Re: Re: Photos of Cork Street / Coombe Bypass a decade ago.

Thanks for that post Exene1!! It brings back some memories. In particular I can vividly recall the two sharp turns onto Ardee Street and The Coombe…..several times the 56A didn’t manage it necessitating the driver to back up and have another go!:)

I have to say that whilst it is a pity that some of the historic fabric of the area was destroyed, Cork Street to my eyes has never looked better. For most of my childhood through the 1980s/1990s it was completely derelict. In fact my father remembers the Corporation for begining to CPO properties in the 1960s and it went into a gradual decline from there. Although, I do remember seeing some 1970s photos in a book in Rathmines Library and it still looked like a fairly busy neighbourhood.

I think the restored Historic buildings on the Ardee street corner (incorporated into a new development) may be the way to go in the future. Indeed much the same was proposed for the Georgian townhouse on the opposite side of the bypass but the recession stopped that scheme in its tracks. Thats my one regret, there were several more proposals that would have filled in the toothless gaps in the streetscape and given Cork street a completed look that it hasn’t had in years. In particular, its a shame that the Donnelly Centre is still there. It was this development (along with the hospital) which kickstarted the process of pushing the line of the buildings right back. The factory itself is somewhat symbolic of the area in that just a short time after opening it suffered a serious fire and the company was forced to close. The ugly buildings remained derelict for years afterwards.

C