Re: Re: O’ Connell Street

A further shared feature between Abbey Chambers and No. 45-46 is the carriage entrance to the side. Both have a corbel placed at an angle to the street.

(if No. 45-46 slightly, eh, grazed)

This brings us neatly to ground floor level and the expansive original shopfront.

Much of the 1918 shopfront survives, elegantly composed of pilasters of polished black marble. The capitals are refined and simply detailed, with handsome dado and skirting at lower level.

Of course the refinement of the original shopfront has long since been lost with the hideous intrusion of chunky and garish white aluminium-framed glazing, made all the worse by the sloping inwards of the upper panes and the infilling of newly exposed areas with cheap imitation cladding.

Lovely.

The white aluminium is particularly crass on the corner bay.

Wholly illegal postering and advertising across the board makes for the icing on the cake.

Taking a closer look at the original shopfront, it appears to have been glazed with timber-framed windows – I doubt luxurious bronze would have been used for such a relatively frugal structure. The leaded upper panes also suggest carved timber as a host framing material.