Little Italy ala Wallace.
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Took a pleasant stroll down Mick Wallace’s tiled Bloom’s Lane yesterday afternoon. Pity it’s such a small taste of what we could have in this city. A very comfortable space to walk and taste a little Italian / genuine Continental feeling in this city on a sunny day. To quote an Italian running the small Italian Delicatessen (La Bottega) midway along the lane……“ All one sees generally in Dublin is characterless convenience stores like Spar, Mace and Centra “ and he was particularly scathing of the way Smithfield is so lacking anything in the line of shops and restaurants….let’s hope Mick is allowed to leave his love of all things Italian in other parts of the city ….looking forward to Bank holiday Monday in Blooms Lane from 1pm as a little Italian festival of food wine and song is planned.
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…agreed the Wallace development along Grattan Crescent is no architectural wonder but who would have thought this time last year that a genuine Italian restaurant – his influence – ( Enoteca Torino) run by native Italians would arise as part of the development opposite the local credit union and Obair office instead of the normal Spar or Centra shop that most speculative developments provide. Alas one can be certain of the following amenities !!! in most areas in Ireland today a pub a bookies shop, an off licence, a fast food joint and in the centre a Centra !!
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The whirlwind of the centrafication of a city. Spar a thought.
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@Papworth wrote:
Took a pleasant stroll down Mick Wallace’s tiled Bloom’s Lane yesterday afternoon. Pity it’s such a small taste of what we could have in this city. A very comfortable space to walk and taste a little Italian / genuine Continental feeling in this city on a sunny day. To quote an Italian running the small Italian Delicatessen (La Bottega) midway along the lane……“ All one sees generally in Dublin is characterless convenience stores like Spar, Mace and Centra “ and he was particularly scathing of the way Smithfield is so lacking anything in the line of shops and restaurants….let’s hope Mick is allowed to leave his love of all things Italian in other parts of the city ….looking forward to Bank holiday Monday in Blooms Lane from 1pm as a little Italian festival of food wine and song is planned.
Spot on. Fully agree – but is it just me or has anyone else noticed a wind-tunnel effect:confused: ? That said, it is one of the best developments in the city in recent years, and makes for a remarkable contrast with the othher new courtyard that links Wallaces to Abbey St; remarkably cold and sterile; all hard/ stone surfaces, no wood, windows have too much horizontal emphasis – all in all a remarkable contrast!
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My big bear bug about this quarter is the complete absence of any greenery to soften the scheme. It is very cold and sterile down there as you say hutton and particularly so in Winter. Once again white granite wins the day. The lighting is also quite unambitious. Yellow sodium lamps…hmmm. This area is crying out for some good optics and lighting effects to add a bit of vitality at night.
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@notjim wrote:
I have always hated the treatment of the retained facade on the quay, its so akward and silly and well, ugly.
Really? I find that to be of its most appealing aspects !
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hutton wrote:Spot on. Fully agree – but is it just me or has anyone else noticed a wind-tunnel effect:confused: ? That said, it is one of the best developments in the city in recent years, and makes for a remarkable contrast with the othher new courtyard that links Wallaces to Abbey St]
I think it’s a great example of what somebody with a vision can do versus somebody who wants to make money fast. Wallace came up with a concept, his retail units almost all fit in with it and there’s a clear sense of the street being there for a purpose, rather than a tack on to an apartment/office complex. Compare that with the other street that links Wallace’s to Abbey Street (Liam Carroll if I’m not mistaking) where it’s all about getting the highest rent possible from third parties and the street gets let down. I wouldn’t think of going there to eat etc, whereas I like Enotecca and Bar Italia a lot and go there quite a bit. -
Was there yesterday late afternoon and the place had a continental feel that one rarely gets in Dublin;
Well done to Mick Wallace this City Quarter scores very highly on a number of fronts not least architecturally.
It never ceases to amaze me how few people use this route in comparison to the Ha’penny and Liffey St route when one considers the amenity value of this area. I would love to see the Jervis Centre offer some additional pedestrian flow besides the first floor circulation route.
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@Thomond Park wrote:
. I would love to see the Jervis Centre offer some additional pedestrian flow besides the first floor circulation route.
Yeah – it lacks engagement with abbey and – ironically – Jervis St on ground levels. Still, not the self-evident failure that Wolfe Tone Square is, post “regeneration”.
Please DCC, admit the failure; re-enstate the walls, try for an Iveagh gardens type feel, and most importantly, please re-arrange the grave stones so they are not a foot path, as is now the case (last time I saw a treatment like that was on Schindlers List 😮 ) .
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Indeed – only the other lunchtime there was a group of (rather sad) thirty/fortysomethings in their shirt sleeves probably from the insurance offices across the way playing football up against the gravestones, which was pretty ignorant. Goes to show the attention they’re given in their current position.
Yes the new Quartier Bloom is a great addition to the city, if nothing particularly spectacular – a pretty standard urban space. Certainly the difference it has made as an efficent link from the Millenium Bridge to the north inner city is remarkable – I find myself using it two/three times a week simply by virtue of its convenient location, instead of previously having to avail of dingy Jervis Street or choked and pedestrian-hostile Liffey Street.
Without a doubt it is the beautiful timbered arches that generate the air of quality and distinctiveness here – otherwise it’s fairly conventional; as mentioned there is no planting as yet, nor any lighting or other installations of note. Also the green plastic furniture of the Last Supper place could be improved.But the concentration of quality outlets here, combined with some innovative interiors is most refreshing to see, as is the outdoor seating. Equally, walking by choosing what meal you’d have from those eating at the tables around you is always a pleasure, if somewhat frustrating 🙂
Yes the Abbey end by contrast is pretty much dead, though there is already an extension being added to a recently completed building here, hopefully a service outlet of some kind. The quality of workmanship on that same red brick building is very poor. -
hutton wrote:Yeah – it lacks engagement with abbey and – ironically – Jervis St on ground levels. Still, not the self-evident failure that Wolfe Tone Square is, post “regeneration”.
Please DCC, admit the failure]
Very well put.It used to be a nice quiet park – the only major problem I could see with it was that it tended to attract groups of “winos”. Regeneration has not helped it at all. There isn’t a recognisable path from Wolfe Tone Street to Jervis Street, except maybe that gravelly bit at the south end. I’m not very comfortable with walking across gravestones to get across the park. The grass is also of very poor quality.
I’m afraid this is one project that may have looked great on a computer screen but does not deliver in reality. (While I’m way off topic, could I suggest that the spire is another. The whole point of the 11,888 little holes at the top was so that the light would diffuse out and create the effect of a “ball” of light at the top – I remember that the early pictures of the proposed spire showed this effect. I’m afraid that didn’t happen – the effect we get is of a straightforward fluorescent light at the top of a metal pole:mad: )
As for Little Italy, I’d say the city council deserve some credit as well for ensuring that this path between Abbey Street and the Millenium Bridge was created.
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hutton wrote:Yeah – it lacks engagement with abbey and – ironically – Jervis St on ground levels. Still, not the self-evident failure that Wolfe Tone Square is, post “regeneration”.
Please DCC, admit the failure]
I agree with the schindlers list comment.. i remember the first time i saw this i felt a bit uneasy… i think the table tennis table over graves while the tomb stones are stacked up is in bad taste..
would it not be an idea to reinstate the grave stones… -
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@a boyle wrote:
if the bones were moved then i don’t really have a problem. after hundred of years these tombstones are no longer spiritual, in any sense, merely historical. It would be a good idea to stop ball games, but it is a nice space to pause and reflect , and i like it very much.
i dont think anyone was ever exhumed thats the problem… i remember on a tour of St Michans some time ago which was the sister church of st Annes the guide specifically said that the bodies where still there. Anyway the tombstones have historical interest so instead of stacking then up or using them as paving ala Schindlers list could we not have them arranged so we can look at them?
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Just leaving the graveyard for a sec and getting back to Mick Wallace’s Continental contribution to the Jervis St. side of the city – I ask why has a small development like this taken so long and will we ever see more of the this thought-full type of continental development perhaps even !! on the southside ?
Mick Wallace’s small but so significant development on the northside sits in stark contrast to most of the bland “food on the hoof type outlets†that have mushroomed everywhere over the last decade.
Please Mick give us more of the same as there is a crying need, the customers are here in abundance waiting and wishing for more of this type of development in the city and especially out in the “one pub one centra extravision / no-vision†dominated suburbs.
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I agree the layout and retail mix of Little Italy as a design concept has worked really well at this location and lets be honest this area was a sleepy hollow for all of my life prior to this and I really look forward to the spillover effect that this and the Morrison will have on the Great Strand Street area. Outside Temple Bar there is not one lanescape in Dublin to replicate what has been acheived in the sidestreets around Carnaby St and Oxford Street in London which is an obvious potential to be tapped.
In relation to the headstones I had a look at these again this morning and have to say that the area they cover is so small that it should be possible to put a small unobtrusive rail around the 10-30 sq m that they cover without diminishing this vast public amenity space.
Finally http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/mary_street/stmary.htm St Mary’s Chuch which beyond the minorly obtrusive emergency fire lighting has turned out exceptionally on the interior. I really like the minimal treatment of the fabric with the use of grained timber where replacement was required and the rich 1920’s furnishings. I am sure that the guidebooks will be edited to include this cafe bar which is a prime example of how far the standard has risen in recent years. 😀
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