architecture of cork city
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Hi All
new to this site as of today. Quick query for all you experts out there – anyone know how academy street got its name? Have done some research in the city library local history reference section to no avail.
BTW – I’m involved in branding and visual design and particularly interested in how brands for developments/buildings etc can be more meaningful, coherent and sympathetic to the architectural vision and function as well as performing a marketing function. But if we acknowledge that branding is about possessing specific real estate in a consumer’s mind (to slightly misquote one of the brand gurus) does this forum see any successes or failures in this regard in Cork?That latter image is so typical of Irish towns – decaying Georgian buildings fronting the main streets, with surface car-parking to the rears, sited on cleared gardens or back yards with mews buildings demolished – the only traces left being rubble stone walls flanking the sites featuring filled-in brick arches and remnants of internal walls protruding to the sides.
Interesting that the slates prevail even to the rear in Cork – they seem to have been ripped off the other/s 😡
Yes they are quite bizzare arches, what would they have been used for: carriage storage with accommodation above?
@lexington wrote:
…..the Camden Quay buildings……………… Noteworthy also is the characteristic olde-worlde Maud Whelan’s Pub (north along John Redmond Street, beside these buildings) which is also being refurbished and given a new lease of life as we speak. If anyone has images of that building, it would be nice to see it posted.
The building you refer to as being under refurbishment (above) has just been fitted with PVC sash windows and PVC shop windows…….(??)
@Devin wrote:
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?Butlers Irish Chocolates are steaming ahead with the recladding of the former Buckley Bros. shopfront. It remains vitrolite, but in a more fashionable ‘black’ tone now. This is fine but the original ‘green’ colouration and metallic signage was far more unusual and had a retro-charm about it. With a little refurbishment, the shopfront could well have lasted into the future and as Graham Hickey once noted, it could – for the sake of Butlers’ sales pitch – remind one of ‘mint chocolate’! :p
Must say the GPO on Oliver Plunkett Street looks very well lately since its refurbishment – next time I’m out and about I must try and get a snapshot of it.
Meanwhile, the refurbishment and redevelopment of the Old Mill on Father Matthew Quay is steaming ahead t great effect. It’s encouraging to see such an effective reuse of such long neglected structures and a tasty blend between old and new. The same may be said for the incoporation of No.17/18 Parnell Place into the new Pitwood hotel (in appeal).
Some great images provided on a link highlighted by Graham Hickey, I think well worth sharing.
I apologise that I do not have the name of the copyright holder but please note this link -> http://nemesis.co.jyu.fi/~mikyrjol/photos/digital/ireland_2005/index.html as the source.
Cork Court House – speaks for itself.
The eastern elevation @ St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral – the famous ‘Golden Archangel’ notably visible. An undisputed William Burges masterpiece.
Inside St. Fin Barre’s.Wow…. talk about great pics. That one of the courthouse is fabulous. It looks as magnificant now as it did when it was built first day.
@lexington wrote:
Some great images provided on a link highlighted by Graham Hickey, I think well worth sharing.
I apologise that I do not have the name of the copyright holder but please note this link -> http://nemesis.co.jyu.fi/~mikyrjol/photos/digital/ireland_2005/index.html as the source.
Cork Court House – speaks for itself.
The eastern elevation @ St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral – the famous ‘Golden Archangel’ notably visible. An undisputed William Burges masterpiece.
Inside St. Fin Barre’s.No reordering there I’d say!
What I love about St Fin Barres is that it’s so small – its a scaled down cathedral. The interior is so much better than the exterior though, where I think the shortness of the plan really manifests itself
Source:Cork Camera Club
Bachelor’s Quay
The photograph shows workmen repairing paving stones on Bachelor’s Quay. Bachelor’s Quay was once a fashionable promenade and the site of the houses of wealthy businessmen. When the wealthier citizens of Cork left the city centre for the more fashionable suburbs their former houses on Bachelor’s Quay became tenements. Some fine Georgian structures remain today toward the western end of the quay, although they are in dire need of renovation. In this image, the original copper-edged North Gate Bridge (an infinitely more attractive specimen than its existing counterpart) can be seen in the background.
Rope Walk
Crawling up the steep northern slopes to Sunday’s Well from the site formerly servant to Irish Distillers just off North MallRope Walk was the site of a rope-walk where ropes were formed by the process of laying and stranding lengths of spun yarn. The imposing figure of St. Vincent’s Cathedral can be seen in the background.Dunscombe Fountain – lower Shandon Street
The fountain which stood near the foot of Shandon Street was known as the Dunscombe Testimonial Fountain. The Dunscombe family had been associated with Cork since the seventeenth century. The area around the fountain was used by street vendors selling clothes. Holly and ivy was sold there during Christmas.Saint Patrick’s Quay
Given the prospect of the quaysides redevelopment – see here; it is perhaps worthy of reflection on the quays former incarnation. Like most of the quays in Cork, Saint Patrick’s Quay was constructed during the nineteenth century. The quays along the North Channel are generally founded on massed concrete. The quay walls are built from rubble masonry and faced with limestone behind timber pilings. At the time the photograph was taken in 1939, the premises on the quay included garages, public houses, offices of shipping agents, coal merchants’ stores and the coal stores of the Metropole Hotel. Note the active uses along Merchant’s Quay to the south (left).
@Paul Clerkin wrote:What I love about St Fin Barres is that it’s so small – its a scaled down cathedral. The interior is so much better than the exterior though, where I think the shortness of the plan really manifests itself
I find a comparison of the the former incranation of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral quite striking when weighed against the Burges’ creation – the former pales in comparison, and amazingly maintains the same sacred site with almost no variation in parameters build-on-build. See below.
lexington wrote:Source:Cork Camera ClubBachelor’s Quay
The photograph shows workmen repairing paving stones on Bachelor’s Quay. Bachelor’s Quay was once a fashionable promenade and the site of the houses of wealthy businessmen. When the wealthier citizens of Cork left the city centre for the more fashionable suburbs their former houses on Bachelor’s Quay became tenements. Some fine Georgian structures remain today toward the western end of the quay, although they are in dire need of renovation. In this image, the original copper-edged North Gate Bridge (an infinitely more attractive specimen than its existing counterpart) can be seen in the background.
😎 Great photos, is that Quay now called the North Mall?, can’t figure it out.
@kite wrote:
😎 Great photos, is that Quay now called the North Mall?, can’t figure it out.
No – North Mall is the opposite side of the river, visible in that image to the left. Bachelor’s Quay borders Grenville Place and is accessible from North Mall using the beautiful iron Distillery Bridge. Among the Georgians along this quayside is the former residence of George Boole.
@lexington wrote:
No – North Mall is the opposite side of the river, visible in that image to the left. Bachelor’s Quay borders Grenville Place and is accessible from North Mall using the beautiful iron Vincent’s Bridge. Among the Georgians along this quayside is the former residence of George Boole.
Thanks for that, should have been able to figure that out for myself with Shandon in view…Sunday,,too many beers ect. ect.
@lexington wrote:
No – North Mall is the opposite side of the river, visible in that image to the left. Bachelor’s Quay borders Grenville Place and is accessible from North Mall using the beautiful iron Distillery Bridge. Among the Georgians along this quayside is the former residence of George Boole.
It’s St. Vincents Bridge.
Found that image of Rope Walk very interesting. is that row of houses still there?
First off, an image of the Court House on Washington Street – one I’ve tried, but failed to capture in my own time, and I believe gives a good perspective of the building which is often difficult to encompass through photography from this angle given its proximity to buildings on the south side of the street.
The present Cork Court House was built in 1895 and stands on the site of the original 1836 Court House designed by George Richard Pain and his brother James which was destroyed by fire in 1891. A competition was subsequently instigated by the Corporation of Cork and the Commissioners, in which there was a condition requiring the preservation of the portico and fa
Regarding the statue of Justice on top of the Court House….It might be my imagination, but was that missing for years?
Im not talking about during the renovations, but before that, I cant remember it being in place and there are certainly some images which i’ve seen from the 80’s/90’s which dont include the statue. Any ideas?Court house looks very well now, scandal it took so long to complete.
Yeah it’s a shame that it’s not at the end of some long vista. The Fransiscan church behind the courthouse suffers from this as well. Not sure if that Bysantine concotion is everybody’s cup of tea@Radioactiveman wrote:
Regarding the statue of Justice on top of the Court House….It might be my imagination, but was that missing for years?
Im not talking about during the renovations, but before that, I cant remember it being in place and there are certainly some images which i’ve seen from the 80’s/90’s which dont include the statue. Any ideas?I remember watching it being removed about 10 years ago. A few years later I met a Dublin Art student who had come down to Cork to write a thesis about sculptures of Hibernia. She told me that is was strewn about the National Scuplture Factory in a very poor state of repair. Great to see it back in its original glory atop one of my favourite buildings in Cork.
PS. The sculpture is titled “Justice, Hibernia & Commerce” by Thomas Kirk.
The foundation stone of Cork City Hall along Terence MacSweeney Quay was laid by Eamon de Valera on the 9 July 1932. The present building replaces the former City Hall which was destroyed during the burning of Cork in 1920 and was designed by the Dublin-based architectural practice Jones & Kelly. Constructed by John Sisk & Sons Ltd, some departments of Cork Corporation opened in the new building in March 1935 and on the 24 April 1935 Cork Corporation held a meeting in the new hall for the first time. The City Hall was officially opened by Eamon de Valera on the 8 September 1936.
Not long after construction – Cork City Hall, late 1930s.The building is faced with dressed limestone quarried in Little Island and incorporates an elegant concert hall.
City Hall at NightFaced with growing pressures on office accommodation – more and more departments of Cork City Council were forced to occupy numerous premises off-site and away from City Hall. The City Council initiated a plan to develop a ‘one-stop’ civic offices destination on a site to the rear (south) of City Hall between Eglinton Street and Anglesea Street. A competition was tendered by the council which was won by a bid from Cleary Doyle Contractors and their design team, ABK Architects. Construction commenced on site in late 2004/early 2005 for an extension comprising of 90,000sq ft of news offices and 400 + parking spaces (basementa and roof-top).
Images of the new Cork City Hall Extension designed by ABK Architects, built by Cleary Doyle Contractors – construction is scheduled for completion in early 2006.
Some images of Cork City Hall facing south from Lapps Quay and South Mall respectively.
Images the copyright of John Herriott.
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