City Council Flats
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are they the ones opposite Kevin Street tech? And did all council flats have those Sunlight Chambers-esque designs under the balconies?
Yes. Sunlight Chambers my eye, very basic mosaic patterns which can vary from area to area. For instance the ones near the railway lines have trains on the mosaics. Others have an abstract pattern.
There a standard design for their period. The flats can be found all over the city – North Strand, off Gardiner Street/ Sean McDermott St… I suppose they were necessary at the time. Low cost option to replace the tenements. They’re pretty dull-looking now.
Compared to some of the super crap that came after them and their age – i think they;re not doing too bad at all.
At least the mosaics show some attention to detail.The names Liam Boyle and Seamus Delaney come to mind. They were in the Corpo’s housing section in the mid-to-late 1950s. Talented designers, they left the Corpo after winning the competition for the Sugar Company building on Earlsfort Terrace.
BOYLE, LIAM, B.Arch (1923-1991).
Listed as an assistant architect on the Busáras project. Liam Boyle left Scott’s office to work in the Dublin Corporation Housing department. He was working there in 1960 when he won with Seamas Delaney, the competition to design an office block for the Irish Sugar Company between Earlsfort Terrace and Leeson Street. On the strength of this they set up a practice Boyle and Delaney Architects. He was awarded second premium in the competition for the Dublin Port and Docks Headquarters in 1954 to be built on the site opposite BusárasAre’nt they f******g horrible………….now it’s not because some of the residents have lowered the tone of them……..but the dark cheap scorched brick, the way they ignorantly and jarringly address the streets….., adds to the ugliness of these kips.
What a mess…..put these on the demolition list too.
And they are found everywhere too in inner city Dublin…..Gardiner Street, Queen Street, Mountjoy Street/Bolton Street, Camden/ Wexford/ Montague Street, Constitution Hill, Fatima Mansions….etc, etc….. What a disasterToo right, Dublin doesn´t need these monstrosities. They should be detennanted the same way as the tennements themselves were. There must be a better way (both socially and aesthetically) of providing social housing. And as a resident of the northside, it certainly doesn’t do the vision of the Gardiners et al any justice. I live (when in Dublin) around the corner from Henrietta Street, but have a better view of the Upper Dorset Street Flats. Still, it keeps the rent down…
Theyre not a patch on the Herbert Simms designed blocks in the city.
Henrietta Place
http://www.archeire.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/henrietta_street/henrietta_place/henrietta_place.htmlChancery Place
http://www.archeire.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/capel_street/chancery_place/chancery_place_flats.htmlThorncastle Street
http://www.archeire.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/ringsend/thorncastle_street_corp_flats.htmlAnd you say you have bad City Council Flats… look at some typical portuguese exemples of social housing / affordable appartements:
has anyone noticed the current ‘improvements around the summerhill / corporation street areas…..Much of the proposed improvements will only update buildings that should be knocked..eg Liberty house flats. Apologies to anyone who may live in these flats or areas but this whole area(bar a handful of buildings) should be levelled.
The ones opposite Kevin St are particularly horrendous, faced in those nasty glossy early 60s red bricks that look like tiles. Also, because of the demolition of the corner of Stephen’s Green, they can now be seen from the bottom of Harcourt St and the Green itself, including their washing lines.
There’s no intention to demolish any of these flats as all of their windows are being replaced with charming uPVC.
The flats around Pearse Station/ Lombard St however are particularly attractive (I think they’re the ones you have pictured Paul)
i dont think its safe to dismiss these buildings out of hand. whether we like it or not they are a part of our urban landscape and the most productive thing we can do is strive to make the most of them. adjoing blocks of a complimentary and contemporary nature would solve the problems of gross scale problems and also their blocky mass intruding too much on what is recognised as “acceptable” dublin architecture.
The dressed up block past smithfield with the lego block scheme at the front (murray o’laoghaire?) goes some way to solving this.
if theres a thread going on and on which just points out and ridicules the mistakes of the past (it was haute couture at the time remember, and copied straight from successful schemes of the time in holland) i dont think it constitutes architectural discussion, more derision.
so any ideas how to fix it?
sw101: The Queen Street development you speak of is by Shay Cleary Architects
Graham Hickey: no the blocks I have on the site are Henrietta Place and Chancery Place (although I have photographs of the others too). Same architect though and same time period as the Townsend Street development with the shop facades and signage. Other blocks include James Street, slightly later ones at Cuffe Street and Irishtown
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