architecture of cork city
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ctesiphon, your story about the guy in the church seems pertinent to the thread; the city retains a humanity that Dublin had until, say, the ‘80s, but doesn’t have anymore.
I’m glad to hear Cork has been recorded – it must have been some undertaking, with the density of older fabric in areas like Shandon. Wonder why it has not been published / uploaded? – I worked for the NIAH myself too, on the Kildare survey in 2002 (it’s been published).
That group of slate-hung bow-fronts on Gnd. Parade are great alright (Graham, no, I don’t have a picture) – but a slight disappointment is that their sash windows are recent remakes with incorrect sash horns. There’s a really great bow-front in Waterford with all of its original window joinery – I might post it soon.
@jungle wrote:
My own view on development in Cork is that there should be a line drawn through the city centre at Parnell Place. There are few old buildings of merit east of that line – perhaps the harbour commissioners offices and a few warehouses. It can support larger developments along the lines of Lapp’s Quay. West of it is a more sensitive area that should be reserved for refurbishments and infills with the exception of a few sites that are suitable for development – Guys, anything that hides the North Main St multi-storey.
I have no doubt this is true, Jungle. I would just worry about certain views on the LADSOCL thread. I can’t obviously comment on individual streets / developments because I don’t know what’s going on there on a daily basis and don’t have the same intimate knowledge of the city that the Cork contributors have. But I know that An Taisce Cork have been very good and have carefully monitored development in Cork over the past number of years, and prevented some over scaled and/or poor quality proposals, which, if permitted, would have damaged the historic character of the city centre. Naturally if you want anything and everything to fly through the planning system you’re going to have a problem with this.
Buckley Bros.
It is disgraceful that Buckley Bros is going to be removed. I know the owner has to get on with their business, but could he/she not leave the current one in situ underneath a new front at least?This is the other one on Oliver Plunkett Street. A real gem & a great example of the indigenous shops that survive so well in Cork:
(I’ve got some existing / disappearing vitrolite fronts from around the country which I might stick on the other thread)
@lexington wrote:
@Devin wrote:
That group of slate-hung bow-fronts on Gnd. Parade are great alright (Graham, no, I don’t have a picture)
I have some images of these buildings and will post them as soon as I can find them. I love thatentire corner of Grand Parade – from the monument to the RBS Building.
@Devin wrote:
I have no doubt this is true, Jungle. I would just worry about certain views on the LADSOCL thread. I can’t obviously comment on individual streets / developments because I don’t know what’s going on there on a daily basis and don’t have the same intimate knowledge of the city that the Cork contributors have. But I know that An Taisce Cork have been very good and have carefully monitored development in Cork over the past number of years, and prevented some over scaled and/or poor quality proposals, which, if permitted, would have damaged the historic character of the city centre. Naturally if you want anything and everything to fly through the planning system you’re going to have a problem with this.
I certainly don’t want to see everything fly through the planning system. Some of the newer buildings east of Parnell Place have been pretty rotten – Penrose Wharf, the Simon building. Both of these buildings should have been stopped on aesthetic grounds, but I guess they were built in the early 90s when the city council were glad to see any money going into the area.
However, much of the area consists of semi-derilict warehousing and warehousing that has been converted to light industrial use. I don’t feel that the level of planning sensitivity required here is the same as in the western end of the city centre where how a new building fits into the existing built area must be taken into account.
@lexington wrote:
I wouldn’t entirely agree with that. I have agreed and even assisted An Taisce (yes, it is a miracle) with some of their more recent objections regarding some completely unsatisfactory developments within the city. But they have also taken the mickey themselves on a number of occassions and have acted quite negatively (eg City Quarter sculpture) toward developments which they have sinced u-turned on.
Was the objection to the City Quarter sculpture from An Taisce or from an individual who happened to be a member of An Taisce?
As for architecture in Cork, does anyone have any decent pictures of the GPO in Cork? I think it is an elegant and underappreciated building. This is probably because it’s hard to stand in a position where you can take in the whole facade because of the narrow streets around it. I looked for pics on the web, but only found ones where you could see part of the building and Oliver Plunkett St was flooded, so Ithought they probably didn’t do it justice 😀
Devin (The Cork folks mighn’t like this diversion, but I’ll be brief)-
Is the bow-fronted building in Waterford the one a few doors down from the Tower Hotel, near the splendid redbrick Georgian terrace? If so, it’s been one of my favourite buildings in the whole country since we started going on family holidays in Co. Waterford 25 years ago. I did notice, though, that it’s been comprehensively refurbished in the last couple of years. At least it’ll finally be occupied, after too long slowly crumbling. Did it retain its windows?
(Waterford City, NIAH, mid- to late 1990s, unpublished- do I detect a pattern?)
If you look about the county towns, youghal is one that comes to mind, of Cork you can still find a few of those old fifties style shopfronts. Though they are a bit dated I find that they still look fine.
I very stupidly deleted Post #22 by editing rather than quoting it – but at least the Grand Parade/RBS images are up.
@jungle wrote:
As for architecture in Cork, does anyone have any decent pictures of the GPO in Cork?
After asking that, I find a picture on this site. I don’t thing the picture really does the building justice, but it would take some seriously expensive camera equipement to take the shot I’d like to see.
From this picture, you’d think the GPO was small and nothing special.
It would be nice to start a thread about Galway city and county, don’t you agree?@ctesiphon wrote:
Devin…Is the bow-fronted building in Waterford the one a few doors down from the Tower Hotel?
Yes. I have also heard it’s been refurbished & that the magnificent windows with their slender doric-columed mullions have been repaired and retained 🙂 .
Here it was in a sorry state in 2002 – it had sat vacant like this for many years, I understand:
The overhang in the sashes was still very lucid after 200 years:
that bow-fronted building on the mall, waterford was completely rebuilt following demolition recently – i’m almost sure the entire building was taken down – it is also seen as being significant because it was the frst building that the irish tricolour was flown – by thomas francis meagher – who now has a new home outside the tower hotel
Thomas Francis Meagher or the flag? 🙂
What an unusual feature those columns are – always great to see curved sashes too.
Presumably if the building was completely rebuilt it was in danger of collapse – and also the wndows and internal features were salvaged?Presumably if the building was completely rebuilt it was in danger of collapse
So it seems. I hadn’t realised it yesterday when I posted those pictures, but I’ve made further inquiries & it’s true what bunch says; the building was taken down and rebuilt. Apparently it had a lot of structural timber which had deteriorated, and was generally past the point of being repaired and stabilised.
But the bit about the sashes is true; they’ve been reused in the new building…I have to go down to Waterford now and see that….
Those Grand Parade slate/bow buildings I promised (Moloney Solicitors/Property Team among others). Not the best images but you get the idea.
A fading sight in Irish urban areas – though I know a few still remain especially in Dublin. This terrace jumps on the unsuspecting stroller like a pleasant surprise along Dalton’s Avenue, off Cornmarket Street. Unfortunately, at the time of this image’s capture, Kerry Drain Services had lines of machinery and traffic cones closing off the avenue as part of investigations on drainage for Rockfell Investment’s Cornmarket Street development nearby. If you can block out the foreground and take in the street, I think you’ll agree it is rather charming. What I find most interesting is the lady in the centre of the image touching up the mosaic – community pride alive and well?
Nice terrace alright. Pity about the wheely bins though. They’re a blight on a lot of terraced houses now. Reminds me of an area behind the Cinema in Dun Laoghaire
[
(Waterford City, NIAH, mid- to late 1990s, unpublished- do I detect a pattern?)[/QUOTE]
Waterford City was published as part of the Waterford County Survey in late 2003/early 2004
Cork City has just been published and can be found at http://www.buildingsofireland.ie@tjomeara wrote:
Waterford City was published as part of the Waterford County Survey in late 2003/early 2004
Cork City has just been published and can be found at http://www.buildingsofireland.ieTJ-
Was the full Waterford City survey published, or was it just the old NIAH chestnut of a ‘representative sample’? If memory serves, there were roughly 2000 records in the original survey, which is more than the full county survey now contains.
Cheers.
Ctesiphon
The NIAH are only publishing structures on the web that are considered to be of ‘Regional’ importance and above. Search for Waterford under the ‘town’ in the Waterford Survey on the NIAH website. I think around 900 sites were rated as being of ‘Regional’ importance and above in and around Waterford City.
🙂 This building may not strike you as much on first glance, but to those of you familiar with the junction of North Main Street, Castle Street and Paradise Place – you may remember that corner house between North Main Street and Castle Street. For years this building has been smothered in a series of unflattering and dogish paint coats. From Mustard Yellow to Tangerine. Thankfully the building’s proprietors enlisted Shane Construction to given the fading glory of this structure a new lease on life. The fabulous traditional brickwork has been revealed once again, the details of the design uncovered, the history reborn – unfortunately the image below fails to focus the individual brickwork and so on, however, I will try to get a better quality image in the future. The building reflects the refurbishment of nearby Fenn’s Quay – among Ireland’s oldest original terraced houses still in full show. It begs questions as to what lies beneath the unsightly paint skins of other surrounding structures?
Congratulations to Shane Construction who did a fine job on the conservation exercise – I hear the upper floors have been returned to former glories and would love an opportunity to expect the building first hand. :D(?) It’s worth noting the shop-front has been alter to a far more suitable, less tacky style – I believe large yellow ‘Smile Faces’ with large white and red cartoon fonts had adorned this building for quite some period – the retail units operated as a mobile phone covers store.
I think anyone familiar with this building, and what had gone before it, will appreciate the refurbished form.
Andrew Duffy – regarding Dalton’s Avenue, no, the terrace abuts a former warehousing facility (in the same ye olde red brick style) – which is now being redeveloped by Rockfell Investments.
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