O’ Connell Street, Dublin
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Well as Peter mentioned, the lanterns are back up 🙂
Quite who came up with the notion of turquoise panels I’m not quite sure… but they look so distinctive and quirky you can’t help but instantly like them.
Their restoration has been magnificent:
Just look at the quality bronze and sumptuous 1920s construction, perfect for the decadent Empire style:
On close inspection you can see the fittings are assembled with tiny brass screws:
They make for impressive silhouettes too:
Can’t wait to see them illuminated!
…indeed I wonder if the clock face illuminates. It just may have done in the progressive late 1920s-1930s; it also seems to be made of perspex today. The turquoise with chrome highlights is an inspired combination – classic Art Deco 🙂
Aye …was just thinking that meself …the clock and lamps are real Art-Deco…..the materials, the colours, the style etc…
The silhouette is particularly stricking with the sumptuously decorated JWT building in the background and the stuuning illuminations of Come Play!
I agree though the works to the building and its fixtures have been first rate. I also look forward to seeing it all lit up (has this not happened yet?)
Just one thing…. I hope those bus stops will be relocated elsewhere on the street.The clock face will indeed be illuminated. I saw the bulbs being put in when they were installing it. Funny the way 1920s art deco and early 19th century classicism can go so well together.
The building looks great, I agree that it is a shame about the state of some of its neightbours though! Does anyone know when the licences for the fast food units etc expire? Wasn’t the council planning on not renewing these? Also does anyone know when the units along the median are going in? They seem to have been kind of forgotten about….. Thanks.
Wow, amzing lamps. Thanks for those Graham.
That’s very much like the hip of a violin or a harp. Lovely detailing.
@TLM wrote:
though! Does anyone know when the licences for the fast food units etc expire? Wasn’t the council planning on not renewing these?
That’s what I understood would happen. Sadly it seems that Irish politicians are doing what they do best: nothing.
I have never seen a restoration of an old building like this in Dublin. I suppose the Custom House is the only other example of such obvious reverential care. Kudos to all involved. It is reassuring to see that we can do some things competently.Not at all! Most of the major buildings have been very well looked after over the years. Most recently the City Council completed a fantastic restoration of City Hall and of course its not so long ago that Government Buildings emerged from its black cocoon to literal gasps of astonishment that a building like that existed in the city.
Do the fast food shops on OC St have
Yeah, you’re right. I’d completely forgotten about City Hall. Btw, does anyone else think that the poor Four Courts has been left out in the cold during the renovations of the last few years? That rotunda and the four central courts are in need of a bit of work-and if anyone defends the current appearance of the great space under the dome, let me be the first to point out that magnolia paint isn’t all that great to have spalshed all over it.
I think your point about the number of newsagents etc is well made, and I agree that there’s no harm in a few fast food restuarants. But do we need 2 MacDonalds and 2 Burger Kings?
@StephenC wrote:
Do the fast food shops on OC St have ´licences´, I wasnt aware. Surely they operate like all other business. They buy/rent a property, set up shop and trade as long as they wish to. . Whats important is that they don´t dominate the street, that they are encouraged to provide an attractive fgace to the street in keeping with its stature.
That is the correct interpretation the fast food operators needed initial planning consent for a change of use from the standard retail use to a food retail use. This in all cases has been secured by application or default; the other point on comparable main streets is also very valid and I think the way that Starbucks has treated the old Riada building on College Green is a lesson in how to accomodate a semi generic player into the public realm in a tasteful way and is an example of good town planning.
I further agree that convenience shops are amongst the worst offenders on how their signage attracts notice through sheer garishness and that regular enforcement surveys should be undertaken throughout this important ACA. I would further like to see the Department of the Environment set up a compensation fund for the CPO of the leasehold interests of some of the publicly declared ‘undesirable uses’ such as amusement arcades and call shops.
The inconsistencies in the workings of Dublin City Council never fail to surprise. On the one hand O’Connell Street is generally maintained immaculately by the council’s street maintenance division, and full attention is paid to keeping the street furniture in tip-top condition (leaving aside the Supermacs corner).
It is most impressive to walk down the street on a daily basis and constantly see the trees being regritted, or the trees being watered, the bins being polished, the pavements being hosed in the evenings, street-hoover yokes humming about, statues being cleared of litter etc etc. The pride taken in this new space must be highly commended. The CC have lived up to their promises.On the other hand we move twenty metres away to the saga of The Missing O’Connell Bridge Baluster.
Last sighted on the bridge in September 2005, presumed to have plunged to a certain death in the river below, the resulting gaping gap in the balustrade, of significant safety concern at the spot where tourists and their children stop to take photographs of the city, remained completely vacant for over two months until it was eventually reported (by the public) to the Roads and Streets Department of the City Council in mid-November. A further two/three weeks past until a man was sent out with a slab of board to paste over the hole, which was then scribbled on, seemingly by the same person considering most graffiti ‘artists’ don’t even know what a rate is, with a sarcastic quip as if it was some sort of joke. Do the CC support the defacement of items of street furniture?
By all accounts it could have been deemed a joke if something was going to be done about it quickly. That would be too much to ask however as the board then sat there for three months before eventually falling off, again presumably falling to a soggy end in the murky waters below. It then remained vacant yet again for a number of weeks before the next replacement arrived, this time a delightful chunk of CC bright plastic fencing tacked onto the protected structure:
Over seven months have now passed since this baluster disappeared from the most prominent bridge in the city, sited at the busiest pedestrian intersection in Ireland.
How difficult is it to get a replacement piece of stone cut? How much would it cost in contrast to the hundreds of millions being pumped into the street a few feet away, indeed in the same architectural conservation area and in an area designated for special attention? Or even if a full conservation project for the bridge is proposed, how much effort would it be to cast a decent stucco or plaster replica?
The simple fact is that O’Connell Bridge, like every nearly other street in the city, is not part of a prestige bells and whistles regeneration scheme, so it suffers the same mediocre maintenance and attention as pretty much everywhere else.(incidently O’Connell Bridge is nothing at all compared to the woes of poor old Butt Bridge, nut that’s another rant altogether)
I have noticed that too…but I reckon the bridge will be revamped when O’Connell Street is finished. The footpath will be widened and paved and the bridge will be repaired and cleaned. Well, at least I hope it is.
O’Connell Street is looking better and better by the day, the trees are beginning to blossom and the greenery is a welcome sight.
A valid point about the poor maintenance regimes for areas not within flagship regeneration areas, Interestingly the whole Dockland area seems to remain well maintained….no lumps of tarcmac or broken street furniture. Is there something more to this.
Of course we have had a similar story to this with the lamps on OC Bridge. Hardly been reinstated after restoration when the lamps were replaced in a halfhazard manner with white and orange bulbs. Thanksfully someone noticed and we are back to all white again.
But its not as pretty a picture as you paint on OC St. Last time I was there the lump outside Supermacs was still unrepaired and I will wager a bet it will remain that way.Without doubt a proper upgrade and refurb of the bridge should follow directly on from the main street works. Perhaps in tandem with works to Parnell Sq due to start later this year.
Indeed it is needed. As well as the paving etc, substantial repairs to the stone structure of the bridge itself are in order, including whole parts of the balustrading, and some of the bridge facings below need to be replaced/repaired. And a new floodlighting scheme needless to say.
Yes I noticed the new all-white bulbs in the lanterns a few months ago too. (;))Well this has raised its ugly head again:
Irish Independent, Tuesday 25/4/2006
THE Proclamation was read there, but now, 90 years after the Rising, the GPO could itself be ‘history’.
The iconic post office could be ‘decommissioned’ and transformed into a museum and cultural centre commemorating the Rising.
Communications Minister Noel Dempsey is understood to have run the idea up the flag pole for the Taoiseach and senior ministers during a discussion on how best to mark the Centenary of the Rising in 2016.
Should the plan get the stamp of approval, sources say An Post headquarters would be moved out of the building to a new location and the GPO would no longer function as it has since it was built in 1818.
Last night Mr Dempsey told the Irish Independent he would envisage a centre were “all facets of Irish life, culture and history, could be accommodated. It would be a fitting way to celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Rising.”
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had called for a National Conversation on how best to mark 2016 “and this would be part of my contribution to it”. While the idea is embryonic at present, it is understood the minister envisages full use of space available in the O’Connell Street building, where 1,000 An Post staff now work. It stand on four floors over a basement and contains two courtyards. At one stage the building was considered as a possible new home for the Abbey Theatre. The new GPO would be a home to artifacts and memorabilia relating to the Rising, including a historic archive. It could offer visitors audio-visual presentations on Irish culture.
Such a centre would be certain to become a major tourist attraction.Mr Dempsey outlined his thinking yesterday at the launch of ‘Cuimhneachan 1916’ – an Online RTE exhibition featuring unseen footage of the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1966. Much of the footage is available in colour.
Among those at the function in the GPO who heard of the minister’s ambitious hopes for the battle-scarred building was Fr Joseph Mallin, son of executed 1916 hero Commandant Michael Mallin.
A spokesperson for An Post said GPO staff were “very proud to work in such historic surroundings. However, the fact is the headquarters could just as easily be in another location in the city.”
I would like to see this idea getting the mass thumbs-down like the NCAD idea did.
Re: State of O’Connell Bridge:
Let’s face it though – improvement works to the bridge probably won’t begin until Luas comes across it (and it seems most likely that it will) – there would be no point in starting until then.
The Luas link is going through its red tape at the moment. It could be another year or two years before work begins. In the meantime, fill in the missing baluster with a concrete replica maybe ….!
Indeed, that’s all that’s required as a temporary measure, and what I meant by the possibility of a conservation job being planned. Leave the proper replacement till later if needs be, and just pop in a plaster or decent concrete replica for the time being.
It’s a shame both the bridge and Westmoreland Street regenerations are waiting on the Luas. Though considering they’re both going to be compromised by it, perhaps it’s best things be held up for as long as possible.I would object to the GPO becoming a museum as it would create dead frontage on the street; the GPO as a post office adds to the vitality of the street through the sale of the financial services that it sells.
From a conservation point of view the building copes perfectly with its present use and change to a museum would serve only to add clutter to its original environment.
It would be awful if the GPO ceased operating as a post office. Maybe they could include a museum element within the GPO and display items from the 1916 Rising.
@GregF wrote:
It would be awful if the GPO ceased operating as a post office. Maybe they could include a museum element within the GPO and display items from the 1916 Rising.
Since the arrival of email , post as we know it is in a slow and perpetual decline. The is no way the GPO will still be open in thirty years time.
As it is , others are going to be given a chance deliver post soon enough , and given the recent figures on An Post reliability they are likely to go extinct a lot sooner, as they do a crap job, and cost a lot.
It would make a great future abbey theatre.
You would destroy this building inserting a stage and cambering seating banks a theatre at this location is simply not an option at this building of national architectural, cultural and historical importance.
I further consider that you over estimate the importance of e-mail as many items such as utility invoices and legal notices simply cannot be sent to every recipient, An Post has a viable future should delivery charges be structured to reflect the actual cost of delivery on an address specific basis.
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