Re: Re: Dundalk

December 30, 2009 at 6:55 pm #752723

Participant

There’s nothing wrong with its clientele – though I’m open to correction on that.

In all fairness, let’s be totally honest here, there’s nothing whatsoever “grand” about this town. It’s a run of the mill, ugly, boring, Irish town. It has nothing of any distinction in it. That Riddler’s building can only make the place more interesting. The way you’re talking, you’d think it was constructed next to Leinster House.

In which case, large tracts of your above description can also be applied to gloomy, anonymous, down-at-heel, and in part thoroughly mediocre Kildare Street.

There is indeed nothing grand about this part of Park Street, nor did I say there was, but as a collective of well planned, principally early 19th century commercial streets, Dundalk exudes a grandeur above that of many Irish towns, including its competitor Drogheda. In fact, it is precisely the above perception of Irish towns as being run of the mill, unremarkable and uninteresting that fuels developments such as the above, and its ilk as we regularly see elsewhere on this site. Such a mindset encourages the piecemeal demolition of vernacular streetscape, or where redevelopment is desirable, the insertion of mega-structural, bombastic infill which makes little or no reference to its environment. This planning approach is short-sighted and leads to the very result as first outlined – incoherent, haphazard and mediocre streetscape. It does nobody any favours. In fact, it encourages more of the same.

The above images, taken on a freezing, gloomy winter’s day, do an injustice to the town. As shown earlier, this is some of the town’s grandeur.