ILAC centre
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Doninick Street flats are among the worst in Dublin. They look horrible and deserve a makeover.
Parnell Street is unrecognizable now with the street fully filled in on both sides. I remember when it was one big surface level car park in the late 1980’s. It’s a 100% improvement now.
Knocking them can’t really be considered a “makeover”
1980s Parnell Street was a dump, but at least it had potential to be developed properly. Now it’s still a dump but the potential is long gone as the dross that has been thrown up will be with us for years to come.
Dominack St is a ppp project with Dublin city council – some private apartments and social and affordable housing.
http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=200&docID=2779
Not sure who developer isSounds like a good mix. Yes I’ve been watching these being boarded up and the diggers moving in – but would question exactly why a substantial investment has just been completed in reroofing and rebuilding the chimney stacks, only for it all to be pulled straight down?! They’re brand spanking new!
At least in the pic above it would appear that the concrete tiles are being salvaged.Bit of a shame to see the Corpo’s ‘Big House’ design gradually disappearing, even if they weren’t anything much and probably very inadequate inside. They hold a certain sombre elegance in contrast to the all-singing, cheap window-studded muck evident in the same picture.
A much nicer scheme here on Empress Place off Portland Row, either recently built or refurbished – presumably the latter:
I’ve been in quite a few of these blocks through work and almost invariably, they are of a far higher quality than the late 1980s/early 1990s private apartment schemes in Dublin. Certainly, ones such as Dolphin House and the old Fatima Mansions were very spacious.
Would have to disagree with GregF regarding Parnell Street. It’s an upgrade on surface car parks but there’s hardly a building of merit on the entire stretch. Jurys, Parnell Centre, and the big one over Aldi would be near the top of the list of worst modern developments in Dublin.The Jurys in particular is awful. Really disappointing given Shelbourne has done a good job on certain scheme such as the old Irish Times printing press and the old Virgin Megastore. I think an application was put in recently for the derelict site opposite Conways and that hopefully will be some sort of an improvement on the rest of the area.
I recently met a tourist who had stayed at the Jury’s just off O’Connell St; it was as he put it a clean crash pad and very convenient to the centre. Put simply there is no incentive to design an attractive hotel in that price bracket where most sales are via the web to weekend tourists and mid level business execs. As much as I feel it is an innappropriate building for the area; it did serve its purpose in being the first major development in that specific micro area and the Lidl that occupies the rear of the scheme has added a vibrancy a couple of blocks either way.
Great to see the Dominick St flats go; they were far to visible from the Kings Inn St side of Bolton St; I wonder do the DoEHLG have any enforceable guidelines on architectural standards for such PPP projects where the site is handed on a plate.
Hughs & Hughs’ bookshop is opening soon in the ‘Ivy Exchange’, opposite Jury’s, on Parnell St.
It’s great to see something other than discount stores moving into the area. It helps create a better mix.
Aha – I was wondering emf! :). Hughes and Hughes and Parnell Street aren’t exactly natural bedfellows…
So Chapters are moving out in anticipation of Arnotts’ redevelopment – interesting.
At least there’ll be some life in the Ivy Exchange at last – it’s been vacant for months, with To Let signs everywhere.For those that don’t know it, it’s a new retail and residential development sited across the road from Jury’s – an ungainly, disjointed, and clunkily detailed affair terminating the vista down Moore Street:
It seems the plans got mixed up with a 1980s hotel intended for the ringroad around Coventry.
Parnell Street itself has been extensively repaved to link this development more directly with the Ilac across the road.
It’s very pedestrian-friendly, only too much so – the vast plaza-like space here simply encourages pedestrians to wander willy nilly about the roadway.
@GrahamH wrote:
It seems the plans got mixed up with a 1980s hotel intended for the ringroad around Coventry. .
Unfortunately Coventry like many English towns got it absolutely arseways in planning terms during the 1960’s by building ringroad style inner orbitals in Coventry’s case a mere 500m in places from the main st. Every planning student should be taken to Wolverhampton to display exactly how not to develop areas just off the retail core.
@GrahamH wrote:
It’s very pedestrian-friendly, only too much so – the vast plaza-like space here simply encourages pedestrians to wander willy nilly about the roadway.
Agreed a little more visual seperation may have been better; but take nothing away from the acheivement of turning this area from a criminaly central wasteland to a credible second tier retail location in a five year period.
Listen, I’m not a lawyer not an archetect and probably shouldn’t be on this post, BUT I’m seeking an opinion on whether an appartment in the Ivy Exchange buidling would be good investment…. I agree the building’s not easy on the eye. The area does seem to be going ahead… or is it? I’m thinking there might be a glut of these sort of appartments in the city centre.
@TilbyBlue wrote:
Listen, I’m not a lawyer not an archetect and probably shouldn’t be on this post, BUT I’m seeking an opinion on whether an appartment in the Ivy Exchange buidling would be good investment…. I agree the building’s not easy on the eye. The area does seem to be going ahead… or is it? I’m thinking there might be a glut of these sort of appartments in the city centre.
Try askaboutmoney.com
@GrahamH wrote:
That pic sort of gives an example of something that baffles me about streetscape development by local authorities in the Republic. How is it that they’re often able to use cobblelock for raised junctions, speed bumps and pinch points and yet continue to surround these areas with egregious poured concrete*. Now I realise that reddish cobblelock is hardly the most attractive paving surface but its vastly superior to farmyard style concrete. To my unfamiliar Northern eye, the latter always gives projects a half finished appearance at street level. Couldn’t budgets at least stretch to a tarmac or cobblelock finish with actual kerbs when more flashy paving is deemed beyond reach?
Another thing that assaults my aesthetic sensibilities – said he clutching both lapels and sounding ever more profound – is the needless use of two keep left signs on one pedestrian island when a single illuminated bollard, as used on the second island, would have sufficed. It’s just annoying clutter:
@GrahamH wrote:It’s very pedestrian-friendly, only too much so – the vast plaza-like space here simply encourages pedestrians to wander willy nilly about the roadway.
The hooded traffic lights lead me to believe they haven’t yet finished marking out the new road layout. If this is the case, future road markings might provide a better demarcation between pedestrian and vehicle space.
* Yes it appears they’ve avoided the poured grey stuff in this instance. Give DCC a star. :rolleyes:
I note the absence of comment from Devin on this so they obviously didn’t remove any historic paving from the location. It is a well made point about the lack of concrete which is quite a dangerous material should a child trip or the like.
In relation to purchasing an apartment down here; I would consider this area as an owner occupier as there is a great diversity of shopping and eating opportunities here and the age structure of the local complexes is now quite mature and as such the visual effects of the blocks are the only real problem they present. As a buy to let market it is an exceptional area with DIT and the Mater very close by not to mention walking distance to the legal quarter and IFSC.
In future years the rear of the Ilac centre developed mid 1990’s will be regarded the biggest mistake of all.
Thanks, this site is really interesting. I went up through the complex up into a central courtyard/ garden that the other residential towers face into. It seems reasonably attractive, and quiet. Might get very shabby and ghetto like in 30 yrs time though!
They must have had a job lot of that bloody cobble lock stuff lying around somewhere and decided to use it … much more attractive concrete pavers are available for the same price or less … bad choice, depressing colour.
Its not even proper cobble lock. Its a material they pour and then the pattern is made when its still soft. You can see that if you lok at the edge where it hits the normal road surface on the top photo.
Havig said that its probably better to use this on the road anyway as cobble lock often becomes loose even after only a small amount of traffic.
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