Grafton Street, Dublin
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The Grafton Street Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) is already unravelling. Many people probably noticed the enormous scaffold that Brown Thomas had erected over their entire premises fronting Grafton Street for the past month or so. Given the enormous expense of erecting such a structure along with all of the lavish attendant cosmetic installations to ease the pain at ground level, it was naturally assumed BTs as one of the capital’s flagship stores was making a substantial investment in their tired upper elevations – i.e. reinstating the original windows, putting back the Victorian cornice and roofline that were mauled in the 90s and now so blatently evident from the renovated M&S across the road, as well as general service rationalisation works.
What has just emerged however is a meagre wishy washy repainting job, but also crucially what is without question the installation of the most ignorant floodlighting job in the entire city. The principal Victorian facade has effectively been destroyed.
This is absolutely appalling stuff, for any building, let alone a Protected Structure in an ACA.
What individual in their right mind thought a fresh, pastelly, effeminate Victorian stucco facade could take ranks of projecting hulks of grey plastic without impacting on its architectural character?
While crude cabling has just been tacked right across the brick facades.
As for ground floor level. Classy.
While other windows have been pockmarked with yet more intrusive units instead of linear strips concealed behind the sills. Suffice to say none of the hideous mirror glass has been removed either.
And none of the original elegant fenestration of the main building has been reinstated, or its clunky 1990s bungalow roof structure altered to the original format with bracketed cornice.
c. 1930
Today
Also absolutely extraordinarily, Douglas Wallace’s exquisite egg-and-dart cornice of crisp Portuguese Moleanos limestone installed in the mid-1990s and until now part of arguably the best contemporary shopfront in the entire city has been painted over in gloss paint! 😮
This is just plain madness. What is going on here!? There seems to have been not so much as an iota of input from a planner on this job, let alone a conservation architect. What an absolute disaster and a shameful waste of money.
Critically, no planning permission was applied for for these works. Curiously however, in an instance of ‘minor’ development such as this, it is arguable that a Protected Structure in an ACA actually has less protection than than of a non-protected structure. As bizarre as this may sound, it is entirely possible, as a Protected Structure in an ACA just goes through the usual Protected Structure procedure of applying for a Declaration as to what is and what is not a permissible alteration. Effectively it is up to the opinion of a planner and/or contracted assessor to decide what would and would not materially alter the character of the structure. By contrast, a non-protected structure in an ACA has the precise protection of the development management policy set out in the ACA, which expressly stipulates examples of what would require planning permission such as in the case of Grafton Street: “The provision of lighting on the exteriors of structures†or “The attachment of any wires, cables or pipes to the front of any building.†Therefore it is entirely possible in this case that a planner or contracted individual compiling a Declaration issued a general blurb about the facade, while a planner rubber stamped the works for “ah only a bit of repainting and fitting of some lights to spruce the place upâ€. Arguably if it was non-protected the planner would/should have consulted the express provisions of the ACA and thus requested an application for permission for the installation of lighting. This is all assuming of course that BTs even contacted the planning authority at all.
This exact same scenario occurred in respect of Irish Nationwide at the corner of O’Connell Bridge in the O’Connell Street ACA. No planning permission applied for and the facade was mauled with outrageously large lighting units. This simply has got to stop.
This awful Brown Thomas job merely compounds the equally dreadful impact of M&S’s new rooftop restaurant across the road. Not only does the new structure and attendant railings clutter the roofscape of this once-charming early Victorian building, but the utterly preposterous array of umbrellas mounted along the terrace further consolidate the appalling vista now offered of Grafton Street from College Green. This entire scheme should never have been permitted and has ruined one of the premier views of a street anywhere in the city, least of all its flagship retail thoroughfare. Equally one of the most elegant and unique early retail buildings in Dublin with its fairytale parapet of parapet urns piercing the skyline has been wrecked. Simply appalling stuff across the board. So much for Protected Structure or ACA legislation. You’d find better use for them wrapping the chips of your hastily acquired McDonald’s further down the street, as to add insult to injury, the ‘restaurant’ is simply appalling.
(To try and negate some of the negativity, the M&S renovation of the store itself has been spot on – an excellent example of sharp contemporary styling incorporating existing historic elements).
That is damn awful alright, is there anything that can be done to reduce the damage, remove lights and wiring etc? Or is it likely at all that anyone will even protest at planning level?
Developers seem to be forever pulling the balls outta these particular buildings on Grafton Street…..the last time was the Switzers – Brown Thomas – M&S changeover/makeover, which went on for ages!
did you notice which comapny did it?
We cant go backwards of course but what strikes me most about the Cushman images is the uniformity and coherence of the streetscapes in 1961 and the lack of clutter. While certainly much of what we see might appear old fashioned now, everything from colour schemes to shopfronts to signage exudes calm and elegance. It makes you wonder just how much we have progressed.
The National Photographic Archive should seek to do an exhibition of these in conjunction with the Cushman estate, blowing them up 3 x 4 foot on the wall. Would look great.
@Paul Clerkin wrote:
what a fabulous building the old woolworths was
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/cushman/full/P12284.jpgMy god how Dublin has been raped..
Are there any architects offices on grafton st? what do their look like? can you see models from the street?
Are there any architects offices on grafton st? what do their look like? can you see models from the street?Do you ever have a point?
We cant go backwards of course but what strikes me most about the Cushman images is the uniformity and coherence of the streetscapes in 1961 and the lack of clutter. While certainly much of what we see might appear old fashioned now, everything from colour schemes to shopfronts to signage exudes calm and elegance. It makes you wonder just how much we have progressed.
I totally agree with your sentiments; I guess since that great rush to modernity in the 1960’s there have been a number of retailing trends which really upset the signage applecart built up organically over decades previously.
From the 1970’s on and the introduction of metal lightboxes fronted by plastic signs the days of tasteful timber or stone shopfronts were always numbered unless the local authority adopted and enforced a smart signage policy.
Ask all but the most prestigous retailers as to their signage preference and it is internally illuminated orange or yellow plastic as large as they can get away with. Sadly whilst Grafton Street has got better what is going on with Westmoreland and O’Connell Streets?
Mesmerizing reading through everyone’s opinions and sentiments. It always was and still is Dubliners favorite street to wander down when quiet and bustle along when busy. My focus is on what our overseas visitors (tourists) see when walking down Grafton street or any other main street in Dublin for that matter. On view is our heritage and our sense of pride in our surrounding.
A great new developement is the new visitors street maps and guides posted over all those old electrical boxes.Thank goodness those awful suspended sodium lamps never became that popular in Ireland – one of the worst British urban design influences of the 20th century. They make Grafton Street look like Belfast!
I never knew the corner building on the corner with Chatham Street was in fact part of a pair – one of the best Victorian infills in the city. How grand they looked side by side. And how magnificent Woolworths looked indeed – a most unusually frothy design for Dublin.
Thankfully the separate ownership of the northern end of the building, as evidenced above by a different paint colour on the farthermost bays – which apparently was built a little later than the adjoining four bays but in the same style – resulted in its survival. It can still be seen today, looking forlorn and distinctly overdressed on its ownio. Oddly, this building jumped out of the streetscape at me (metaphorically speaking) coming up Anne Street only the other week. Grafton Street narrows at this point, making it otherwise unnoticable.
The rest of course was whacked for Woolworths in the late 1940s, in the store’s time-honoured UK post-war blitz style, and is now HMV.
1940s? You mean 60’s or 70’s surely.
There has it has to be said been a fair bit of improvement to shopfronts along Grafton Street in recent times. All very contemporary and minimalist if a little uniform and bland.
The public domain is dreadful though. It just struck me walking along this morning how bad the paving and street furniture has become. Its really shocking. It should surely be an urgent capital project for the city.Try Grafton Street on crurtches in the rain…. gives you a whole new perspective on the paving. Those white ones are bastards
@alonso wrote:
Try Grafton Street on crurtches in the rain…. gives you a whole new perspective on the paving. Those white ones are bastards
Do you speak from experience?
indeed… the 5 pints may also have been a factor
i thought publicising the true amount of booze coupled with the fact that i was on crutches may harm my reputation here.
I have always been wary of the white ones…
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