O’ Connell Street, Dublin

😀

Though that was a runner-up – the winning designs by London bloc Architects can be seen here:

http://www.reflectingcity.com/index.html?a=5&t=23&p=29

“The suite of furniture will include two cafes, a ticket and information offices, five retail units, two news stands, two self-cleaning WCs, twelve public telephone boxes and nine bus or taxi shelters.”

Things are really whizzing along on the Upper street – upwards of 30 men are now working away up there, so much so it’s difficult to take a picture without being nabbed in one way or another 🙂

The new paving outside the Gresham:

The double-width pavements make such a difference to the northern end – there’s a wonderful sense of space and freedom to move about.

The paving outside Castle’s townhouse:

…and the scene further down looking north from Henry Street – quite a bit left to go here anyway, but again the new pedestrian space makes a remarkable difference:

Can’t wait to see it all finished, espcially the line of trees along the pavement edge.
Hope to have lots of before and after pictures which may be interesting.

Delighted to see the Public Office of the GPO is getting a facelift, just as I was thinking how grubby it had become since last decorated in a rather pukey yellow, probably in 1984 or 1988. An elegant beige/tan colour is being used this time round with crisp white emulsion detailing – the contrast looks fantastic.

A real Edwardian look to it.

Now if only they’d do away with those naff 80s shopping centre light pendents and install something more befitting of the surroundings. Not that the original scheme in the 20s was any better – fluorescent tubes fixed to the walls were used to light the space! Though in pictures, up on the ceiling roses there seems to have been flush-mounted glass dome light fittings so typical of the era.
Why not go all out and install a glittering chandelier as the focal point and more contemporary fittings on the other roses? Something that would take your breath away every time you entered, like the Dargan Room in the National Gallery 🙂

That’s the Royal Dublin townhouse – the last on the street of course.
Yes the lintel is badly damaged, and has been for years, but nothing that can’t be repaired.
We’re lucky that well-proportioned one in particular survived – most of the other townhouse’s doorcases were big sprawling clunky yokes.

The IAA pictures of the interior fully explain what Frank McDonald spoke about all those years ago in The D of D – it is devasted inside to an extraordinary degree. To the point that you’d wonder what the point if it all was – it all looks like wanton destruction just for damage’s sake. In which case I suppose it’s self-explanitory :rolleyes:

Luckily the magnificent stairwell has survived, but even today I think the drawing room fronting the street is still mostly bare breeze blocks.

@Devin wrote:

it was being altered for a nightclub :rolleyes: (back in the ’80s), but it never went ahead.

It must have reached an advanced stage though as the lettering is still on the basement wall outside! Apollo or something – or is that Parnell Square?….

That’s good to hear about the first floor – certainly the impression given in the IAA photos with accompanying captions was of an almost gutted house including the drawing room. Is the outer hall bricked up do you know Devin – it seemed that was too.

But yes, the stairwell and landings are incredible. The wall panelling and semi-balconied landing is truly superb – and the chunky Venitian window as mentioned before 🙂

Not sure johnbo, but there are images in The Construction of Dublin anyway.

Oh dear 🙁

They never leave the poor fella alone, but particularly at this time of the year.

For those that don’t recall from last year, seagulls for whatever utterly bizarre reason, decide to defecate en masse in the first few months of the year, and in something of an um, ‘explosive’ fashion :o. Rather aptly in Dublin, they choose the handrail of the new Eden Quay Boardwalk on which to do it, as last year, which is hardly surprising given if I was a seagull Eden Quay would probably my first port of call too.

Sadly they completely destroy the Boardwalk, coating in particular, and I mean coating the handrail in the stuff. The City Council seem aware of the problem as they had a dedicated man-and-his-cart out cleaning it off with an array of cleaners and implements at what is hopefully the end of the ‘season’. Why the gulls only choose Eden Quay and nowhere else is a complete mystery, as is where they did it before the Boardwalk was built.

In that context :o, it is more than appropriate that the CC get one of their cherry pickers out from the Lighting Division and get poor aul O’Connell cleaned up – the scale of the devastation up there 😮 is a one-off, so it would be worthwhile getting rid of it: it really looks appalling. Indeed a picker ought to be sent out a few times a year to clean him and other monuments – I’ve been reliably informed that all of these monuments ought to be cleaned on a regular basis simply for protection from corrosion; the bronze of O’Connell Monument in particular ought to be cleaned and rewaxed every two/three years minimum – not every 120 years :rolleyes:

Simply from an aesthetic point of view it is really not too much to ask that O’Connell in particular be lightly washed down a couple of times a year, perhaps in tandem with cleaning of the Spire (assuming that’s ever going to happen). In spite of the seagulls, it’s very heartening to see how well the monuments have weathered nearly a year on from the conservation project – they all still look great, particularly the bronze of O’Connell. And the reasoning behind the use of limestone in its construction has been apparent ever since it was first cleaned (aside from nationalistic matters no doubt) – the Monument has a spectacular glowing blue quality to it that really shines on overcast days. It also contrasts well with the (later) Portland dressings of surrounding buildings.

If only the gulls could be curtailed – they are aptly described as weapons of mass-defecation on some sites.

Cheeky little feckers.