Dundalk

Reading the Development Plan, as with probably every town in Ireland it is the LA’s aim to preserve and consolidate the existing town centre. It could be argued that the The Marshes is actually in the town centre – just ‘blocked’ as it were by Francis Street which gives another impression.
When the Long Walk opened, the Celtic Tiger just hadn’t taken off as expected – never in a million years would it have been predicted that British multiples would be setting up left right and centre around the country.
Hence the Long Walk was only built to cater for local businesses, with a couple of national brands to boot – all tiny box units with no capacity for larger stores.

So I can see the appeal and genuine need for building a new centre, but it is a heck of a waste of development on many levels with the Long Walk – built in the lull before the storm.

As for the new centre, admittedly you cannot help but be charmed by the design, in that all the ‘traditional’ elements are by definition immediately familar and welcoming – but good God the sheer scale of the ‘pastichity’ is just mind-blowing. It is a theme park, no question, not least as it genuinely sets out to accurately reproduce the architecture of old. There’s more beautiful sash windows in this building than there is in the entire historic centre of the town!!

This is literally a monster of a metal box clad in a myriad of architectural idioms, most on the same mile-long facade!
It was built to evoke a ‘traditional streetscape’, but clearly that of a provincial Italian town. They don’t do Palladio like that in this country any more, indeed they never did.

Haven’t been able to bring myself to take pictures of it, as it’s much worse than previously thought!
What looked like a fantasically outlandish ‘genuine’ reproduction scheme 🙂 has turned out to be truly appalling – quite literally it is the architecture of Disneyland. This comparison is always bandied about, but it is 100% correct in this case – the huge main entrance portico from the car park even has the audacity to use fluted Corinthian columns, which look so laughably out of place in a provincial Irish town it has to be seen to be believed. And as for the proportions 😮
Pics soon – only your’re paying for the cracked lens right?

Murray O’Laoire’s building looks rather glum and corporate from the main elevation, like an American inner city hospital. From a distance though it looks well running along the landscape, being located in what is a very flat region (other than the Cooleys). Ought to reflect the often steely sky and generally glum weather conditions round here.
Hard to make out the facade treatment.

lol – they accept all types in there, so you could’ve gone down quite well 😀

Yes a great place from what I’ve heard (though I’ve never been in there), the building is really lovely from outside, whatever about the view looking out 😉 Suffers severe problems at very high tides though…

You think the shop owner is related to you?? Annnyway :), yes this building formed part of the old Carrolls Factory complex at the northern end of Clanbrassil Street.

It seems to be a Victorian building with later ground floor additions – probably used as the retail face of the company in the town. The Edwardian office building referred to is this gem next door:

Could it match the stereotype any more if it tried? 🙂
Note the 1909 inscription at the top – there was a big fire that year that resulted in much of the factory being refitted. The 1909 may refer to the time the building was designed rather than constructed as it would’ve taken at least a year to build.
Scandalously the priceless Edwardian office partitions with inscribed and patterned opaque glass were removed from (presumably) this building, either when or just before it was protected. They are now let’s just say ‘elsewhere’ in the Louth area.

A fine collection of buildings.

@ctesiphon wrote:

You seem reluctant to divulge…

I know nothing I tells ya – NOTHING!!!

*scurries for cover*

chances are they’re tarting up a pub somewhere.

You guess correctly 😉
They also fairly recently acquired sashes with original (1909-30s perhaps) gold Carrolls lettering on them, no doubt also from the factory complex, if not the very building above.
Alas I am forbidden by means of an embarrassingly unfortunate connection from mentioning any names…

*mutters* dammit, they’re going to find out the real reason St. Patrick’s altar table and lecturn were removed *mutters*

We’re slopping pints of Guinness over the altar cloth as we speak 😀

Ah the connection is by no means that close now – just enough to be uncomfortable 😮

Moving swiftly on, part of what seems to be the c1910 Carrolls factory building itself still stands – lovely (maybe later) steel windows:

Grand Willy Wonka gates too (that’s the third time he’s been mentioned here in as many days…)

But really, all smart-arsing aside, it is astonishing how the developers were allowed get away with such monstrous rubbish which one sees the centre in its entirely – it is a series of malls in a giant shed that have been pasted over with signature ‘buildings’ of traditional fluff, all linked together with ‘bridge blocks’ – quite literally brightly painted dolls house architecture with Tegral slates, which fill in the gaps between the pastiche ‘historic buildings’:

I mean what self-respecting architect would have the audacity to install Barbie gates in all of these blocks? They must have put themselves in theme park mode, and treated the whole scheme as a big joke – how else could you hold yourself together?
In all seriousness, is there any difference in the architecture above, and that of this house?

They’re remarkably similar!

To take a breather for a moment and pop inside, the building is made up of two/three double-height malls linked together by rotundas – all smothered in acres of polished stone tiles:

Nothing overly innovative save some LEDs set into the floor at the base of every pier:

The vast orangery building is occupied on the ground floor by little more than a few stands, hence you have to walk a substantial distance to get to the centre proper:

To correct an earlier statement, there is some new public seating in this area in the form of a lavish leather suite of furniture, but this is very limited, with nothing in the main malls or rotundas where people will need to sit.

Overall, the centre is architecturally such a disappointment to the exterior, whilst the interior, beautifully finished, looks nonetheless rather vulgar with the vast acres of stone, and feels wasteful with fans blasting away to heat huge double-height malls – you feel like you’re in some sort of mini ecosphere as garethace has referenced to before.

As a commerical building, it hits all the right spots – the people love the exterior, with the local paper saying ‘…crowds of shoppers all amazed at both the range of shops and the stunning architecture.’ And the project manager saying the style was chosen to reflect the ‘historic buildings of Dundalk’.

Think this sums it up:

Is there supposed to be a ? at the end of that just to be clear?

It was interesting to note the difference between the Dublin centres and Dundalk – in the capital security would pounce on you quicker than you could say cheese with a camera on their premises, but in Dundalk it’s a much more relaxed affair – they wander right past you wthout a care in the world! Similarly outside they just stroll aimlessly about, and even with the place crawling with secuity cameras – no interference.
Though maybe there will be after this 😉