Re: Re: pearse street developments

Here are some of the buildings involved in that scheme – Nos. 47-54 – before work:

The protected structures Nos. 51-54.

And the two buildings at the corner of Magennis Place. HJ Lyons had refurbished here for their offices 10 years ago. Powder coated aluminium windows and a granite-glad ground floor were put in these buildings, and a new building was built down the lane.

Drawing here of the Pearse Street & Magennis Place frontages before development – http://www.dublincity.ie/AnitePublicDocs/00023887.pdf

So now the two corner buildings and the derilict ones between them and the protected structures have been redeveloped. I think the new building is a sucessful addition. The scale ok with the location opposite the train station, and that there are big buildings on the opposite side of the street. It would of course be a ghastly intrusion into, say, Westland Row, but it’s not problematic in this location imo. Like the reducing pier things in jura limestone. The planning ref. was 3293/06.

They were naughty after they got permission for the main block and saw where they’d get with a planning application to stick a glass penthouse on top of the protected structures, removing pitched roofs and chimneys, but it was refused – Ref. 5155/07.

A nice refurbishment of the protected structures. But a darker colour should have been maintained for the sash windows. There are too many white sash windows in Dublin!

In pavement reinsatement works, the listed granite kerbing along the frontage of the site has been removed and replaced in white granite in breach of Policy H22 of the Dublin City Development Plan 2005-11 which will “preserve, repair and retain in situ historic streetscape and paving features which are of heritage value and which are located in those areas identified in the Development Plan.” (Pearse Street is identified). As well as being in breach of the development plan, the removal of granite in this location:

• replaces a good quality, local material with an inferior quality, non-local one
• introduces inconsistency where there was consistency
• is unecessary as the traditional granite kerbing is very serviceable and capable of meeting modern requirements
• contributes to incremental loss of historic fabric and character in the city

It’s a pretty bizarre state of affairs when the body responsible for ensuring the preservation of something – Dublin City Council – is removing and replacing it with something different.

What’s more, the City Council did an environmental improvement scheme on Pearse Street back in 2004 which actively maintained and incorporated the surviving areas of historic kerbing, including this section of the street. It’s really f***ed up. Maybe if they don’t want to preserve it they should just get rid of the policy ….