the reflective coating and put on something which looks more tinted, I’ll try get a photo next time but I wonder is this a test for future plans?

Apologies for dragging this old thread back from the dead but I just put together a short video from the interview with Desmond Rea O’Kelly that people might be interested in. Its a bit about the Oisín Kelly sculpture ‘Two Working Men’, I could not fit it into the documentary about the building but I think its a nice story nonetheless and worth being told.

The sculpture was designed and due to go outside Liberty Hall but due to some political interference it ended up outside Cork County Hall where they have since become known as Cha & Miah.

http://vimeo.com/47390197

I did the interview with Desmond in 2006, sadly he died in February 2011.

The documentary about Liberty Hall is also online at: http://vimeo.com/851474

Thanks Paddy. Very interesting!