Dublin Castle – Who is in Charge?

maybe they didn’t go for the full blown service;)
Those where the days when you needed to pay someone to ensure they didn’t disappear by “accident”

Are many events held in the castle grounds? Seems like a decent venue for summer activities – outdoor theatre and the like.

My biggest gripe is the main gates from Palace Street. Its such a shabby entrance and yet its the main route in for most visitors. The gates need repair and painting, the stonework cleaned and the entrance should be lit. Removing the cheap tacky signage would also help. And of course as I have said elsewhere…does the city really need these parking spaces! Surely Palace Street would be better fully pedestrianised.

Another gripe….parking in the tarmac clad Lower Yard. What a fitting setting for the Chapel Royal.

Ah Dublin Castle: the seat of medieval alien power for nearly 500 years, a half-built ruinous shambles for nearly another 100 years, a glittering palace of pretension for the blink of an eye in the late 18th century, a sham of a court for another half century, and an embarrassing spectacle of a slow, agonising death, crawling with its moulded jellies and bentwood chairs towards the finishing line of 1922. Only to start over and endure yet another century of systematic neglect, abuse, misuse, tragedy, fleeting admirable interventions against a roaring tide of persistent apathy and decay, and an overriding sense that this was, and is, a place that does not deserve our attention. An unloved remnant from our colonial past, where, as much as the raw bitterness and antipathy has long dissipated, the legacy of indifference lives on in the incoherent, ill-defined and poorly presented historic site – one of the few in our capital of true international significance – that is presented to us and the Office of Public Works today.

Thankfully, this is set to change. There is a strong feeling within the OPW at present that Dublin Castle needs major attention, on its own merits, as well as on account of the Presidential inauguration in late 2011 and Ireland’s hosting of the European Presidency in the first half of 2013. Most encouragingly, it is the former – the significance of the site and the present condition thereof – that is deemed to be the most pressing issue, and it is to that end that most efforts will be directed over the next two years – for the first time in the complex’s modern-day history. Of course, it couldn’t come at a worse time, but we shall see what can be achieved.

Devin is spot on regarding the entrances to the Castle – one of my bugbears for a number of years. Indeed, were I to list them all, we’d be here week (hence the reason for never starting a Castle thread lol). But given the new administration now taken residence in the Castle, I suspect it will be a matter of weeks rather than years before we see results on legacy issues such as these. Other areas in need of serious attention include the removal of parking in the Lower Yard – a space of breathtaking scale, antiquity and royal grandeur when devoid of vehicles – the creation of a proper entrance inside the Palace Street gate with seating, signage and visitor information, the improvement of the route towards the gardens, an entirely new role for the beleaguered Record Tower hosting a museum on the Castle’s history and full public access to roof level, the Chapel Royal reopened, aesthetic tweaking of the gracious Upper Yard, and of course the poor aul State Apartments.

These rooms are without question one of the glories of Dublin, yet their potential is unrealised in terms of decoration, furnishing and presentation. Let’s just show the good bits for now…

The layers from all periods are what make the State Apartments and Dublin Castle as a whole so interesting, whether it be fragments of late medieval basements, Georgian public splendour, the Regency pomp of the Throne Room, or robust Edwardian refurbishments carried out for the swath of royal visits in the early 20th century.

Let’s hope the scales of Justice finally tilt back in the Castle’s favour for rather different reasons to that of a century ago…

This could turn into a thread of epic length. I adore the castle and its precincts but it strikes me how “by the way” the two main entrances are. A visitor could easily miss the lower entrance off Dame st and it’s not impossible to miss the entrance to the Upper Yard, either.

EDIT: Imagine my surprise that GrahamH has already begun contributing his Dublin: A Celebration-level photos 🙂

@GrahamH wrote:

Thankfully, this is set to change. There is a strong feeling within the OPW at present that Dublin Castle needs major attention, on its own merits, as well as on account of the Presidential inauguration in late 2011 and Ireland’s hosting of the European Presidency in the first half of 2013. Most encouragingly, it is the former – the significance of the site and the present condition

We’re getting another go of the EU Presidency? Surely that’s done with Van Rompuy Pumpy in Brussels.

An Irish lawmaker who made an expletive-ridden outburst in parliament has triggered a review of rules there, after it emerged that the f-word is not on a list of banned terms, a spokeswoman said today…

@GrahamH wrote:

…and Ireland’s hosting of the European Presidency in the first half of 2013. …

I thought all EU summit meetings took place in Brussels now regardless of what member state holds the presidency.

Just wondering.

Great news that there are some improvement plans for the castle back on the cards – I hope they re-consider an entrance off George’s Street.

@Yixian wrote:

Are many events held in the castle grounds? Seems like a decent venue for summer activities – outdoor theatre and the like.

Now and then there are some decent exhibitions, Here are some sand sculptures on display during the summer.

^ That’s pretty amazing.

A regular summer season of outdoor opera/theatre would be nice. Perhaps the city could develop something like a “Castle Festival” running in say… July, with a lineup of plays, music, maybe comedy, sculpture like above, even a wine & food fair?

If only the castle didn’t have that 3rd floor add-on.

Fascinating stuff, all; Graham’s quite right about the State apartments (State, not ‘royal’) – they should be used and shown off, for the treasure chest that they are. So, they’re a Brit legacy; so what?
I’ve always thought that the weakest elements were: parking in the lower yard and the awful tarmac surface; the terribly trendy, arty stuff on the rear lawn and surroundings; the ‘shut-off’ feel of the govt offices at Ship (?) St – a fine, plain range of buildings; and last (but not at all least), the awful paint-jobs on the ‘back’ of the State appts – isn’t it about timr that these were permanently faced (or does that go against modern conservation convention)? In which case, ignore it.

Broad agreement there, johnglas. Most people don’t seem to get the reason these blocks were painted; namely that this rear portion of the Castle never received architectural treatment. In that sense, I like it. And generally speaking international visitors love it; they recognise its tongue-in-cheek intent. The Irish don’t. I’d definitely be open to change, but other solutions would be prohibitively expensive, and with no net gain other than architectural, I can’t see works happening here anytime this century.

@kinsella wrote:

If only the castle didn’t have that 3rd floor add-on.

Yes, the story of the additional storey at Dublin Castle is a curious one. It is not entirely clear why it was carried out, given it significantly degraded the architectural integrity of the Upper Yard, given it was a protracted, piecemeal project spanning nearly three decades, and that in one instance, provided redundant, uninhabitable space over one of the ceremonial rooms. Almost certainly however, the reason for the addition was the removal of the troublesome former dormer windows, some of which dated to the late 1680s and must have been a nightmare to maintain. This is the earliest known depiction of modern-day Dublin Castle, drafted by Surveyor General William Robinson in the late 1680s (of which more in due course).

Typical of the late 17th century, the Robinson Block as it is known, featured a tall chocolate box mansard punctuated by dormer windows, as seen at Dr. Steven’s Hospital and originally at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Note the heavy, old-fashioned modillion cornice also.

By the time the Upper Yard was complete in 1761, a low-scale quadrangle of pretty, Continental palatial scale and form had organically emerged, punctuated with grandiose chimneystacks and dormer windows at roof level. James Malton’s view of the Upper Yard from 1799 is accurate in its depiction of a coherent but disjointed square, comprised of elements dating as far back as the 1680s on the very extreme left, a range of the 1710s in the middle, and already out-moded architecture of the old heavy style on the right, dating to the 1740s and 1750s.

Nonetheless, the Upper Yard exhibited a pleasing harmony and sense of architectural completeness at this point, with a modest unpretentious charm to boot. Here it is a little earlier in 1753, depicted by Joseph Tudor, showing the diversity in range styles.

The Bedford Tower hadn’t even been built at this point, being based on drafted drawings, hence its rather naive conjectural detailing.

Bizarrely, it was very early on, in the 1790s, that the first attic storey appeared at the Castle, located just out of shot to the left, topping out the north-eastern range corner. This occurred as part of a rebuild of this block caused by differential settlement of the building, which had been built 50 years previously straddling the medieval moat and the former Powder Tower foundations.

As can be seen, this storey quickly spread across the Cross Block (above left) and Drawing Room Block (middle) in the early 19th century, instigated by the new architect to the Board of Works Francis Johnston, followed by the other ranges in the 1810s and 1820s.

These two images below, apparently both by Brocas from c. 1820, show the Drawing Room Block has having been topped out by this point (extreme left), but the other ranges have yet to be remodelled, with dormers still evident.

The last of the ranges to be topped up feature attic storeys of high quality machine-made brick which had emerged by the 1820s. Beautiful precision lines of flush lime pointing were possible for the first time. No need for deceptive tuck pointing.

Johnston’s attic windows were deliberately mean to be subservient to the windows below; they are not square as one might expect. Clearly he wanted the attics to read as an addition – sympathetic, but independent.

The last of the attics to go up must have looked horrendous in their all-orange glow, above the russet-toned, weathered handmade brick facings below. Even today they stand out where the 18th century brick has been vigorously restored, in pink, 1980s-style.

The attic storeys were highly destructive of the original Castle design. They transformed pretty Carolean ranges into ugly, cumbersome brick barns. A late 19th century view here of a gawky Cross Block perched precariously atop the hill of the Lower Yard.

More invasive was the effect on the two focal points of the Upper Yard: the entrance to the State Apartments and the Bedford Tower. In the case of the former, the Entrance Front portico had to be crudely built up by Johnston in order the match the height of the flanking new attics, absorbing a once-proud, pointed declaration into a blocky lumpen mass tottering on visually inadequate stilts.

(the rebuilding of attics and blocks in the 20th century, as seen above, is another day’s work)

The impact on the Bedford Tower was much worse, being the only decent piece of architecture in the entire Castle complex – depended on to inject a modicum of swagger into proceedings in the Upper Yard. Here is the original plan by Surveyor General Arthur Jones Nevill (though it was built in a much more refined, better proportioned manner). The carefully contrived relationship between the gates, the central building and the flanking ranges were critical to the success of the composition.

Such trifling matters were disregarded by the notoriously pragmatic 19th century. The ghastly atticed result, 1845.

This was probably carried out by Jacob Owen around 1830.

Another view from the turn of the 20th century, with ravishing cast-iron porte-cochère tacked onto the Entrance Block opposite.

The Bedford Tower again in 1966, featuring the mixumgatherum of buildings behind the blind Fortitude Gate as demolished in the 1980s.

In glorious technicolour here in 1961, when the Upper Yard was a tarmaced civil servants’ car park.

And a fabulous all-colour view from 1979. Again note the cumbersome nature of the attic storey.

The Yard still a car park of course. Note the extraordinary ghostly pencilled-in effect of the chimneys in the distance. These were in fact just painted grey.

If you zoom in, you can still observe the scars of window lintel alterations carried out by Jacob Owen in the 19th century (compare with the Tudor print). These scars disappeared in the 1980s restoration.

The late 1980s saw an inspired move, with the removal of the attic storey and the reinstatement of the original roof profile. Because of the nature of the attic addition, not a single scar remains from its removal. Remarkable. Modern steel sections support the new roof inside.

It also rather conveniently conceals a multitude of services. Alas the chimneys are makey-uppy. .

This was one of the most important and effective restorative gestures ever made on an historic building in Ireland, yet is almost entirely unknown. The impact on the architectural integrity of the Upper Yard could not be more significant.

Dublin’s foremost fairytale composition returns.

Thanks Graham.

I know that Dublin Castle comes in for a lot of criticism by some, but without that third floor the Castle (upper yard) is a building of some grace, elegance and, as you say, charm.
What a shame!

Fantastic dissertation from Graham, as always.

Brooking does show that the uniform design intention was there from at least early in the 18th century, if not the very start with Robinson.

Brookings view of the Castle in 1728 showing the emerging transformation from medieval fortress to collegiate quadrangle.

You notice looking around the Upper Yard the transition from using local calp limestone on the ground floor arcades to granite in the later Bedford block. It would be an interesting exercise to pin-point the first Dublin building where Granite replaced limestone as the facing material. Burgh was a sound Limestone man, I suspect Cassells is the culprit, but I’m not sure.

The cross-block between the upper and lower yards was completely rebuilt after a fire around 1960-61 and one of those great Cushman photographs shows the view from the Lower Yard just as rebuilding was starting.

Before the High St., Winetavern Street, and Wood Quay excavations, this was the first large scale archaeological excavation in Dublin, as far as I know.

I love the ‘treasury’ buildings in the Lower Yard, but as johnglas says the ambience of the Lower Yard is distroyed by the car parking.

Absolutely – the Treasury Block is one of the best buildings in Dublin, and was startlingly modern for its time. Built 1712-1717 by Burgh, it predates the first glimmers of Henrietta Street by over a decade. Even 30 years later, it is still ahead of that age. Top marks to John Cahill of the OPW for a truly outstanding conservation job on it in the 1990s. Both in research and execution it was top-notch. The windows need a lick of paint now. And more of that greeny buff please! There’s great corner chimneystacks inside.

gunter, Robinson did draw up designs for the Upper Yard, only we don’t know what they were of. Eddie McParland has unearthed two elevation drawings in the British Library – one is the Robinson Block drawing posted earlier and the other is a vague sketch of what is presumed to be an Entrance Front that was never built. There are no known elevations for all of the other Upper Yard ranges, but Robinson did draw out a basic plan of buildings forming a quad. Thomas Burgh just picked up where Robinson left off with his solitary arcaded block, mirroring it on the other side (though only building the arcade before halting) and the Cross Block and opposing western range as shown by Brooking. Robinson is generally treated unfairly when it comes to the Castle. Whereas what he did execute was remarkably unambitious, it was nonetheless dignified, and we simply don’t know that else he proposed for the rest of the Yard.

As for the rebuilding of the Cross Block, the amount of demolition that occured at the Castle in the 20th century is simply staggering, and much greater than what is commonly perceived. Standing in the middle of the Upper Yard today, a third of all buildings that surround you are entirely reproduction. Taking account of facade retentions also, we approach the two thirds mark.

@GrahamH wrote:

. . . . . the amount of demolition that occured at the Castle in the 20th century is simply staggering, and much greater than what is commonly perceived. Standing in the middle of the Upper Yard today, a third of all buildings that surround you are entirely reproduction. Taking account of facade retentions also, we approach the two thirds mark.

Staggering yes, but not that radically different than we might find is the case with many comparable building complexes across Europe.

Admitedly there was also some tarting-up as well as just reconstruction, such as the opening up of the ‘dummy’ Gate of Mars to match the real Gate of Justice, to use Craig’s notation, but this arguably adds to, rather than detracts from, the ensemble.

I take your point about the heaviness of the entrance portico to the state apartments. Even without the added height of the attic storey, half-filled-in porticos never work, look at the Abbey portico :rolleyes:

On the ‘Treasury’ building conservation programme, why were some of the windows at the back restored as original design flush-mounted and others restored as ‘Georgian’, do we know? Do we know if the original roof detail was a projecting cornice, like Steeven’s Hospital? Wonder why Brooking didn’t depict this range along with the other prominent facades of the city :confused:

Well the Upper Yard was being built as part of the same building programme as the Treasury Building, 1712-1717 (halting for a year in 1715), so they were contemporaneous. In that respect, it made sense for Brooking to depict the primary feature of the Castle: the Upper Yard.

The Treasury Building always had a parapet roof. It is essentially a smaller, brick version of Burgh’s Library in Trinity which was being built at the same time (he was one busy man that decade). It is clear that both mansard and parapet roofs were simultaneously fashionable at this point in public building, but considered suitable for different types of structure. Dr Steevens’ Hospital was built with a mansard, by Burgh, a decade after the Castle works were first drafted, while mansards were also closely associated with quadrangles – whether they be collegiate, military, or royal residences. Therefore with Robinson’s precedent, as much as Burgh may have baulked at it forcing his hand in designing the new Castle, continuing with a mansard roof in the Upper Yard was still more than acceptable as an architectural typology for a hybrid palatial, residential and administrative complex.

@GrahamH wrote:

. . . . Dr Steevens’ Hospital was built with a mansard, by Burgh, a decade after the Castle works were first drafted . . . . .

Don’t think Steevens had that mansard until the 19th century make-over, Graham. Surely the roof structure of the other three ranges originally matched the profile of the front range?

I checked Brooking again and yes he did depict the old Custom House with a mansard, sorry for the misinformation there.

Are you sure about the parapet being the original detail to the Treasury building? If it’s construction was simultaneous with the upper yard [which appears to have projecting eaves in the Malton view], that would be odd and, as you say, in pre-dating Henrietta St. by so long, pretty remarkable.

Mansard roofs abound on buildings of this period in England, but I find it hard to establish for sure that this was the original detail in many cases. For sure the Mansard was present in the English building record, as here appropriately enough on the ‘French Hospital’ in London, a Huguenot foundation of circa 1688, but, the old Custom House aside, I don’t think it ever really took off over here.

Some modest early 18th century London houses that feature Mansard roof as [possibly] the original design of roof structure. The first two examples are located in the Spittalfield area which is an area associated with the same Huguenot weavers tradition that existed in our Weavers’ Square, Chamber Street area, . . . . until we allowed it to be almost completely demolished about sixty years ago.

During a presidential inauguration, 1938.

Shame we got rid of the Household Cavalry. The green motorbikes just dont have the same panache

Its a real pity that they dont open up state buildings like this to the public and move out civil servants to newer purpose built office space. Then they could then create public spaces/art galleries/museums/cafes and restaurants. This would be a great amenity for locals and tourists, the revenue generated by this could cover the relocation of the civil servants.

Michael Angelo Hayes painting 1844
(see also Michael Angelo Hayes painting of Sackville St. in the National Gallery)
We know who was in charge then!

Just tweaked slightly 🙂

Yes this painting shows St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the Upper Yard, hence the green garb. Even the Viceregal Court used the opportunity for a knees-up.

irishguy, the State Apartments are open to all and sundry for about 360 days a year, as is the newly reopened Chapel Royal, the gardens and the Chester Beatty Library.

Here’s another little known work by Hayes, Leaving for the Hunt, showing the outside of the south gate to the Castle from Palace Street. Nice pilastered shopfront on the corner with Dame Lane on the left. How nice it would be to have a wall-mounted lantern there again too.

The buildings we see inside the gate are the long-demolished complex of 19th century stables as swept away to make way for the Stamping Branch of the Revenue Commissioners in the 1970s – below shows the building under construction. Poor Frank DuBerry agonised over the design of this building and his sensitive plans for the State Apartments over the course of the 1950s. Sadly, he never quite recovered from the whole ordeal.

Here are the stable buildings in 1921. They are of the same stock as Jacob Owen’s surviving ancillary buildings further south beside the gardens. Indeed, like ‘that would be an ecumenical matter‘, if ever there is doubt as to the origins of a Dublin Castle building, just say ‘oh Jacob Owen’. It neatly covers most scenarios.

The 1830s Coach House when it was a coach house. Note the tennis court on the lawn – marvellous dahling!

Following on from Devin’s earlier image, another shot of Douglas Hyde’s inauguration in 1938 – what was also Dublin Castle’s inaugural post-independence hosting of State ceremonial. The place literally falling down around their ears by this stage.

The same inauguration ceremony in St. Patrick’s Hall, with electrified royal gasoliers still in place, a forest of Victorian hangover ferns, and a very nice if completely inappropriate 18th century demi-lune hall table in use as the inauguration desk.

The Presidential throne is a converted Viceregal throne with crown chopped off – we don’t like to talk about that though. The dais is extremely well designed.

Another from 1921 in the Upper Yard during the handover of the reigns.

I love this shot of Sir Ian MacPhearson (left), then Chief Secretary, and not-so-well-loved Lord Lieutenant Sir John French (right). MacPhearson looks like a mannequin. It was taken c. 1919-20 or so, but I cannot make out where – possibly in one of the State Bedrooms, but more likely the Chief Secretary’s own offices across the Upper Yard.

Seán T Ó Ceallaigh’s inauguration in 1945 with Dev in the background. The fabulous mahogany mid-Georgian table, ever since the staple of Presidential inaugurations, makes its first appearance.

Finally Erskine’s Childers’ inauguration in 1973.

Apologies gunter – you were talking about mansard roofs in the truest sense (okay actual sense). I was talking in general terms about steeply pitched roofs. The Treasury Building as far as I’m aware never had a steep roof or a mansard roof. Again, it is in the modern idiom of the Old Library building being erected at the same time. We must also remember that the Treasury Building stood on its own, detached as an imposing independent structure, until it was annexed to the Cross Block by, ahem, Jacob Owen. Its modern outlook makes more sense in that context.

Although it did form a type of enclosure with buildings designed by Burgh for the other side of the Lower Yard, it did not need to conform as strictly to the format established by Robinson in the Upper Yard. It was also Burgh’s opportunity to make an independent statement in a complex where his work was otherwise restricted in scope – one imagines he relished the opportunity to inject some modernity into proceedings with his Treasury.

@GrahamH wrote:

Seán T Ó Ceallaigh’s inauguration in 1945 with Dev in the background. The fabulous mahogany mid-Georgian table, ever since the staple of Presidential inaugurations, makes its first appearance.

Why is the scary lady glaring at the Chief Justice?
Incidentally am reading an unintentionally hilarious history of 1916 – written in the 1960s – described Sean T as little more than a messenger boy running around the city while the grownups shoot at soldiers….

All 1940s women did that – it was their permanent facial expression!

One need only look at Seán in fairness…

@irishguy wrote:

Its a real pity that they dont open up state buildings like this to the public and move out civil servants to newer purpose built office space. Then they could then create public spaces/art galleries/museums/cafes and restaurants. This would be a great amenity for locals and tourists, the revenue generated by this could cover the relocation of the civil servants.

Hi all, somewhat related to this topic I was wondering if anyone knows wether or not the opw allows the buildings under their control to be used for entertainment of a commercail nature? A sport but for profit.

p.s forgive the singal post I only found this site.

The observant among you may have noticed that all the old planning site notices were recently removed from all the various entrances to the Castle and best of all the main Palace Street gate got a nice fresh coat of paint (its first in about 15 years I imagine). Well done to whoever took the initiative. There is lots more to do and I would hope the OPW speak to DCC regarding making a more fitting public entrance to the Castle from Palace Street.

@irishguy wrote:

Its a real pity that they dont open up state buildings like this to the public and move out civil servants to newer purpose built office space. Then they could then create public spaces/art galleries/museums/cafes and restaurants. This would be a great amenity for locals and tourists, the revenue generated by this could cover the relocation of the civil servants.

I agree. Given the lack of open public spaces in Dublin, the upper courtyard make a great square. It’s actually very reminiscent of Plaza Mayor in Madrid, and could be turned into something similar.

@rumpelstiltskin wrote:

I agree. Given the lack of open public spaces in Dublin, the upper courtyard make a great square. It’s actually very reminiscent of Plaza Mayor in Madrid, and could be turned into something similar.

If Dublin Castle was somewhere that people travelled through on their way to someplace else, then sure. But it’s not. It’s rare that the complex provides a shortcut to anywhere. If you could get into the gardens from the back of the Dunnes buildings on Georges St, that’d be well handy to reaching Parliament St and Christchurch and that part of the city.

@GrahamH wrote:

I love this shot of Sir Ian MacPhearson (left), then Chief Secretary, and not-so-well-loved Lord Lieutenant Sir John French (right). MacPhearson looks like a mannequin. It was taken c. 1919-20 or so, but I cannot make out where – possibly in one of the State Bedrooms, but more likely the Chief Secretary’s own offices across the Upper Yard.

Kraftwerk?

@StephenC wrote:

The observant among you may have noticed that all the old planning site notices were recently removed from all the various entrances to the Castle and best of all the main Palace Street gate got a nice fresh coat of paint

Good. Please also remove this pole immediately to the left of the entrance. It’s been standing there with nothing on it for 3 years at least:

Time to get the place sorted out guys. Stop doing silly diarmuid gavin gardens at the back (there’s another one being put in right at the moment) and start focussing on the urban design – ie. integrating the place with the city, smartening its spaces and reducing the area of tarmac.

1/11/2011

Once again over these coming days, for the most fleeting period, Dublin Castle enters the public eye and becomes the stage set for civic life in Ireland; host to the most illustrious event of State ceremonial – that of the seven-yearly Presidential inauguration.

An event curiously unknown to most Irish people, the typical person on the street more often than not would not be able to say what the event even involves, never mind where it is held, or indeed where it has been held for the past seventy years. A sad indication, if ever there was one, of the lack of civic pride we hold as a nation. But then civic pride is an intimate relation of urban pride, something with which we have a dysfunctional relationship in this country.

Before the theatrics get underway, we need a new President first. As the count was underway on Friday, the Upper Yard was ablaze with light, as the Bedford Tower basked in the elegant new white floodlighting about its base.

Around the corner, the Record Tower too was bathed in elegant new warm white light that gently skims its calp construction from the roof of Francis Johnston’s innovative curved timber corridor.

It wasn’t until Saturday until we got a definitive result and a small fleet of cars entered the Ship Street Gate close to 4pm.

A distinctly unpresidential setting of a jumble of outside broadcast vans and the building site accompanying the building of new tearooms in the State Apartments above greeted the President-elect.

And Enda.

The man himself, emerging to rapturous applause.

The Presidential inauguration takes place on an auspicious date: Friday 11/11/11.

As with all of his forebears since the inauguration of the first President, Douglas Hyde, in June 1938, Michael D’s inauguration will take place in St. Patrick’s Hall – the largest room in the State Apartments.

It is a state room that is laden in symbolism and layered with so many decorative interventions that it is not possible to detail all in the space of one post, never mind remark on each.

What is worth noting, however, is that the glitter of the room often tends to distract from its relatively ancient origins. It is only when one mentally strips away the modern decorative scheme, the functional interventions and even the late Georgian decoration itself, that the magic of St. Patrick’s Hall as host to a major event of state truly comes alive. The essential fabric of this grand old lady of a room dates right back to the mid-1740s – an impressive achievement for its time relative to what was being built elsewhere in Dublin, and little short of astonishing relative to the paltry entertaining spaces then available to the ‘real’ royal court in London of the same period. Strip back the 1780s pilasters, the 1840s doorcases, the Victorian balconies and boarded out mirrored walls, the 1880s coved ceiling, and one comes slap up against a brick carcass of a ballroom built 265 years ago on top of late medieval remains. In effect, every dignitary and every individual of public consequence in the State assembles for public celebration and an embracement of history and cultural heritage, in a room of not only evocative antiquity, but also of such a primitive construction than in almost any other context in Ireland would have been demolished long before now.

It is these complex layers of history in the room – its age and traditional nature of construction, the most significant painted ceiling in the State that resides there, the many hundreds of thousands – probably millions – of people who have assembled there, the many knighting ceremonies that transpired there, the kings, queens and consorts that received subjects there, the countless viceroys and lords lieutenants that entertained there on a vast scale, the various lyings-in-state that occurred there, the new role it adopted as foil to inauguration of Head of State of an independent nation – that all lend the room a remarkable significance and symbolism in modern Irish public life. For most citizens to hold such little knowledge of its former role – both positive and negative – and its function in the modern life of the State, is deeply regrettable.

It is a room whose character can change dramatically through use of lighting. What may appear as over-gilded during the day transforms into something very special by night. The deep blue French silk on the walls – an innovative sticky-backed solution of the 1990s that still divides opinion – also takes on a different quality after dark. Probably because you can’t see it.

The chandeliers are by far the most accomplished of all Waterford glass chandeliers ever commissioned for an Irish state room. One might argue this is hardly an auspicious accolade, but in their own right they are exquisitely crafted and perfectly scaled – the latter an often dismissed factor in chandelier design. Correct sizing is half the battle. Remarkably, St. Patrick’s Hall had been left devoid of pendent lighting since the former multitude of electrified viceregal gasoliers were removed roundabout the 1940s. This magnificent Waterford glass pair was commissioned in time for Mary Robinson’s inauguration in 1990.

As mentioned, much of the decoration of what was previously a plain 1740s ballroom dressed up for events, dates to the late 1780s as a result of a vainglorious campaign of public spending under the Marquis of Buckingham following the creation of the Order of St. Patrick in 1783 – hence the new name of St. Patrick’s Hall. Up close, the detail is still crisp and magnificent.

The comprehensively gilded decorative scheme is a twentieth century innovation and also heatedly divides opinion.

The painted ceiling – or rather, painted canvasses erected on the ceiling – are by the Italian artist, Vincent Waldré, or Vincenzo Valdré, painted c. 1787-92. Waldré also painted the giant cove of the ceiling with somewhat ungainly panels, which the Victorians exercised good judgement in promptly plastering over – if not quite in their wholesale destruction.

The President is thus inaugurated beneath St. Patrick lighting the paschal flame amongst native heathens…

A sophisticatedly dressed Henry II receiving the submission of distinctly primitive Irish chieftans…

…aaaand the munificent reign of King George III.

A particularly submissive Hibernia to the right. At least she is apt given we’ve come full circle in the past year or two.

The delightful figures perched up in the cove flank the Star of St. Patrick. I think these date to the 1780s.

The emergency lights the 1980s.

At the back of the room, stoically surveying proceedings, is the man who had the inspiration and the aspiration to create what we have today. In more ways than one, he is intimately linked with the Irish presidency, having commissioned in 1745 not only the ballroom in which the President is inaugurated, but also opened to the public the park in which the President now resides, and laid out the avenue on which the President now drives on the way to the inauguration ceremony. One Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, whose fabulous bust by Roubiliac appropriately takes price of place in the niche beside the main entrance to St. Patrick’s Hall.

Superb photographs and astute commentary as always from Graham.

This is an earlier Graham photograph of the north side of Upper Castle Yard.

In Craig, we were told that the Genealogical Office range is unattributed and probably dates to the 1750s, at which point possible names like Eyre and Ensor can be linked to its design. More recently the date has been pushed back a bit to the 1740s and the design attributed to Eyre’s predecessor as Surveyor General, Arthur Jones-Neville, who held the position from 1743 to 1752.

Jones-Neville is connected in the documentary records to the construction of the Bedford tower and there is a slight passing resemblance between the main Bedford block and Jones-Neville’s own house at 40 Stephen’s Green, built in 1744 [later called Tracton House], but there is also compelling evidence to suggest that the Bedford block scheme dates to, or at least had its origins in, the 1730s and this would seem to make sense given the works-in-progress glimpse we get of Dublin Castle from Brooking in 1728 and given the spectacularly Baroque qualities of the great flanking entrance gates in particular.

the castle as depicted by Brooking in 1728

Arthur Jones-Neville’s predecessor as Surveyor General was Arthur Dobbs, a man who Craig observed did not appear to be an architect, in contrast to the high profile architectural credentials of his three immediate predecessors in the role, Robinson, Burgh and Pearce. We know that Dobbs was 44 when he was appointed Surveyor General to fill the vacancy created by the sudden death of the, ten years younger, Edward Lovett Pearce in December 1733 and as Surveyor General he was immediately entrusted with the task of completing Pearce’s Parliament House together with a plethora of military projects, so it’s difficult to imagine that he wasn’t an architect, although certainly from his colourful later life, he was clearly many things in addition to that.

The evidence for the earlier date comes from a Royal warrant dated 7 March 1738 to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland:

. . . to pay to Joseph Gascoigne £1,237 [and change] as compensation for the non-performance of certain articles whereby certain ground and other premises were to be conveyed to him in lieu of ground conveyed to the crown in order to the making of a new passage and gateway into Dublin Castle and £598 to Arthur Dobbs, engineer and Surveyor General of Ireland, for works detailed, as below, with a view to finishing of the said new passage.
Appending:- said Dobbs’ estimate of the expense of building said new passage with the side walls, gates and doors into Dublin Castle, after pulling down the two towers in the old passage.

This warrant would seem to suggest that the original medieval gate had already been pulled down and the new baroque gateway built by 1738. Given that this new gate and the new ‘passage’ to the gate were relocated eastwards of the original site in order to be on the axis of Cork Hill [hence the need for the land swap] it would seem improbable that the full scheme, which included a balancing dummy gate on the other side, had not been fully designed and quite probably executed by 1738, leaving just the tower to be resolved and completed by Jones-Neville later in the 1750s.

It would be nice if we could definitively attribute at least the baroque gates of Dublin Castle to Arthur Dobbs, this is a man whose life is screaming out to have a blue plaque in his honour erected somewhere in his home town. Unless Wiki is having us on, our Mr. Dobbs was a masterful blend of career civil servant and free thinking entrepreneur. After ten years in the Surveyor General post, in 1743 Dobbs decided to move on to pastures new, but not before he had negotiated the sale of his post for the not inconsiderable sum of £3,300 to the hapless Arthur Jones-Neville [the latter was subsequently dismissed from the said post for maladministration and shortly afterwards kicked out of his seat in parliament into the bargain].

Thus capitalized, in 1745 Dobbs acquired a half share in 400,000 acres of real estate in North Carolina from a London agent and set about figuring out how best to turn his investment into income. Never one to sell himself short, Dobbs stayed in Dublin dispatching settlers and freight ships to North Carolina until the right opportunity presented itself which it duly did in 1752 with news of the death of Gabriel Johnston the Governor of the colony. Dobbs petitioned the crown to be appointed the new governor and after several months he received the appointment and 18 months later he packed his bags never to return.

During Dobbs tenure as governor, the colony doubled in population and despite on-going difficulties with the pesky Indians and the French, the colony prospered and Dobbs had time to pursue his passion for nature enquiries, being rewarded on a potter around the estate one day by happening upon a new species of flower, the Venus Flytrap, which duly caused a sensation in botanical circles when he dispatched the first samples to the Royal Society.

Not content with his many diverse achievements, vast estates, wealth and prestigious position, where lesser men would have retired to the lawn chair and cultivate roses, or Flytraps, Governor Dobbs, always alive to a new challenge, re-married at the age of 73 . . . the new Mrs Dobbs was 15.

Heheh – hadn’t heard that nugget before!

The 1738 date is interesting, but it appears to be setting the scene for remedial works which were carried out in the early 1740s at this location. The stubby north-eastern range (the Revenue head office) had to be rebuilt shortly after Thomas Burgh built it in 1712-17 due to the age-old problem of settlement caused by the moat underneath. When it was rebuilt by Dobbs, he lengthened it to reach out to a new entrance – a narrower one than exists today on roughly the same site – that aligned with Cork Hill. I think there may be measurements and maps of this passage still held in the Four Courts record office. Therefore, alas, it is not the passage we have today or the Justice gate we have today. I note I have not seen the primary documentation for this, but the above phases have been well trawled through in the records office. I think there are a few other concrete dates for development in this area that I will dig out again.

Hilariously, the adjacent block Dobbs rebuilt had to be rebuilt again in the late 18th century by Waldré, which in turn started subsiding only a year or two later and he was effectively fired as a result. This was worked on yet again by Jacob Owen in the early 19th century, and then demolished and rebuilt behind the facade for no less than a fourth time in the late 1980s by the OPW. Given the frugal level of recycling that went on over the centuries, it’s quite possible there is the odd Thomas Burgh brick still buried in the retained facade to the Upper Yard. Some of the limestone dressings may be original too.

Of course, that’s not to say that the gate concept – even the design – did not originate with Dobbs, to be later estimated for and started by Neville as part of the wider central building composition. Afterall, the gates are militaristic and typical of the Surveyor General’s office – we just don’t know which Surveyor General…

I think assessing both of their respective portfolios is key. There’s a job for ya gunter.

The Magazine Fort would be a Dobbs project wouldn’t it, 1734 – 5? It has the remains of a decent rusticated Granite gate, must take a look.

Of course You know what’ll happen next, someone will say; . . . . . 1730s mmm . . . . only Edward Lovin’it Pearce had the sophistication to conceive [copy] something as grand as the design of the castle entrance gates, and wasn’t he a nephew of Baroque Vanburgh and so on . . . . and so on.

Reservations noted Graham, but I’m sticking with Dobbs for now.

Just hit on some gold points in Eddie McParland’s ever-useful and comprehensive footnotes in Public Architecture in Ireland 1680 – 1760, based on PRO files.

1738: Dobbs prepares estimate for new arched entrance into Castle.
1741: Description of completion of Dobbs’ entrance.
1742: Dobbs prepares estimates for rebuilding ‘that part of the … Castle … that is now Prop’d with Timber, where the Linnen Office and the Council Office Chief Secretarys Apartmt & his Offices were formerly’ etc (Revenue head office).
1746: Grant made of £752 to Arthur Jones Nevill for stables for the Horse Guard to the east of the new entrance to the Upper Yard.

So this sequence pretty much confirms the existing gates are later (bearing in mind we get Nevill’s quotes for building rusticated structures comparable to the current gates later on), but still does not categorically prove who came up with the concept and/or design.

Back over on the other side of the Upper Yard again, the considerable scale of St. Patrick’s Hall relative to the rest of the State Apartments is apparent from certain vantage points. When the 1820s red brick attic storey pictured below is omitted from the arcaded range in favour of the dormer roof that formerly existed here, you get some sense of the enormous size of this new-build 1740s ballroom compared with its modest context. Unfortunately, the ballroom roof we see today is not the original 1740s roof, which no doubt was steeply pitched and picturesque, but a new structure from the late 1760s. It probably has later fabric of the 1780s and 1820s too.

The largest chimneystack in Dublin Castle stands proudly above – likely a Francis Johnston rebuild of the 1820s that replaced a giant stack at the same position as seen on Tudor’s 1750s print. A similar stack to the left was unfortunately demolished – the scar can be seen in the picture above.

To the rear, St. Patrick’s Hall comprises the giant red Duplo brick in the centre of the unresolved sequence of utilitarian south-western facades overlooking the garden.

Waldré as chief architect proposed in the 1790s what would probably have amounted to demolishing the outside wall of St. Patrick’s Hall, with the intention of creating a striking colonnade inside and a new Garden Front outside, but alas it was not to be.

In spite of the muddle going on here, this is by far the most architecturally interesting range of the Upper Yard as it stands today, retaining a substantial amount of original fabric comprising a number of interwoven layers from different periods.

St. Patrick’s Hall during a knighting ceremony in 1866, with oval mirrors and gas lamp standards (which were usually dressed with climbing plants) on the north wall.

The Victorian theatre set throne canopy was regularly wheeled out for these events. I haven’t yet been able to pinpoint where it is now – or indeed if it exists anymore.

Here it is again, moved to one side, during the visit of King Edward IIV and Queen Alexandra in 1903. The square mirrors were installed a few years previously.

Central to these events were a pair of thrones designed for the use of visiting monarchs and consorts and the Viceroy and Vicerine, as indicated in this fabulous scene of stark contrasts – featuring both high craftsmanship and, er, bentwood chairs. The story of Dublin Castle in a nutshell.

Given their quality compared to the other furnishings made for Dublin Castle, and the VR monogram, I suspect they were made for Victoria’s visit in 1861. This rare close-up photograph shows in remarkable detail the high relief carving of the thrones, which made for a handsome pair.

The fabric is exquisite – as also features on the back of the throne canopy.

As we first highlighted here on Archiseek, in a remarkable gesture of continuity and symbolism entirely unknown to almost everyone in Ireland, one of these thrones is now the Presidential chair, on which every President has been inaugurated since Douglas Hyde in 1938. The other throne has been lost purely in a visual sense: now stained and polished, serving as the chair of the Cathaoirleach in the Seanad Chamber in Leinster House.

The crowns and royal monograms were simply removed and left rather crudely unresolved. Personally, I feel the Presidential chair requires an elegantly carved harp in high relief on the now blank monogram panel and specially commissioned vibrant green silk damask upholstery featuring a harp motif. The current plain minty covering with blue Presidential arms is in dire of replacement.

The remarkable continuity inherent in one of the few pieces of historic ceremonial furniture still in use in Ireland serving as the official Presidential chair, having been commissioned for another administration entirely and hastily adapted post-independence, is one of the enduring and most enriching qualities of the inauguration ceremony.

Incidentally, the lack of barely any, never mind decent, photographs online of any presidential inauguration (just to show the chair in use today) speaks volumes about public interaction with or knowledge of the ceremony.

The Presidential inauguration day should be a national holiday. There isn’t even a feckin drive through the city, never mind a parade or public gathering. We really are appalling as a nation when it comes to events of this stature.

OK. Eddie has spoken, nuff said

But before we leave it completely . . . .

The full text of the warrant of 1738 to the Lord Lieutenant to pay Joseph Gascoigne for land taken to facilitate the new entrance to the castle also referred to an annual charge of £208, 10s that the authorities had incurred since 1723 to another property owner, John Rathborne, merchant, for the non execution of a similar land swap agreement.

A Treasury report of Jan. 1724 recounts the whole sorry affair:

The petition [of John Rathborne] sets forth that the passage from the Blind Quay [via Cork Hill] to the Castle of Dublin, was very narrow and incommodious, and the Lord Lieut., upon the complaint of the House of Commons in 1710, ordered a new way or passage to be opened to the Castle. Petitioner was seised of two houses on Corke Hill standing on the ground required, and an agreement was made with him to give him all the ground over which the present passage to the Castle leads, also that piece adjoining whereon Toms Coffee House stood, in place of 30 feet of his ground for a way into the Castle: The plan at first projected for rebuilding the Castle was changed, whereby that side of the Castle, which lies next to Castle Street, was to be brought about 25 feet nearer to the street. This could not be done without encroaching on the ground intended to be conveyed to the petitioner to the extent of 25 feet in depth and 50 feet in length. The Government in 1712 came to a new agreement with him, to give him £600 in consideration of this last piece of ground, &c. The petitioner further sets forth that he had pulled down his houses, &c. to carry out the arrangement and that there was due to him £1,198l. 17s. 6d. by the non-conveyance of the ground to him, &c. The Lord Lieut. asks for a warrant to pay him that sum and for the King’s authority to convey the land.

So there we have it, the proposal, if not yet perhaps the plan, to construct a new entrance into the castle had been in gestation since as early as 1710 and the kernel of the proposal was that a new and presumably commodious entrance was to be created on the axis of Cork Hill/Blind Quay with all structures standing in the way at this point cleared and the owners compensated by a combination of cash and a grant of equivalent plots of ground on the site of the original passage into the castle.

de Gomme’s map of 1673 shows Dublin Castle with its original medieval gate approached by a narrow passage way off Castle Street.

Apparently this proposal was legally agreed with the parties concerned before the actual plans had be fully drawn up and so the second [1712] agreement had to be struck after it had become apparent that the new castle buildings, as presumably by then designed and drawn, where revealed to required an extra 25 feet of depth reducing the amount of ground available to compensate the displaced property owners.

It seem extraordinary that a plan would be agreed and expensive property commitments entered into and for no works to actually commence for another twenty years, but that would appear to be more or less what happened here.

As Graham has pointed out, the castle authorities did have their hands full rebuilding the bits of the remodelling that had already structurally failed. That treasury warrant [Irish Book IX p269] of July 1742 referred to by Eddie McParland sets the out the building failures pretty clearly:

Warrant under the Royal sign manual to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, countersigned by the Lords of the Treasury to pay Arthur Dobbs, Engineer and Surveyor General of Ireland £2,800 18s 1d for the charge of pulling down that part of the building in Dublin Castle which is propped with timber, where the Linen Office, Council Office and the Chief Secretary’s apartments and offices are kept and for rebuilding same; as also for the continuing the [said] building to the new passage into the said castle.

This last mentioned piece of the castle is the north east range, the extension of the Brooking stump, as described by Graham, westward to the ‘Justice’ Gate.

In a report to the Lord Lieutenant in Feb. 1741 Arthur Dobbs commenting on the Gascoyne petition of 1738 [the one where he claimed compensation for the non performance of articles of agreement whereby he was to receive a plot of ground in compensation for the ground he had given up for the new entrance way] and Dobbs concedes that ‘ . . .the construction of the new passage being delayed by difficulties arising, prays payment of the agreed compensation [to Gascoigne] of £93, 15s per annum from 1738’

The only question remains, who was responsible for the design of the Bedford block and its great flanking baroque gates?

Is it conceivable that a Burgh design had been kicking around the Surveyor General’s office since 1712 waiting for a successor to translate it into Granite [he’d have surely chosen limestone], or did Dobbs conjure up a new scheme from scratch and oversee its construction during a gap in the programme of mending the dodgy bits of earlier rebuildings?

@GrahamH wrote:

Incidentally, the lack of barely any, never mind decent, photographs online of any presidential inauguration (just to show the chair in use today) speaks volumes about public interaction with or knowledge of the ceremony.

The Presidential inauguration day should be a national holiday. There isn’t even a feckin drive through the city, never mind a parade or public gathering. We really are appalling as a nation when it comes to events of this stature.

really? if it was happening in my living room I’d be in the kitchen doing the dishes. I didn’t vote because – ironic given the number of referenda – there wasn’t an option to tick that said “abolish the position and use the – extremely substantial – money for something more worthwhile than a retirement junket”.

Well, that rarest if state events – the Presidential Inauguration – has been and gone. I have to say I found the event decidedly underwhelming. I thought the RTE coverage was appalling…all zoomy cameras and handheld looking up peoples noses. John Bowman seemed supremely bored and incapable of sticking to his point….”Here in the splendour of St Patrick’s Hall….oh look there’s John Bruton….with its beautiful…..hasnt Mary Harney lost weight….ceiling…”.

The venue..hmmm. I thought the Hall looked well if stuffed to capacity. Really is there a need for all those people. It just looked dreadful and very undignified. The room looked gaudy however…the blue LED Christmas light against the walls looked cheap. Big load IKEA office chairs up on the dais. A of course the famous €80k throne. I’m sure someone will know more on that than I do.

The players looked completely under rehearsed. The two Marys in red was quite funny. Mary R with her big bling bag. Mary Mc looking nothing short of a saint.

Well done President Higgins on a fine speech though…and Enda’a wasnt at all bad either. NIce to hear Irish spoken so well.

Cant we have the blue hussars back…..it would be such a spectacle for our new republic.

All of the above and more. Still speechless 24 hours later.

I give up on this country.

Banquet Knights St Patrick Dublin Castle 1857
The Illustrated London News

[attachment=0:ry92ibtp]3761857135U.jpg[/attachment:ry92ibtp]

Has anyone had a walk about Dublin Castle recently. I was there earlier in the week.

There appears to have been a big push to interpret the history of the Castle in the past few months.. The result is a whole rake of panels and freestanding plaques telling the history of various elements in the Castle. They are everywhere. Add to this is the new ‘heritage-style’ finger post signage within the Castle. Then comes the various ‘tenants’ of the Castle – Gardai, Revenue, gift shop, all advertising their presence in a variety of different styles. Its all makes for visual chaos. Surely the Castle deserves a high quality, distinctive suit of signage etc, that is understated but which informs and guides the visitor.

I must take some images.

Some images following on from my post above:

This one needs stripes in case one of the carpar…sorry Lower Yard’s users accidentally hits it. Note the smart finish to the base.

Very classy this spot…lots of vision applied here

Into the Upper Yard now

Nice bins

Stamping Building been given a makeover ahead of the EU Presidency in 2013. [Cue: Car parking to remain unharmed – collective sigh of public sector relief].

Frenzied activity in Dublin Castle at the moment as they race to get the complex ready for the upcoming EU Presidency. Quite why things have been left to the last minute is beyond me. The Presidency roadshow arrives on 1st Jan although its likely that meetings wont be held for a few weeks yet. Still why all this wasn’t done months ago is beyond me.

Miriam Lord laments the passing of the Tribunal Chamber in today’s Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1220/1224328043912.html

The former Tribunal Offices in the Stamping Building have been refurbished to provide a new conference venue for the various EU meetings. Too miserable of a day in Dublin today to make photos…perhaps Graham will treat us to some nice images once its all complete. The most disappointing aspect of the refurb is the outside where acres and acres of lovely white shiny Chinese granite appears to have been laid. Surely – it this spot of all spots – Leinster granite could have been used!

While at the moment the Lower Yard is emptier than usual of cars…thee haven’t gone away you know. The works appear to be facilitating car parking spaces (i.e. business as usual) rather than radically redefining the Lower Yard and creating a more fitting entrance to one of the State’s most eminent buildings. All will be revealled next week perhaps…once the workmen have gone.

My apologies….closer examination reveals that it is not acres of white Chinese granite. Thats only for trimming. The rest is pour concrete.

Meanwhile on Cork Hill…

The humble bollard marches ever on in Dublin…

The Printworks Building/Stamping Building refurbishment is descending into farce…as is the general presentation of the Castle in advance of presidency events. I shall try and get some image later, although the opportunities to access the Castle are much reduced due to security.

The plastic green banner placed everywhere on entrances look awful! The painted green panels within the Stamping Building itself are woeful. Work still ongoing to dig-up and…do something…to the Lower Castle Yard. A terribly misguided scheme. The Castle continues to accumulate cheap junk at an alarming rate..much like its surrounding city environs. The cause of the quality city centre is lost.

Great work there, lads :wtf:

It really is heart breaking to see such a piss poor job done at the most important state-owned buildings in the capital, which are to be the focus of the EU presidency.

Dublin Castle is “Dublin’s Louvre”, containing numerous museums, state apartments, etc.

If they can’t get it right here, what chance elsewhere?

The quality of the work is simply shockingly bad, an must be obvious to even the most casual observer. The ghastly plastic bollards round off a bloody awful job perfectly – cheap, garish, and nasty – right beside Thomas Cooley’s City Hall, arguably the capitals finest building. Awful.

The government has apparently placed enormous emphasis on tourism, with both “The Gathering” and the Tourism Recovery Task Force.

What is the purpose of these initiatives for if they allow such shoddy, sloppy, unhelpful work at the State’s main historic venue of the EU Presidency?

They would have much been better to leave alone. I won’t even bother mentioning removing the central feature continuing to be a surface car park.

The only good side to this is that should NGO put in a complaint to Europe regarding Irish authorities’ general dereliction of architectural heritage protection, at least some of the EU officials will have seen the standards with their own eyes.

Really, shame on them. Shame on them completely.

Re the bollards on Cork Hill – the desired traffic calming and pedestrian improvement could have juts as easily been facilitated by placing three smart planter boxes along the same stretch of streetway. Vastly cheaper and much more attractive that this traffic engineer’s mess.

Cant really understand how to affect change in this city anymore. How to even explain to ‘the powers that be’ why the above is so utterly awful.

Dame Street, which was substantially repaved last year is now lined with just under 200 bollards between College Green and Cork Hill…I started counting ( I know!) and gave up at about 170. Say each costs €100 each – thats 20k…and that’s not including the costs of installing them. And that’s only one street. Of course, we also have bollards beside signage poles beside litter bins…beside (a couple of random) lamp stands beside flag poles…watch out for the sandwich boards. The City Council’s objectives in the development plan to de-clutter remains ignored (one imagines everyone in DCC thinks they are adding attractive elements to the street) while the Public Realm Strategy….that’s a good one.

Back to the Castle…vile branding everywhere. All that crap ‘interpretive signage’ everywhere (as details above), forest of flag poles in Upper Yard. Cant wait for the Woodies planters to arrive in a few weeks once the workmen are gone.

Some images of the ongoing Aer Lingus backoffice being developed off Dame Street in “the heart of historic Dublin…”

Brought to us now doubt by the people who look after this other big beast of Dublin’s built heritage.

And soon we will be enjoying yet another Washington melodrama, the sequel to last year’s smash hit, the “debt ceiling crisis”. In some ways, this is even more misleading than the fiscal cliff – ceilings that are traditionally raised a few feet on an annual basis to accommodate more storage space and the like are a rare architectural feature.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2013/0105/1224328445976.html

Well at last some sense being brought to the ‘longstanding practice’ of parking in the Lower Yard and one can imagine the consternation and chatter being generated around the collective water coolers of the OPW, Revenue, Gardai etc who all share the Castle complex.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2013/0119/1224329047301.html

The removal of parking has been long sought and its to be welcomed. The recent works to the Printworks building have really shown how spacious the yard area is and how pleasant the Castle environs are to explore without dodging cars.

I also note that some of the dodgy elements highlighted in photos above…broken signage at the former shop, the woodies planters etc, have been removed and a modicum of consistency has bee applied to signage, lighting etc.

Its not possible to get in to the Castle now of course. Public will have to wait until July to experience the Castle again.

Members of a bemused and puzzled citizenry are currently asking (on Twitter) what this bizzare construction is on Corke Hill….

Aah bollox….this photobucket melarky is getting to be a pain. I shall forward said tweet to Mr Clerkin.

A large permanent bollard? the second coming of “The Tomb of the Unknown Gurrier”?

Saw them build something similar on the same spot before Christmas, but it disappeared underground (foundations maybe?) – best guess on Twitter is a base for flag poles, however extravegant it may seem

Yes, it is a 1m high podium for three flagpoles. To be faced with ‘plaques’. The mind boggles…
One assumes of course that the previously installed bollards and signs above stay in place.

A stag party pissoire in other words!

It looks like something to stop a ram raid maybe they should take the more subtle crown casino approach… Now they are charging for water…

Its really rather depressing to witness that hulk being erected on Cork Hill but few people seem to mind and so I suppose I must accept the the wishes of my betters in the City Council and get used to it. It certainly didn’t merit the need for planning permission or any views other than those of the Roads Department (one hopes that guys in City Architects and the supposed Public Realm Team) had nothing to do with this).

Elsewhere, the pedestrian gate to the Castle, which was festooned with tacky but temporary plaques to “celebrate” the Eu Presidency has also got a new lighting scheme…blue uplighters (to match the gaudy show in St Patrick’s Hall). Very cool and contemporary.

An Taisce have now made an objection to Dublin City Council regarding the ‘temporary’ hulking Lump that has been erected at Cork Hill.

http://www.antaisce.ie/Press/AnTaisceRelatedNewsReleases/tabid/1024/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/259/WTF-are-Dublin-City-Council-doing-outside-City-Hall.aspx

I cant imagine but that this project cost in the region of €10k…including bollards, signs, and whatever is intended to clad The Lump. What a scandalous waste of money.

A recent FOI request by an Archiseek regular uncovered that works to erect a row of bollards along the western part of Parnell Square viewtopic.php?f=49&t=3777&start=125 in 2011 cost in the region of €20k and that the average bollard costs €150-€200.

Nerdy me counted the number on Dame Street after the recent street improvements/ reinforcement of status quo late last year and I counted approx 250….thats 50k worth of bollards alone. No money for seats on the street for the elderly, no money for improved and attractive street lighting, no money for trees, no money for planting, no money to make an effort to rein in the vomit of signage and unauthorised crap that is accumulating on the street these past few months….but €50k to waste on bollards and another €10k (I assume) to waste on this rubbish.

Your City: Your Space be damned… perhaps Your Space: Our Waste is more apt

Dear Councillor
In relation to your query about the works adjacent to City Hall these are temporary works that were carried out for the purpose of traffic management aimed at increasing pedestrian safety at this location. The matter had become more urgent due to the increased volumes of traffic arising from the use of Dublin Castle during EU Presidency. The extent of the works and there purpose deemed them to be exempt from requring planning consent. These temporary works will include a plaque which will offset the hard concrete finish. It is intended to address the issue of pedestrian safety in a more permanent manner through the design process which will also go through a formal statutory planning procedure. I hope this clarifies the matter for you and dont hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.
Regards
Jim

Jim Keogan | Executive Manager | Planning and Economic Development

Why not pedestrianise the street and allow official vehicles only? A rising single bollard could take care of that.

Deckhands wanted: Apply within

Its due to have a plaque or stone facing saying “Dublin Castle” attached.

It looks nice doesnt it. It really adds to what is a very dingy part of town with, lets face it, very few flagpoles.

It is an indicator of just how low standards have fallen in the city that one becomes immune to tragic developments of this kind. The bunker fits in seamlessly with the primitive approach to public realm ‘improvement’ in this district over the past year, and the general tumbling of presentation and shop use standards on Dame Street over the same period.

This farce of a mammoth dig has been going on since before Christmas (where the shuttering collapsed so much concrete went into it), yet only now that it has emerged from the ground that it is causing ripples amongst the public, and – from my understanding of matters from the past week – shock waves of paper-pushing and frantic measures of obfuscation on the part of multiple officials. What an outrageous waste of public funds, of damage to a hyper-sensitive urban ensemble, and a shocking environmental impact to boot – pouring lorry loads of concrete into a temporary structure.

Apparently this yoke, supporting ghastly flagpoles topped out with Kelly Green finials, located in the midst of one of the few internationally significant street scenes left in the capital, has not only come from the same authority, but the very office of the authors of our Public Realm Streategy. So frightening that it’s GUBU stuff.

It is so ridiculous, I can’t construct a coherent response, and I am trying. :clap:

Concrete !! ?

I’m living overseas now, but I have been concerned over the last couple of years by the lack of output of one of the neighbours of this monstrosity, namely Frank McDonald. In the old days, this kind of stuff would have received at least a mention from the IT’s environment correspondent, but I’m not sure that it has. Has it? (Internet IT version different to the real thing).

I continue to be angry about this abomination. Having spoken to various people, most are quite simply appalled by the lump. I estimated at the time that the works would cost around €10k – a significant amount that would easily allow for trees to be planted or planters to be set out somewhere deserving (like Thomas Street for example, currently begging for enhancement). I have now heard figures (coming from within Dublin City Council) of €50,000 and €100,000. Astonishing figures..though they might well refer to the whole project which includes a permanent feature here…this being a ‘temporary’ structure. I have asked a city Councillor to inquire about the cost.

I know that the Council was discussing with the NTA in 2011 on funding for a project here that would address the perceived dangerous nature of the crossing. This measure is apparently temporary although how temporary has not been clarified – Dublin has a history of the temporary that becomes permanent.

However, that this project emitted from Dublin City Architects Division (as I am led to understand)… the same promoters of a Public Realm Strategy (Your City – Your Space!) and a bid for World Design Capital is astonishing. This project displays such fundamental ignorance of the space that it is set within. It just beggars belief that it could have been progressed and that it brought so little critical thinking…from people who publicly profess such knowledge and understanding of this city and other cities.

Perhaps Dublin’s sizable division of city architects should pay more attention at the Venice Bieniale.

Its only a lump of concrete….a small traffic measure. Surely we shouldn’t get so exercised. But it represents all that is wrong with our City Authorities.

I am sure Frank McDonald is as weary and fed up as all the rest of us at this stage. He is probably wondering how many times he needs to raise issue like this.

And the bollards are still there, presumably to stop people driving into the concrete, as well as a line of reflectors, presumably to stop people driving into the bollards.

You couldn’t make this stuff up!

The official response of the City Council to various concerns raised by pesky citizens

Press Statement DCC

16th February, 2013.

Statement re temporary traffic management works adjacent to City Hall

A temporary traffic management structure has been erected adjacent to City Hall at the junction of Lord Edward Street/ Cork Hill. It has three flagpoles erected on top and two plaques referencing City Hall and Dublin Castle. As the structure is temporary it was designed to minimise excavation and ground disturbance.

The structure is intended to change traffic behaviour at this location as a precursor to the development of permanent design proposals for this area. The proposed permanent works will be the subject of a Part 8 process to be considered by the City Council. The present structure will be removed and replaced by the proposals when approved.

The impetus for the temporary proposal came from discussions with the OPW when they requested assistance in their management of Castle Street as a forecourt to the Upper Yard of Dublin Castle during Ireland’s presidency of the EU. These traffic management issues had been identified as more urgent due to the increased volumes of traffic arising from the use of Dublin Castle during EU Presidency.

The temporary structure was discussed with a number of departments internally including the Conservation Office and while acknowledging its temporary nature were most concerned to ensure that the permanent proposals would be fully discussed and developed in the context of the Part 8 process. Whereas the present temporary structure deals primarily with the issue of traffic management and pedestrian safety, there are a number of other issues relating to this general area which will have to be addressed by the permanent proposals.

Dublin City Council Roads Design Department had carried out a feasibility study on traffic and pedestrian management on Castle Street which proposed significant footpath widening at the junction of Castle Street and Dame Street. This work will form part of the Part 8 proposal.

It is desirable to provide a fully accessible main entrance to City Hall (present disabled access is via the lower ground floor café entrance at Bernardo Square) The provision of universal access to City Hall is achievable on the Cork Hill elevation, subject to conservation considerations of the works involved. Equally the provision of disability access to the Rates Office is achievable via the existing door on Castle Street, again subject to conservation considerations of the works involved. The remodelling of levels to achieve universal access to both buildings will form part of the Part 8 proposal.

The provision of a vehicular set down area for City Hall needs to be considered as part of the Part 8 proposal.

The provision of disabled car parking spaces and the appropriate route from them to City Hall needs to be considered as part of the Part 8 proposal.

It is envisaged that the permanent paving material for Cork Hill/Castle Street will be Leinster Granite similar to that used recently on Palace Street. Fair-faced concrete was used for the traffic management structure as it is temporary.

ENDS

And some quite interesting discussion on the issue on JoeeeeDuffyyy on Friday 15th Feb

The Plinth for the Skint

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/

@StephenC wrote:

The official response of the City Council to various concerns raised by pesky citizens

Press Statement DCC

16th February, 2013.

Statement re temporary traffic management works adjacent to City Hall

A temporary traffic management structure has been erected adjacent to City Hall at the junction of Lord Edward Street/ Cork Hill. It has three flagpoles erected on top and two plaques referencing City Hall and Dublin Castle. As the structure is temporary it was designed to minimise excavation and ground disturbance.

The structure is intended to change traffic behaviour at this location as a precursor to the development of permanent design proposals for this area. The proposed permanent works will be the subject of a Part 8 process to be considered by the City Council. The present structure will be removed and replaced by the proposals when approved.

The impetus for the temporary proposal came from discussions with the OPW when they requested assistance in their management of Castle Street as a forecourt to the Upper Yard of Dublin Castle during Ireland’s presidency of the EU. These traffic management issues had been identified as more urgent due to the increased volumes of traffic arising from the use of Dublin Castle during EU Presidency.

The temporary structure was discussed with a number of departments internally including the Conservation Office and while acknowledging its temporary nature were most concerned to ensure that the permanent proposals would be fully discussed and developed in the context of the Part 8 process. Whereas the present temporary structure deals primarily with the issue of traffic management and pedestrian safety, there are a number of other issues relating to this general area which will have to be addressed by the permanent proposals.

Dublin City Council Roads Design Department had carried out a feasibility study on traffic and pedestrian management on Castle Street which proposed significant footpath widening at the junction of Castle Street and Dame Street. This work will form part of the Part 8 proposal.

It is desirable to provide a fully accessible main entrance to City Hall (present disabled access is via the lower ground floor café entrance at Bernardo Square) The provision of universal access to City Hall is achievable on the Cork Hill elevation, subject to conservation considerations of the works involved. Equally the provision of disability access to the Rates Office is achievable via the existing door on Castle Street, again subject to conservation considerations of the works involved. The remodelling of levels to achieve universal access to both buildings will form part of the Part 8 proposal.

The provision of a vehicular set down area for City Hall needs to be considered as part of the Part 8 proposal.

The provision of disabled car parking spaces and the appropriate route from them to City Hall needs to be considered as part of the Part 8 proposal.

It is envisaged that the permanent paving material for Cork Hill/Castle Street will be Leinster Granite similar to that used recently on Palace Street. Fair-faced concrete was used for the traffic management structure as it is temporary.

ENDS

Hang on. So the planned use of Leinster granite is to replace what exactly?

Are they planning to tear up the cobbles to provide a pathway for disabled access?

That’s what I’m getting from this, as it would be inconceivable to pull up the existing historic slabs only to replace them. Or probably not.

I’m all for disabled access to public buildings, but in such a sensitive area which affords one of the few unchanged views of Dublin, surely we can dispense with rules and regualtions and simply provide a when-required ramp to and from the building without ripping up what’s left of this precious area. I mean, we wouldn’t widen the chamber at Newgrange to accomodate wheelcahir access would we?

Again, this ‘temporary’ installation reeks of the old trojan horse to me. I’m sure whatever eventually emerges here will be better than what’s there currently, but only when viewed against the vast concrete bulk that by then will have become a part of the fabric of the city.

A few granite bollards, connected by chains would provide the traffic calming that seems to be so required here, and disabled access could easily be accomodated with a portable ramp or whatever.

But I’m no city planner.

Would agree with Punchbowl, Cork Hill needs a bit of repair [a lot more since this concrete podium went in], not a large scale re-design.

Quote from Dublin City Council Press Office Statement:

’The impetus for the temporary proposal came from discussions with the OPW when they requested assistance in their management of Castle Street as a forecourt to the Upper Yard of Dublin Castle during Ireland’s presidency of the EU.’

That is a fair point, I suppose.

Who could have predicted that our turn at the EU presidency would have come around again out of the blue like that, or that the state would want to use Dublin Castle again of all places? These guys are employed to run the city, not to be clairvoyant.

…although it has been suggested to me that OPW ‘knew nothing’ of this project (as they also appeared to be ignorant of the Palace Street works). They possibly weren’t even aware of it until it was constructed, as, you see, the vehicular entrance for staff to the Castle is to the rear via Ship Street and unless you were passing by this in your car on your way home to Termonfeckin then you wouldnt even know it was there, right?

Yes, it does appear that we are to be treated to a wholesale ‘redesign’ of Cork Hill including:

“The provision of a vehicular set down area for City Hall …and…The provision of disabled car parking spaces and the appropriate route from them to City Hall [that] needs to be considered as part of the Part 8 proposal.”

I’d say that the world city of design architects in DCC are considering lifting the cobbles and building out the pavement with new Leinster granite. The original configuration wont be touched because this is how such stone is preserved ‘in situ’ as with Palace Street (although the huge sections of granite butchered and removed elsewhere in the city tell a different story). This new public realm with be treated to a line of bollards (the smarter cast iron bollards cause this is a VIP area). All of this at great expense as befits such an important space.

The options of granite bollards with chains across the mouth of the street couldn’t possibly work here… there’s no precedent in the city (oh wait St Stephen Green) and as for simple planter boxes…naah much to low key.

Meanwhile take a walk further along Castle Street and admire the shit condition of the road surface (probably all cobbles underneath the now broken tarmac), admire the cheap lighting and myriad bollards that impede the narrow pavement. Admire the OPW-owned substation half way down that is a regular rubbish tip. Admire the surface carpark for state employees next door. Admire the historic Castle Steps which are NOT wheelchair accessible…..have to do something there. Pop around the corner to Werburgh Street where the lovely church there languishes for a bit of loving care and imagine the difference €10k of the budget for the temporary structure on Cork Hill might make here. Walk further down to the wasteland space (this way since the Brits left probably) and admire the EU Presidency Media Centre in the back…what they must think. Walk around again onto Ship Street and admire the haphazard mess that was to have been resolved by DCC in 2005 under a long since forgotten framework plan.

An invitation from Dublin City Council Architects today…
http://www.dublincityarchitects.ie/?p=727#more-727

The temporary traffic calming works beside City Hall on Cork Hill have generated much comment. To reassure people, this is a temporary intervention and a precursor to a redesign of that space to address a number of issues: pedestrian safety, improving universal access to historic buildings and improving the public spaces which are ‘the ante-rooms’ for Dublin Castle.

Public interest and comment in how we make and manage public space is always welcome. As part of the design of the longer term proposal we are holding a public workshop at which design professionals, or anyone with an interest in the design of the public realm, can input their ideas as to how the complex demands of today’s public realm can be accommodated in this sensitive historic landscape.

So why change the landscape at all? The main driver for redesigning the public realm of Cork Hill is to improve pedestrian safety, but in achieving a redesign the opportunity exists to provide universal access to City Hall and the Rates Office (Newcomen Bank) from Castle Street, neither of which have satisfactory arrangements at present. There is also an opportunity to greatly improve the experience of this space by creating an ‘ante-room’ for Dublin Castle, similar to the recent landscaping of Palace Street.

The permanent works which follow will be the subject of a ‘Part 8′ planning application process to be considered by the City Council. It is intended that proposals for the Part 8 will be published for consultation in April 2013 with a view to seeking approval July 2013. Pending this, works could commence late 2013/early 2014.

We are planning the workshop at the moment, to take place in March, with the date and venue to be announced shortly. The workshop will be open to both design professionals and non-designers and if you’d like to participate then please email design@dublincity.ie.

cynic’s alert – the architects department only doing this because of all the flak they have been getting over it – pr exercise

Dublin City Council are intent on ruining this space in my view. They have repeatedly shown themselves to be ignorant of the quality of spaces around the city. Palace Street (completed last year) is hardly anything to congratulate them on. Nicely paved to be sure but then along comes the obligatory ugly street lamp, topedo bollards, flagpoles and regulation signage.

And the same will happen at Castle Street, rest assured.

I agree with you Paul…this is just a cynical PR exercise to ‘reassure’ people after City ‘Architects’ designed that monstrosity that’s sitting on the street now. Lots of engaged and enthusiastic (and probably unemployed) people sitting around with superannuated dodos who don’t want to listen to anyone. Design agreed (with public) and proceeded with. Space wrecked as Roads Dept get their hands on it and litter the space with signs, bollards and various other clutterage ‘in accordance with the Traffic Signs Manual’ and the Part M officer over-designs ramps within an inch of their lives. Still at least we will have the Malton print nearby to remind us of what was.

I’ve seen this before last year at the workshop on Historic Surfaces in the city. Engineers who didn’t see any irony in telling me that they ‘looked at this in the 1980s’ sitting around feigning interest in other people enthusiasm for our city’s heritage. Engineers unable to problem-solve their way out of a paper bag.

And judging by this eyesore on Cork Hill…engineers masquerading as Senior Architects. It would be nice if the ‘designer’ of the carbuncle took some credit. Why remain faceless?

I’ll leave them to this one.

Always good to start the week with a decent grumble, Stephen, get Monday off on the right foot.

The Palace Street re-paving is over-designed IMO and, even acknowledging that the Poddle runs under there somewhere, it’s incoherent, but reasonably well executed, as is the lower end of Smithfield, finally. The discovery that cobble stones don’t need to be re-set in buckets of tar is a major civic breakthrough, we have to take the positives where we can.

On the Cork Hill thing; they might say it’s all temporary and it’ll be gone in a few months, but you can’t tell me they just happened to made it Guinness-barge-shaped just by chance!

Cork Hill is a particular case, it could be argued that the rational for the great sweeping bend around City Hall largely vanished when Lord Edward Street was cut through the west side of the street to continue Dame Street straight up to Christchurch, but that shouldn’t mean that the street pattern which survived that intervention for more than a century doesn’t still have value.

Shaw’s depiction of the west side of Cork Hill in 1850

If there is a pedestrian safety issue here, which I’m not convinced there is, just put in a pedestrian crossing, from corner to corner, [in Basalt and Granite rather than tar and paint] and get on with restoring the cobbles on Castle Street, as should have been done fifteen years ago.

Providing invalid access to buildings on a street that already exceeds the maximum permissible invalid access gradient is going to be an interesting exercise . . . good luck with that.

Questions.

Why does Cork Hill need to have a one way flow in that direction? Why not reverse the flow (eliminating 99% of the traffic) and require anyone having to drop at or enter the Castle to come up past the Lord Edward pub and back down to the Castle. No pedestrian risk then.

Alternatively close one end of it completely with a kerbed footpath – Better the invention at ground level than eyelevel.

I dunno, cul-de-sacking Castle Street seems like over-kill to me, at least in terms of the scale of the perceived pedestrian peril that’s seems to have suddenly arisen here.

About that revamp of the Companies Office building in the Lower Castle Yard . . .

normally, I’d be all for a bit of minimalist landscaping, but come on . . . . one single, solitary, tree!

If ever there was a case for twenty five Leylandii, surely this is it.

Some more information on the carbuncle in today’s Irish Times….

Heritage group An Taisce has written to Dublin City Council to formally complain about a new concrete slab erected beside City Hall and to request its removal.

It says the structure, which is eight metres long and has three flagpoles, is “highly injurious” to the setting of City Hall, the main entrance to Dublin Castle and the former Newcomen Bank (now the Rates Office), all protected buildings.

“This is one of the city’s iconic architectural ensembles featuring in a Malton print [from the late 18th century] and State visit arrivals to Dublin Castle,” An Taisce’s heritage officer, Ian Lumley, said in the letter.

Cllr Mannix Flynn called it a “carbuncle” while bloggers on politics.ie branded it an “eyesore”, an “appalling erection that toppled over” and an “over-engineered traffic redirection solution”.

Temporary structure

A spokesman for the council said the slab was a “temporary structure aimed at increasing pedestrian safety” at the junction of Cork Hill and Castle Street “due to the increased traffic volumes at this location during the EU presidency”.

A source in the Office of Public Works, which is responsible for Dublin Castle, said it had made representations to the council to pedestrianise Palace Street and Castle Street. “Palace Street has already been done and we suggested that something should be built to divert traffic away from Castle Street,” the source said. “I don’t like the look and feel of it, but welcome the idea of giving the street back to pedestrians.”

Hazard to pedestrians

City architect Ali Grehan said the hazard to pedestrians of left-turning traffic on Cork Hill had been identified in an initial report on traffic management options for Castle Street, prepared by the council’s roads design division in August 2011.

In her report to the council, she said the concrete structure had been designed to provide a “visual backdrop” for a row of bollards extending half-way across the entrance to Castle Street to “ensure a change of behaviour of drivers in making the left turn”. Ms Grehan said it was considered that bollards alone would not achieve this purpose. Possible ways of “softening” the slab, which cost €15,000 to build, were being considered in response to concerns expressed by councillors.

Noting that it would cost about €4,000 to remove the slab, she said it would remain in place until a permanent solution was approved. However, Mr Lumley maintained there was “no basis” for the council’s claim that the slab, as a “temporary structure”, did not need to go through a consent process under part 8 of the 2000 Planning Act. He also claimed it was “a waste of public money”.

Interesting points here: councillors concerns are taken on board but not those of the public it seems (my email to the Council remains unanswered two weeks later).

Slab costs 15k (to build) plus 4k to remove and unspecified amount to ‘soften’. I will be VERY interested to see what softening measures are put on place.

Also OPW: How exactly does this lump ‘give the street back to pedestrians’.

The workshop to help Dublin City Architects Division to create a suitable ante-room to the Castle at this location takes place on 15th March if anyone is interested in participating. A detailed knowledge of the limitations and design restrictions imposed by the DoE Traffic Signs Manual would be most advantageous. An ignorance of the value of historic street surfaces, rare cobbled and setted surfaces, and good urban design principles would also be beneficial.

Upcoming design workshop: Cork Hill’s public realm

Made another pilgrimage to it today and I’m glad to report that they have indeed ‘softened’ it up – by surrounding it with a dozen or so crush barriers.

imho this put in to stop speeding EU pres limos

Council architect Brian Swan’s handywork on Cork Hill continues to reverberate and a public workshop to discuss the redesign of this lovely little space looks to be a very interesting and passionate affair.

Dublin Civic Trust have released this highly detailed and informed opinion piece on the what might happen…well worth a read.

http://www.dublincivictrust.ie/news-entry.php?title=redesign-of-cork-hill-demands-highest-level-of-design-consideration&post=1362662781

Dublin City Council Architects Division held its workshop on a redesign for Cork Hill on Friday 15th March. The workshop was reasonably attended – approx 50 people although a good 50% of those were City Council staff (no planners though). Perhaps the date for the workshop was an issue – the Friday before bank holiday weekend.

The morning was both interesting and unsatisfying. Proceedings started off with architect Brian Swan who designed the present carbuncle on the street, giving an overview of the rationale behind the push to reinvent the three key entrances into Dublin Castle – Palace Street (done), Cork Hill/ Castle Street (being buggered?), and Ship Street (for future buggering?). The Dubline, the rediscovery of the Castle, a bit of Fáilte Ireland money to do something, the needs of disabled (repeated throughout the morning), the needs of weddings and entertainment uses at Dublin City Hall, the fact that the Barnardos Square entrance isnt a very satisfactory approach to City Hall (no irony here), pedestrian safety at the junction, etc were all mentioned or alluded to.

There was no real explanation of the rationale for the existing €20k concrete structure other than that DCC wanted the ‘visual backdrop’ to reinforce the new traffic behaviour on this junction and OPW or rather the Castle Management (more dysfunction) wanted the flags to complement all the expensive and tacky branding that has been vomited over every surface of the Castle for the EU presidency.

Brian Swan gave an uninspiring and bland presentation and was careful not to let skip the vaguest whiff of imagination or understanding of the place on his part. Nice guy when I met him…but I am worried about what he might have in store for this street.

Next up Nicki Matthews, the Council’s Conservation Officer. Lots of lovely old images showing the Castle in its various guises and many showing the relative unchanged nature of Cork Hill over the centuries. Nicki made an ambiguous pitch for sensitive change to the street by referring to the various criteria used to assess a protected structure (and of course no one mentioned that this section of streetscape was previously listed in City Development Plans)…cultural, scientific, social etc. What Nicki didnt really elaborate on was issue the materials and their increasing rarity in the city, which I think is quite relevant. These sections of setted streets, well-laid swathes of Leinster granite paving, fanned corners, steps, etc have been lost to a shameful and alarming degree in the city and no one has really explained why and how and where all this valuable material went. The rush to adapt every section of streetscape to universal access, or make every space vandal-proof, or the overarching need for everywhere to have a ‘use’ is creating a much blander and less interesting city in my view…certainly I don’t expect to see a Spanish Steps in Dublin during my lifetime.

Cork Hill is only a small section of street, and incidental space for many. Yet it has managed to avoid redesign and serious neglect for most of the 20th century, which is no mean feat in this city of philistines.

Anyhow after the formalities we broke into groups to discuss what we liked about the space, what it meant to Dubliners, what value redesigning the space would be to Dubliners, etc etc. There was some good discussion at my table. Next up were asked to address the needs of various ‘personas’ who might use the street. Each table was given 2 – ours were Ann the event coordinator using City Hall on a daily basis and all the challenges that that brought and Dave the DHL man who loved using Castle Street as a rat run and convenient parking spot. This section was perhaps the most unsatisfying and distracting element because actually what everyone might have liked to do was just get their thinking caps on and put their thoughts to papers.

What emerged for me from the day was:

That this place will be redesigned and I am not sure it will be to its benefit. It will probably follow what happened on Palace Street and I don’t really have faith in City Architects to execute anything exceptional or inspiring at this location.

Perhaps Castle Street may finally be considered as part of a redesign and that issues such as excessive through-traffic (rat running), on street parking, coach parking, pavement quality, poor land use on the street, the sadly underused secondary entrance to Dublin Castle and the Castle Steps, the vacant and litter-strewn OPW owned site at the corner of Castle Steps and Castle Street, the derelict substation (also OPW owned), the lack of access into St Werburgh’s graveyard etc, might now be on people’s radar. But this seems a big ask and the red line will always win above an holistic approach to an important historic character area.

That there really in the City Council isn’t any real interest in valuable older materials in the city – whether setts, paving, streetlamps etc. The more I read council design documents such as the Public Realm Strategy or ACAs the more ‘contemporary’ jumps out at me. Its not that I don’t value good contemporary design…I do. Its just that in Dublin this seems to mean removing older materials and replacing with cheap granite or concrete or temporary materials and catalogue bought street furniture (and lots of it) rather than working with older materials and updating spaces using these high quality features. The comments of one table which included ‘dare to be different’ , ‘defy convention’, ‘avoid pastiche’ (in street surfaces?), ‘boo to trees’ etc was rather ironic. Its precisely because most follow this shallow thinking that we have such bland functional traffic dominated streets all over the city and very few curious and intimate little spaces such as Cork Hill.

The OPW in Dublin Castle are as bad and as muddled in their thinking and lack of understanding of the place. Witness the way money has been spent in the past year.

The laymen at the workshop…those of us not in DCC… brought up novel ideas such as shared space, greater pedestrian priority on Castle Street that might encourage greater use on the street; that when Barnardos Sq and the remaining plaza is redesigned here (i.e. the concrete toadstools removed) AND if the entrance here was made more attractive and inviting that perhaps those of us less-able might not feel at all uncomfortable using this entrance and its lift instead of pushing ourselves up Cork Hill to a great new ugly ramp tacked onto the side of our City Hall. As someone said, disable people have an appreciation of aesthetic and good design too you know!

So anyhow it was a worthwhile event. What is interesting to me is the degree to which social media is influencing what going on in the city. The fact that some people got angry on Twitter etc about this was worthwhile because the project has had to be rethought. Old habit don’t die hard though….in his closing remarks Brian Swan made a big to-do about how the Architects would now need to engage with all those city councillors who had expressed concerns about the waste of money and vandalism of public space that took place here. No mention of the humble citizens to drove the debate on this issue. They don’t require an explanation.

Of course, not one city councillor was at the workshop.

A Part VIII is expected later in the year.

An earlier attempt at traffic calming on Cork Hill

this one from 1920 using the WW1 motif of X-frames and barbed wire

it was considered but didnt cost enough and you couldnt fit flagpoles on.

And the army wanted overtime….

Another one of those news cuttings from 1975 reporting on plans for a hurried Corpo face-lift of semi-derelict Palace Street ahead of an EEC summit in Dublin Castle.

You have to sympathize with the Corpo, if only we knew ahead of time when these things were going to happen.

Aaah yes the civic pride of our Corpo of yesteryear. You’d never get this kind of carry on now would you?

Fascinating collection you have there Mr gunter.

Typically of the time, the Palace Street / Dame Street block stood semi-demolished for years as the 1975 newspaper piece says, rather than being quickly demolished to widen out the street … What a sorry saga Dublin was back then … Here is a grab from a clip of 8mm film taken about 1970 – from of all places a menu bar in the 2003 Led Zeppelin retrospective DVD – where you can see the same situation as in the pic in the newspaper clipping, with buildings demolished to first-floor level (following fire in the case of the corner building(s)) plus maybe one or two of the terrace still standing at the City Hall end:

From Dublin city libraries:

A Part VIII planning application has been lodged to convert the ground floor of 3 Palace Street (so called ‘robocop’ building) to use as a Dubline visitor centre, and to redesign Barnardos Square

http://www.dublincity.ie/swiftlg/apas/run/WPHAPPDETAIL.DisplayUrl?theApnID=2937/13&backURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=1997591%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E%20%3E%20%3Ca%20href=’wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=2448151%26StartIndex=1%26SortOrder=APNID%26DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES%26BackURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=1997591%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E’%3ESearch%20Results%3C/a%3E

AKA “We’ve no idea what else to do with a building we should never have built”.

A couple of interesting comments on this application. Submissions now closed.

@Punchbowl wrote:

Deckhands wanted: Apply within

This ‘humble’ addition to Ireland’s EU presidency is to finally be removed the weekend after next. €20k later.

Did they just put it up so the ministerial drivers would know where to go?

“Just past Robocop, take a left at the flags.”

The real reason for these flag poles was “security issues”

They’re probably historic now… we should save them…

nailed it

great work lads. Time for a Bulmers

As If It Had Never Been There