Miscellaneous Pics
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shaun – We’re not comparing Dublin to any particular city. All we’re asking for is standard stuff for any major city. 😉
This thread is running out of pics.. but I had a question. Is it true that the small bit of pavement surrounding the spike will have tables and chairs for an outdoor cafe? Are the people going to sit in the middle of the road with cars and trams on both sides plus pedestrians crossing? 😮
You know what would have been a great example of some stupid thing like that? The small “fountain” that was between Dunnes Stores St Stephen’s Green and Eircom for a short while. It was just a pipe sticking out of the ground and spilled water everywhere. It was horrible to look at, especially when it rained. I’m glad it was removed, but it shows how some silly things can actually be done because of the presence of people without taste in certain places.
OK.. sorry if I make no sense, it’s late and I drank a lot of milk.
I think Ms BullDozer, that you don’t necessarily understand that Dublin could do the Dubai thing, knock down all it’s old buildings, and build to the sky. Even if it did that and create a Manhattan, it would not be Dublin anymore. More than likely, however, we would create a soggy Los Angeles with no soul, nor meaning.
i am not sure what you mean by a “modern” city; such wanton destructiveness would see Rome burned to the ground and replaced by shiny Steel and Glass monstrosities, and new roads destroying everyting in their path: all to facilitate traffic flow. Dublin needs some more newness, tis true, but not at the expense of the old. Even if the old is not, we admit, quite as old as Rome.
i’ve been to Dubai myself and wasn’t altogether impressed, though it was nicer than Abu Dhabi. It would shock you to find that on that trip to the UAE ( where my brother lives) and surrounding countries, I prefered Muskat.
Originally posted by BulldozerGirl
phil – I was looking for the Art Deco house today; it disappeared!garethace – I never understand what you say.
Paul Clerkin – Congrats on the new wider forum layout. We will save many pages.
Bulldozer Girl, this is what I was questioning! What do you mean by those quotes you used?
Bulldozer Girl: Sorry about my last question. I have just realised what you are saying. The house I am talking about is just beside the Stillorgan Park Hotel. What is the Yellow one that you are referring to?
asdasd – I didn’t say you should build another Dubai in Dublin. I didn’t mention any particular city for you to compare it to. I also didn’t say old buildings should be destroyed. They can be left as they are, but there doesn’t seem to be any plans on building new ones anywhere else in the city or even outside the city. There are very few plans. Also why do you call a building that is made of steel and glass a “monstrosity”? It depends on what the design is like and the location.
You can’t really compare Dublin to Rome. If you mean there are old buildings, yes there are old buildings, but certainly not the same as Rome. As for Dubai, it never had any “classic” buildings to start with (with the exception of the Bastakiyya and some late 18th century palace). But yes, they did the right thing in demolishing 70’s or 80’s buildings that were past their expiration date to keep things clean and safe.
Speaking of safety, although Dublin is a small city and quite safe compared to other places, the northside is still a dreadful place to be in alone. I know I’m in a dangerous neighbourhood when I see clothes hanging on a balcony washline. It seems that there are a LOT of such areas in the city. Is half of Dublin full of washline buildings?
And at least, if no one wants to build something new, they should maintain old buildings, especially their interior. I have visited some friends living in an apartment block just off Fitzwilliam Square, and the furniture and carpet haven’t been changed since 1985. It’s very unhealthy to have such an old carpet, and the price they ask for, although cheap, is still a lot for what they offer. The hotels also have very poor service and rooms. I once stayed at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, and they gave me a very basic room and charged around 380 euro per night for it. For the same price elsewhere you would have had a fancier room with more facilities in the hotel. There is also a lack of fine places to eat at. It might seem trivial, but it’s a very important thing for a city – especially since it is the biggest in the country. Shopping gets a 3 out of 10 (an increase from 2 after Roches expanded).
What most foreigners from all nationalities say about Dublin in general is that it’s expensive, old (in a bad way more than good), has terrible infrastructure, and has a shortage in everything (taxis, buses, shops, houses.. etc). The supply can’t catch up with the demand and isn’t even planning on catching up. Well, there’s my foreign 2 cents on the subject. Oh, and of course, many foreigners ask why they made the spike and where all the tax money is disappearing.
phil – I was asking if this house you’re talking about is yellow in colour.
Just to add some pictures to this thread – an illustration for what I said in the previous post:
Fitzwilliam Hotel, Dublin – ~380 euro double room with a view of Stephen’s Green park (with air conditioner, fax as facilities).
Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai – ~380 euro double room with a view of the sea.
Bathroom, Fitzwilliam:
Bathroom, Burj Al Arab:
Why should anyone pay for less?
Ireland is a high-cost country, the facilities of the Fitzwilliam are standard and similar to that of any other hotel in Western Europe.
Dubai is hardly comparable. Either way, I agree the Fitzwilliam needs taking down a peg or two – so full of itself despite it being one of the worst buildings in the city and in a poor location.‘Old brown buildings’ are a matter of opinion, but to most people and certainly to most on this site these Georgians are incredibly beautiful to look at. Indeed I tend to favour brown stock bricks over red, they’re more sophisticated and reserved.
And we most certainly did not do right in allowing buildings to be demolished to make things safe – had anyone bothered to enforce basic matainance and upkeep on these buildings the city wouldn’t have been in the mess it was.The pic I posted indeed sums up what Dublin is like in general – but as a charming, crumbly, low-rise muddled city, not backward or regressive. My pixelated 3rd generation rubbish doesn’t do that beautiful scene justice, nor the photograph itself which I must attribute to the highly skilled building photographer Hugh McConville.
Graham Hickey – Dublin has many wonderful buildings, especially Georgian ones, but a lot of the same thing gets a bit boring. And when I say “old” I sometimes mean 1970’s buildings, and not Georgians.
Each city has its own style, and Dublin certainly shouldn’t change its current style, but what I’m saying is that they can start building more shopping areas, or highrises outside of the city. The “soul” of the city isn’t going to die, like asdasd said.
It doesn’t really suit Dublin to have a hotel with those kinds of rooms like Dubai, but it would be nice to have some Georgian-style thing. I think the Shelbourne would have that. I ought to check it out. I was thinking why prices for everything are so high here (tax :rolleyes: ). What are other reasons? I buy HP print cartridge (made in Ireland) here for 40 euro; the same made in Ireland cartridge in Dubai is 22 euro :confused:
Anyway, I was in Dun Laoghaire today, and here is a pic of Lower George’s St.
It’s a very friendly place, and I love some of the pyjama-coloured pink, yellow and blue houses in the area.
The Dun Laoghaire Town Hall:
The harbour:
This place is cool, and it will be even cooler after they change the harbour
🙂Some pics taken on my way back from Beaumont Hospital.
A washline building with strange colour combination near Beaumont Rd. I wonder how clothes are expected to dry in this weather. Perhaps all buildings should have one or two large tumble dryers as a compulsory thing, and people should be fined for hanging things in the balcony (such laws have been enforced in some other countries).
An old building on Amiens St (I don’t know what it is). I like grey buildings for some reason, or cream-coloured or red – anything but brown 🙂
The sun was too bright, but here’s the “AIB” building on Amiens St. (forgot the proper name for it which Diaspora mentioned). I think it looks great next to that old grey one. This is one of my favourite streets (the other side of it is quite disorganized though).
This is one of the prettiest modern buildings in Dublin. Don’t you think if there were more of these spread about or collected in one place that it would be a much nicer place?
The above buildings remind me of these three in Sharjah, UAE:
OK, not too similar, but close enough.
Oh, and I thought I’d tell you, asdasd, that if you liked Muscat, Oman then you would love Yemen. They’re of the same standard somewhat, but there’s a risk of getting kidnapped in Yemen (actually tourism companies make a deal with mountain bedouins to kidnap people for a short time – some people like those sorts of “adventures” 😎 ). I ought to warn you though that Oman and Yemen, along with Morocco, are the world’s hub for black magic. If you are a practising Christian, I suggest you guard yourself well 😀
Btw, wouldn’t a “soggy Los Angeles” be Seattle?I really like the new lime green livery on the Dart/ commuter trains (second last picture) and also just in relation to the Georges Quay towers I think they look well from a lot of vantage points around the city!!
Keep the pics coming, b’girl, and may I say that you take an interesting photo, I mean those pyramid topped buildings on the quays, I hated them on my last trip to Dublin, but ya know, they look alright on your photo.
And you’re right when you say that Dun Laoghaire is cool, it was a great place to have grown up in. You will no doubt have noticed the massive piers that form the harbour, they were erected in 1821, when Dubai was a small fishing village and the main activity in the neighbourhood was goat-herding and the biggest export was dates and figs instead of oil.
shaun – hmm.. it seems you have transformed this into a Dublin-Dubai comparative thread.
Yes, I have noticed the piers. Here is a satellite picture of the Jebel Ali port in Dubai which was built about 40 years ago. It is the only man-made port that is visible from space.
Dubai was a small fishing village, but it did not have goat-herding as the major activity, nor did it grow or export figs. It has never even had any considerable amount of oil, and whatever it had is almost finished now. The income has always mainly been from trade, and now, trade and tourism. The UAE is among the top ranks of oil exporting countries because Abu Dhabi is a major producer.
Dubai is a very new city, but its people still stick to their local traditions. For a certain time in history, we were all part of the same country: the British Empire :p
I thought I’d mention that many cities had great buildings and civilizations thousands of years ago, when other cities didn’t even exist, but today, most of these cities are part of 3rd world countries. So what does that say about taking pride in the glorious past? 😉
Interesting to hear Dun Laoghaire and Dubai being mentioned together as one of the Baths Projects was to be a massive sail shaped building, similar to the hotel in Dubai.
I thought I would compile a list of what I think are the prettiest buildings in Dublin, but it would take time to take a photo of all.
So it’s best if I jump the list and go straight to my favourite building in the city: The City of Dublin Royal Hospital on Upper Baggot St. 🙂
The best thing about it is the colour. It’s so bright it looks like something out of a cartoon 😀
Bulldozer Girl,
There is another High Victorian gem around the back of the hospital, it is a hotel. It is well worth a look.
I passed this way this evening and the restoration of this building looks great; someone should post some miscellaneous pics of same
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