Re: Re: ‘Dutch Billys’

By the way, despite its obvious urban design and historic significance as ‘weaver central’, and the existence of some decent late 19th century buildings on it, Weaver Square doesn’t have one scrap of conservation provision at present; it’s not a Conservation Area or a Residential Conservation Area, let alone an ACA, and it doesn’t have any Protected Structures, apart from a convent building on the adjoining Ormond Street. It presently has a mixture of three different zonings: residential, mixed services facilities and institutional & community use. Getting Conservation Area status for it in the next development plan would be a start.

Some more weavers’ houses above on Ardee Street, or ‘Crooked Staff’ as it was in the 18th century, with the same view today. We really did a terrific job of eliminating every last one of these houses out of a whole network of streets of them in the area. There was probably some sniveling pen-pusher in the 1940s or ’50s who was personally seeing to it that every one of them was gotten down. How else can it be explained? They were over 200 years old at this point, so their antique value was not to be sniffed at, whereas a lot of Georgian was only 100-150 years old (maybe a bit like the difference between Georgian & Victorian now).

You can see the Ardee House pub at the corner of Chamber Street in both pictures, subject of a current planning appeal. I do hope An Bord P don’t permit its demolition because, as well as being a decent corner pub, it represents the weavers’ houses. It was there when they were there; it is a ‘witness building’.