O’ Connell Street, Dublin
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Thanks for the reply Graham Hickey. I hope they can sort it all out but there is quite a difference in height :S
I took another look at the GPO and I must say it looks fantastic !! They did an excellent job.
Being totally honest i have always found the GPO to be for want of a better word clunky. (i’m an engineer not an architect : so english me speak no good)
It could be that the portico has no carving placed in it, but i am not sure. I thinks its that the building is soo imposing that the inside doesn’t really live up to expectations. The public parts of the gpo don’t go very far into the building. I always get the impression that the facade is too strong for the size of and layout of the inside.
Don’t misunderstand me it is nice. But it’s a seven out ten rather than an 8/9.
Wow!! GPO looks absolutely stunning. 🙂 Great photos and a great job done.
Was the debate over the ‘marks’ on the columns ever concluded? Were they caused by bullets or corrosion?
I couldn’t help but notice that the two gentlemen chipping away at the frieze, dressed in period costume, both appear to be left handed! Up the ciotógs 😀
Hibernia has rather a long neck, doesn’t she?!
Pictures are brilliant, thanks for putting the up. The building looks stunning, I was past it yesterday. The GPO has never been what you would call an elegant building, though. Compared to St. Georges up the road, it’s not exactly Johnston’s best work.
The GPO looks stunning but I just cant come to terms with the side walk. Every day I walk along it I cant help but wonder at it. IT reminds me of the so called “side walk” in Saigon in Vietnam. Has anyone else ever been there ? Say no more. Well at least we dont have that stench.
Anyway,
The choice of stone for the pavement is highly questionable. I think it holds all the muck of the street. The other thing that fasinated me was the area close to the shops. They all have this glass type pavement over a metre in width. It must have been put in place back in the 60’s and looks completely MANKY in this day and age.
I just pray that the shops, hotels and the like replace this minging site with modern glass/pavement lighting.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
😀
Wonder was this blasted off in 1916/civil war?, doesn’t match what can be seen above the entrance!
Its well gone whatever it was.
A fantastic job which has restored the GPO to its rightfull place as centre of attention on the street.
Well done to An Post for showing some pride in their flagship.
That black and white frieze photo Bago is just one I happened upon on the internet; it depicts the building of a state capitol building in the US in 1907. Just thought it was humourously similar – well, at the time anyway…
It appears to be the Royal Standard alright in the tympanum – here it is in April 1916:
It seems to have been removed in the 1924-29 rebuilding.
It could be argued that it was revisionist even to remove it in the first place in the late 1920s. I wouldn’t suggest that something ‘reactionarily’ be put in its place just for the sake of replacing a sculpture that was there before, and yes the removal of the Standard is indeed part of the building’s history. But equally so would be the reinsertion of a sculpture commissioned by a more confident nation, a nation very different to that of the dour 1920s, that would take into account the prominent nature of the building and everything it has now come to represent – essentially the symbolism of the State is now completely wrapped up in the place. I think it would be a nice gesture to more manifestly represent that with a newly commissioned piece.
Also it is not a case of crassly supplanting British symbolism with that of the Republic: the GPO has always been a people’s building since the day it opened its doors nearly 200 years ago, not a powerful remnant of British imperialism as was traditionally the case with other state buildings.
There was a more a stately quality to the building with the crest in place – though that could just be the fluffy rose-tint of sepia 🙂
Agreed about the building generally though – it’s not exactly the prettiest thing going, but then that heaviness was the style of the age. And the portico was built to be more of a feature of the street rather than of the building, so its sturdy character doesn’t fit that well with the rest of the rather austere wings. Perhaps that’s its biggest problem – there’s a number of elements that work very well on their own like the lovely incised clean cut upper windows, the texture of the lower rustication, the portico, the heavy cornice and balustrade – but all of which do not gel very well together, creating something of an awkward building.
Still, the almost hidden wall to the rear of the portico is still its finest feature I think. The marching arched windows and alternating pilasters look stunning at a raking angle, particularly evident on an overcast day when no shadows are being thrown about. There’s little else similar Regency-style architecture in the city 🙁
@Graham Hickey wrote:
That black and white frieze photo Bago is just one I happened upon on the internet]Ah, i see, the blockish pieces protruding (don’t know the technical name) above the frieze were so similar i assumed it was the GPO
@Graham Hickey wrote:
But equally so would be the reinsertion of a sculpture commissioned by a more confident nation, a nation very different to that of the dour 1920s, that would take into account the prominent nature of the building and everything it has now come to represent – essentially the symbolism of the State is now completely wrapped up in the place.
A breakfast roll and hardhat perhaps:D
While on the GPO a stone version of the Cuchulainn statue might have been nice outdoors though. !?Would there be anything wrong with just replacing the Royal Standard? It’s not like we don’t have other buildings with them on and it causes no problems. It seems to look ‘right’ in that old 1916 pic.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
The strange plaques that possibly used to be clocks (displaying times in different parts of the country?) look great now that they’ve been cleaned and painted a vivid blue:
I was passing by the GPO today and had a close look at it, prompted by Graham’s excellent photos above. The brick immediately beneath the middle window (between the pillars) on the first floor is perhaps a metre long (it may actually have been two bricks totalling one metre) has a curved bit cut out of it – as if to form a place for another circular object which would have been smaller in radius than the two blue plaques. There is then a metal bar running across the window which might have been used to hold this object in place. I dunno what the circular object might have been, but a clock would be an obvious thing. (Put in place after construction – otherwise it’s hard to see why they would have put a full size window there). Might they have had separate clocks for time in London, Dublin and (say) Galway. Something to watch 😮 out for, anyway.
There are also two metal rods which protrude from the building either side of the central window -for lamps perhaps.
If yu look at the small, square, sepia picture in Graham’s post above (the third of the four pics) you can see something in the place you mention, but it’s not clear what it is, and it’s missing from the pictures of the burnt out shell. A clock is a distinct possibility, but it could also have been a crest of some sort.
Bago- I think ‘Dentil cornice’ is the phrase you’re looking for.:)
Speaking of missing clocks check out the one on the building with the wind vane… the fact that it is missing it clock and the general condition of one of the most interesting buildings in dublin is a shame.. this building would look fantastic if it was given some TLC.. i know this discussion hasbeen had before but surely the owners shopuld be forced or incentivised to reburish there buildings.
Indeed, though at least it isn’t as bad as it was a few years ago – the entire red brick facade was smothered in blue paint until about 1990! Unfortunately while they gave with one hand by stripping the paint, they also took with the other in choosing to insert aluminum windows in the upper floors 🙁
Kept meaning to post about the vacant plinth here – there used to be a clock as aj says, that was restored after 1916 in spite of nearly being smashed to pieces. I suspect many people over the years have wondered what used to be there waiting at the lights on the bridge :). Was particularly interested to read recently that this building used to be the premises of the famous clock and watch makers Chancellor and Son, which explains a lot!
You can see their clock here c1900:
Looking worse for wear in 1916:
And still in place, fully restored in the 1950s:
It was probably removed in the 1970s when the blue paint went up and when the very top aluminium windows went in. White aluminum or early PVC was then installed around the time the paint was stripped off :rolleyes:
The metal plates or coloured render now there are probably covering clock support holes in the brickwork.This is an historically important building on a number of levels, and stands on one of the most prominent sites in the city; it deserves better than its current decrepit condition. As can be seen below, the facade is stapled with a crude rusting steel, the windows are in an appalling state including the comparitively rare surviving two-over-two upper sashes on the second floor, there’s general clutter tacked all over the place, inappropriate metal and plastic windows, and of course a vacant plinth.
The fact that it used to be a clock factory is fascinating enough in itself, but the fact that the facade is peppered with bullet holes makes it all the more interesting (pot-shots being at the clock from the river?), as is the possibility that some of the brickwork may be the only exposed brick of the Wide Streets Commission left on the entire street. The building also retains the character of the WSC development, as well as stands as one of very few Victorians to have survived 1916, 1922 and the 1970s and 1980s.
It is also an iconic building – who doesn’t know that distinctive gable, and weather vane and wind compass?
Not sure either of them work any more either 🙁
It’s time to get things rolling on that entire crucial Lower O’Connell Street-Bachelors Walk corner.
To get a new clock made would be an important part of that; you can never have enough accurate clocks in a city, especially on a site with such a vast captive audience.A fantastic piece of restoration. The original architectural failings aside (although I think some are being a bit harsh) Dublin’s centrepiece has been given a sparkling makeover. This project by An Post really has been from the top drawer and ties in beautifully with the O’C street redevelopment. There can be no doubt Dublin has been truly transformed over the last decade.
@GregF wrote:
A carving of a harp and a shield with the crest s of the 4 provinces could be apt to fill the spot.
Not so sure. The irony of such a feature wouldn’t be lost on a large section of one of those provinces after the recent riots on the street. Though a fairly dodgy bunch, the common reaction of ‘if they love it so much can’t they stay up there’ to the Love Ulster (were they even the main organiser) march would suggest that most Dubliners would prefer a shield consisting of three segments not four. And the remarks from some would indicate that a removal of a certain orange stripe from the national flag mightn’t be the most unpopular move ever made either!
Disclaimer: before I start a riot (sorry, had to get that in) in response to that comment, I’ll just point out that although from the North, I’m not an Orange bastard, a protestant fundamentalist nut case, religious at all indeed, a nazi, a bigot, a British imperialist, a racist, an anti-Irish git, thick, moustachioed, a supremacist, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, an ‘if it wasn’t for that lot, everything would be rosy’ person, someone that ties up swings on a Sunday, a loyalist murderer, wearing union jack underpants, dour, difficult, humourless and just plain nasty or even someone who doesn’t consider themselves Irish. Or any other stereotypes I’ve missed. Just an architecture enthusiast who happens to live in the wrong province, or so it seems.
Still, the GPO looks wonderful. 🙂
@Graham Hickey wrote:
The brickwork (is it called stretcher bond?) looks odd where the clock used to be. I wonder was it bricked up and that there used to be a hole to allow access to the clock on the plinth??
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