Re: Re: Pastiche – The Final Solution?

Some thoughts on the discussion:

I think the main issue with the Dundalk bank is the alteration of its form – it is not now the building its designer conceived – he/she might be pissed off with what’s been done were they around today. The Venice Charter says additions and extensions to historic buildings should be clearly identifiable and of their time, and this is probably what should have been done with the bank. Banks tend to go for accurate replications cos they have the money to do it ‘well’ – there’s a bank there on College Green which replicated a stone doorcase some years ago – tut, tut.

I don’t agree that absolutely nowhere should fake ever be built. Take Mountjoy Square – yes, wretched that the originals were gone, but you simply couldn’t have built any other type of facades there if you wanted to reinstate the square.

But nowhere else really outside of that (uniform streets/squares that are mostly intact) should fake old buildings be tolerated.

Contemporary architecture in a historical setting doesn’t have to mean strong visual contrast. The Shay Cleary office block on Dawson Street is a superb example of a low-key modern insertion into a historic street.

Likewise, some of the better one-off houses in the countryside are contemporary interpretations of the vernacular.

Phil, have you seen the exhibition room in the new Architectural Archive? Desmond Fitzgerald’s original drawing of the twin O’Connell Bridge Houses on the D’Olier/Westm. Sts. quay corners is prominently displayed. Whatever can be said for O’Connell Br. Hse’s other qualities, the symmetry in this drawing is certainly more satisfying than the current situation.