More for the Art Deco fans
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I just noticed the restored interior of the Gas building for the first time when I was passing by on Sunday… DROOL!!! The ceiling clock especially is quite orgasmic.
Sorry, am I over-reacting?! Just go look at it!
Siobhán.My God – really?
I’m amazed! Some things are looking up in this place. What terrific news.
I’ll report back after lunch Siobhan.
JohnHi there
I stopped in at lunchtime. Are thoses 2 crude stainless steel vents on either side of the door new?
I was confused by the automatic doors at first and then realised they’d kept the originals.
As for inside: have they done it up recently? I didn’t notice but then, I’m not very familiar with the interior.
The staircase and columns are gorgeous. Walnut and maple? Haven’t they always been like that too?
I walked to it form the IFSC where I unfortuntely work [but not for long] and went from the back through the Elizabethan/Tudor style Leinster Market alleyway. Wonderful!
Returning I went past such horrors as:Hawkins House
Apollo House & Tara House [Tara Street]
The Ulster Bank buildingAmazing how standards have plummetted.
John
So you have only noticed now John?
The interior is really spectacular.
I am currently researching a few details of the building and was wondering whether anyone would know which architects were responsible for the restoration?As it was to be built.
More info at http://www.archeire.com/michael_scott/emergency.html
I was in Athlone a few years ago specially to look at the building because we heard it was due to be demolished then. I have photos somewhere. I had actually thought that it would be gone by now. The concrete seemed to be of very poor quality and crumbling badly probably due to being built during the Emergency.
So please assure me that it was no loss then?
The original design looks very nice. Was the actual building unimpressive? The exterior images I’ve seen were fairly hideous.
Perhaps it should have been re-built/amended to fit the original design years ago.
It would now probably be still be there.
John
It was never really built as designed…. the glazed area beneath the building along the riverside was never completed.
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/westmeath/athlone/ritz.html
The Ritz in Athlone has had a long history of neglect. Various plans for redevelopment were considered and binned. Developers found it difficult to meet parking requirements as well as the desire to retain soem of the existing. One wonders was it let go to wreck and ruin so it could be demolished and have a more blank canvas. Then again they could have taken the development of this prime site in Athlone seriously and got some real design input. Maybe a competition.
You can see what the Ritz exterior looked like in 1998 on the Art Deco Ireland Web Site
atOh God I have! Sorry, no reflection on your noble endeavour – keep up the good work.
It just looked awful.
Sad really.
JohnPlease someone help me.
I have a school trivia question to be answered.
The 1p and 2p coins share a designer in which art deco government ministry?
Show off your knowledge. Answer, please.
I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments you Irish kids (assuming) have made, and almost envy you your time and place.
I grew up in the Los Angeles of the 1930s-40’s, when Deco was new and vibrant and all but taken for granted, probably more in that locality than in any other in America. How I wish that were yet the case…hope the Dublin we now hear so increasingly about doesn’t follow this same path. GeorgeThere are still some evocative corners in LA where you can taste the Art Deco ambience of the Thirties, e.g. the stretch of Sunset Boulevard along the Hollywood foothills, near La Cienega Boulevard.
Super!
Here are a few lesser-known examples of Irish art-deco:
Garda Station @ Donnybrook (note the lamps)
Old Players factory in Glasnevin
Building opposite the Central Bank, Dame St. (note the inscriptions on the second floor).
The old ESB logo.
Various old ESB generator builings dooted around the countryside.
The Burton Building on Dame St.
Church of Christ the King, Cork city.
Interior lobby of the Gresham Hotel (plasterwork).
Suburban houses in Terenure, Sutton, Rathfarnam (1930s – 40s).
And some more famous ones…The Carlton Cinema (to be restored in ‘a modern art deco-stle’) built c.1937.
The Department of Industry and Commerce HQ., Kildare St.
The Theatre Royal (since demolished)There are some new pages on the Art Deco Ireland Web Site, if you have not visited it recently.
It is at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Salon/6941/deco1.htm
That’s terrific news about the Carlton Cinema. It’s always been a major greivance of mine.
Whoo-hoo! Well done to whoever is doing it.
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