GAS Building

Yes it looks woeful…….Like Busaras, Dublin Airport’s situation, most of those Robinson Keefe houses in Clontarf, the Carlton, and Scott’s House in Sandycove.. and the inside of Connolly station, which is sure to get trashed, even though the 30’s? (looking) signs and nice terazzo bits are great.

And would they ever clean up the DART stations………….those revolting brown tiles and bridges…….. and the RIAI yearbook…..what happened DESIGN?

Does anyone know about conservation of 20C buildings in Ireland? Like what is the youngest listed building?

Yes Snag

It’s very depressing. The interiors of the cinemas are long gone. Those brown aluminium
eclosures on the Dart bridges – I presume they were installed for safety?

There must be a better way of preserving the lovely style and make them safe. Surely?

I’d like an answer to your question too actually. I’m sure there are loads of recently listed 20c buildings. Wasn’t the inside of the IFC bar in Dublin listed or something? Then they tore it out and put in lots of cheap looking wood. “Yeah, to make it look OLD.”

Is there any practical way in which a pure admirer of architecture, not practising by any stretch, can help to put pressure where it matters in conservation and development matters?

John

Should winners of the AAI medal, or RIAI Gold Medal get automatic preservation status for their contribution to Irish Architecture and as representing the architectural debate at a particular time in the city. Building styles come in and out of Fashion with time, but it is good that examples are there for the future to explain the debate, rather than let them fall into a similar state as is happening to all of those Moderne buildings from the 30’s.

Yes, I’ve often wondered about that.

Hawkins House for example – should it be demolished? Even if in time [100 years or so – if it lasts that long] we don’t realise our ignorance and recognise what a daring and supreme work of art it was? [Unlikely – but who can tell…] Perhaps it will stand as a glaring example of cheap 60/70’s architecture
and we’l be lucky to have it. Even just for nostalgia value.

I mean, think of all the Roman buildings and Byzanitine churches in Rome that ‘Il Ruinante’ [Bramante] pulled down in the belief that his work was more worthy.

Granted, his Tempietto is lovely but what did he destroy to create it? Imagine if the Renaissance ideology had really seized Venice; the so-called Barbaric Byzantine Palaces may have been cleansed to make way for the ‘Correct’ Classical Style like Palladio’s Church on Saint Giorgio Maggiore.

We could have ended up in a Neo – Classical
world. Hitler would have loved that.

Anyway… blah blah… wind bag I could go on.

Basically I agree that examples of ALL architecture should probably be preserved. It’s apity we can’t designate an out of the way site and move them all there – like a theme park.

Perhaps the question is:

If we’re to keep just ONE of each – what do we pick, the best or the worst?

Have a great week-end all

John White

The 16th Century Romans apparently said of Donato Bramante :

“Do you know he’s going to re-build Heaven? But with better access roads.”

Bord Gáis sells D’Olier offices for excess Euro8m

BORD Gáis has sold its landmark showrooms/offices in Dublin’s D’Olier St to Trinity College for over Euro8m. The city centre property totals in excess of 3,542 sq m in three interconnecting buildings. TCD intends to accommodate an expanding school of nursing in the property.

The historic building occupies around a third of an acre and has been divided into three interconnecting buildings with extensive frontages to D’Olier St, Hawkins St and Leinster Market.

It was designed around 1928 by John J Robinson and RC Keefe in alliance with the Dublin Consumer Gas Company.

Jack Devlin of GVA Donal Buachall advised Bord Gáis Eireann on the disposal while TCD was advised by Paul McDowell of Ganly Walters.

TCD had to compete with a variety of other interested parties competing for the property. These included developers with plans for retail, office and residential development.

A number of publicans and hoteliers also considered the property, seeking to utilise its variety of architectural styles and fine interiors.

Each of the interconnecting buildings is designed in a different architectural style.

These vary from Victorian and English Tudor style through art deco and more modern elements.

I wonder if this is a good or a bad thing…Trinity College being its new owner. On the one hand they own some of the most inportant buildings in Dublin and (perhaps) have done their best to maintain them. On the other hand they have been much critcised for the state of repair of mny of their properties, eg Westland Row, Pearse Street Buildngs, Goldsmith House. I am not entirely happy that they should now add the GAS building complex and worse Forster Plance to this catalogue. They obviously have the resources to buy these peoperties and to commission new ones – lets hope they are willing to maintain them to a desirable standard.

tcd seems to have got better about maintence, it is currently cleaning westland row and the bits that are done look great, the real issue now is appropriate use, do they intend to retain the retail function of d’olier street part of the gas building, what about the AIB? they are also buying the lincoln inn pub, is it doomed to follow the other tcd lincoln place properties into disuse.

Has the AIB Foster Place branch closed yet?

This is a little bit late, but I called around to the gas building just before they closed it and took a host of photos (interior and exterior). There are good details of the windows as well as photos of the aforementioned ornamental “G”s from the porch. Just in case anyone wants a point of reference on this building.

And I tried to get up the stairs at the back, but the security guy wasn’t too keen.

re Hawkin’s House: I’ve seen old footage of the architectural models of this building and it looked like a fantastic project. I’m all to used to it now (I get the bus from Hawkins Street) and have some vague theories on why it’s become such a lost soul. They mainly revolve around “it might have been better built somewhere else” and “please maintain me”. These days it almost looks abandoned….