Green Marble in Ireland
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I take it you have only just started your research. It is Connemara marble, not particularly cheap, but local. It is very common in Irish buildings and prominent in civic buildings. Connemara marble tchotchke are a universal feature in tourist shops in the west. In the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford they have a colonnaded room with columns made of different stones from around the world, or possible from around what was then the empire. I always remember being shocked by a wave of forlorn homesickness when I came to a column of Connemara marble.
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Main Hall of both Trinity Museum Building and Farmleigh, I think. And Christchurch, maybe.
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It was used quite a lot in the 19th century as mentioned, but fell out of common use by the middle of the 20th century. It actually features to the exterior of the Museum Building too, in medallion form, but it deteriorates very rapidly outside for obvious reasons, so it’s more that just a little degraded in appearance today. It would appear Connemara’s ‘diversification’ into rosary beads and whatnot signalled to their market that they weren’t doing large scale slabs anymore, which seemingly wasn’t the case – just there wasn’t much demand.
In the 1960s, architect for the OPW Oscar Richardson very much admired the material, and sought its revival by contacting Connemara directly who confirmed they could indeed produce decent sized slabs. He suggested to Raymond McGrath to use it for flooring in the newly created and dubiously titled Marble Hall at Dublin Castle. And a fine floor it is too.
Very much of the Intercontinental Hotel era…
He also wanted to use it a little earlier on his infamous but very beautiful concrete spiral stairs at the Ãras at the end of the main corridor, but McGrath thought it would be too slippery, hence the mosaic finish employed – a material and art form Richardson also thought to be greatly undervalued at the time.
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thanks for the information if you think of anything else keep it coming…
much appreciated : )
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One recent use is in Bucholz McEvoy’s “Leinster Pavilions”, the entrance to the Oireachtas, which won an RIAI Award in 2006. You can see the wood-and-marble furniture here in the bottom pic:
http://www.riai.ie/gallery.html?type=regional&year=2006&item=9An earlier decorative use (since gone) was on the string course between ground and mezzanine levels of the former Carroll’s Building (now Irish Nationwide’s HQ) on Grand Parade, Dublin (Robinson Keefe Devane, 1964). The facing stone was originally Connemara marble, which shows up clearly in old b/w photographs. It was replaced with a bland greenish granite sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, allegedly because the marble had deteriorated prematurely from weathering, which would seem to bear out GrahamH’s point about the medalions on the Museum Building rather dramatically.
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I was passing by liberty hall an noticed it has some on the ground floor entrance…
respect 😉
15,000 m sq please
yes sir…
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0825/breaking49.htm
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@notjim wrote:
I take it you have only just started your research. It is Connemara marble, not particularly cheap, but local. It is very common in Irish buildings and prominent in civic buildings. Connemara marble tchotchke are a universal feature in tourist shops in the west. In the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford they have a colonnaded room with columns made of different stones from around the world, or possible from around what was then the empire. I always remember being shocked by a wave of forlorn homesickness when I came to a column of Connemara marble.
ha i know those columns….they have Donegal sandstone aswell……homesick 😮
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In his church on the grounds of Kylemore Abbey, Fuller used various coloured marbles for its “feature” columns – not sure how many are local.
No marble is cheap, but some can look cheap!
Kb2 -
I noticed AIB in dame street has some…
I also found this fish in the art gallery
The Irish are the masters of the sneakin’ regard; we have informers not whistleblowers, and staying inside the tent is considered evidence of genius rather than hypocrisy. Independent thinkers are barely tolerated and rarely admired. Is it asking too much of the powerful but low-profile anoraks in Bord Pleanála to trigger the collapse of Seán Dunne? Do they have the nerve to ignore the economics and focus on the architecture? There’s a lot of psychology and not much planning involved in that decision.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0107/1230936732546.html
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Check Wikipedia entry for Mullingar Cathedral. Very fine use of green marble around apse piers.
The Cathedral, which seats about 1,800 people, was designed in the classical style by Ralph Byrne and was consecrated on 4 September 1939, the day that war was declared between England and Germany. It takes the form of a Roman basilica with twin west towers, 42.6m high, and a dome at the crossing. The exterior, variously described as “classical” and “modernised renaissance” has a successful style of its own with square banded towers which rise from the roof of the narthex and become more ornate towards their tops, which finish in small domes. The clerestory stage pushes its way out between the towers like a train emerging from a station. The tympanum contains a frieze in Portland stone by Albert Power showing the Blessed Virgin Mary giving a model of the old Cathedral into the care of Christ the King.
The nave in 36.5m long and 15.2m wide and follows the pattern of the great Roman basilicas such as St Paul’s-without-the-Walls, to which it bears a resemblance with its many columns. It has a flat coffered ceiling and is separated from the side aisle by colonnades of Rochambeau marble Doric columns with caps and bases of Irish marble. The Stations of the Cross between the arches to the nave columns are in opus sectile and mosaic. The pulpit, of white marble, has carvings depicting the Sermon on the Mount, St. John the Baptist and St. Patrick.
The Cathedral has seven chapels. The Chapel of St. Therese of Lisieux, Patroness of Foreign Missions. The Chapel of St. Anne and the Chapel of St. Patrick, both embellished with mosaics by the Russian artist Boris Anrep. The Lady Chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, with marble statues of Our Lady and St. Bernadette behind the altar. The Mortuary Chapel has a fresco depicting the Resurrection of Christ from the dead by Fr. Aengus Buckley. The altar in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament stands against a background of marble and gold mosaic, enshrining the Saints of the Blessed Sacrament in opus sectile. The chapel of St. Joseph and the Holy Family contains a marble group of the Holy Family by Early of Dublin. The mosaics depict the life of St. Joseph.
The chancel and sanctuary contain and impressive array of coloured marbles used to magnificent effect. The mosaic in the apse represents the Ascension of Christ into Heaven. The altar rails are of white marble with panels of lapis lazuli and gold mosaic. The chancel floor is made of a variety of marbles, mostly Irish and contains mosaics of St. Loman, St. Columba, St. Finian and St. Oliver Plunkett, saints of the diocese of Meath. The cathedra and choir stalls are of Irish oak and were carved in Waterford.
The interior of Mullingar Cathedral was designed as an elegant Renaissance basilica. It is very impressive and Mullingar has a good claim to be one of the most stylishly triumphant Irish cathedrals. Passing through the West narthex into the nave for the first time is an overwhelming experience and visitors might imagine themselves to be in a basilica in the heart of Rome.
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do you think there is enough quartz to make this work?
Or its a case of thinness…
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Is there enough quartz to make this work …
What are you talking about ?
Marble is crystalline limestone, a basic oxide.
Quartz is crystalline silica, an acidic oxide.
Sure, sometimes milky quartz looks the same white colour as some grades of limestone but it is hardly going to be found within the same rock.Explain your question properly so you can be helped by someone.
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Mock ups the only way…
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