O’ Connell Street, Dublin
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@GrahamH wrote:
As such, DCC couldn’t impose any conditions such as removal of the notorious signage to the bridge or at ground floor level. A pity.
Couldn’t or wouldn’t? 😡
Nice how the colour scheme chosen coincidentally seems to legitimise the otherwise unacceptable signage and branding :rolleyes:
But dont worry folks; at a recent DCC meeting discussing the JCDecaux adverts, it came as news to the planning manager that O’ C st is an ACA. Fortunately he was corrected by his more junior officials; how 😮 .
@GrahamH wrote:
They’ve also been positioned further apart than they used to be.
Of course the central question remains: what they heck are they?! Well as far as can be made out, they were simply part of a ‘suite’ of furniture introduced to the street roughly around the 1870s. Not only was this design used in protecting William Smith O’Brien at the entrance to D’Olier Street…
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/Dublin1/Dublin%20Archiseek/dolier-w
huh I thought you’d discussed this before when you put those pics up before, I just read in Pat Liddy’s book that there were vents for the basements that extended all the way out to the middle of the road.
You can see the holes in the old pic. I wonder whats left of those basements?
How interesting. Which book is this lostexpectation – his most recent The Changing Landscapes of Dublin?
It’s hard to believe all the same that the basements extended that far out (being considerably wider than Henrietta Street and much more modest originally), and not just horizontally but length-ways too, given the bollards up to recently were sited beyond the building line of O’Connell Street, essentially in Parnell Street. Would rumours of a tunnel from the Rotunda have anything to do with it?
Clearly they were venting something; the fact that only two of them have holes is even weirder…GrahamH wrote:How interesting. Which book is this lostexpectation – his most recent The Changing Landscapes of Dublin?It’s hard to believe all the same that the basements extended that far out (being considerably wider than Henrietta Street and much more modest originally), and not just horizontally but length-ways too, given the bollards up to recently were sited beyond the building line of O’Connell Street, essentially in Parnell Street. Would rumours of a tunnel from the Rotunda have anything to do with it?
Clearly they were venting something]to store drink of course
Would the vents have anything to do with Findlaters Wine Cellars reputedly somewhere beneath the street ??
However leaving the vents aside and returning to the Pole issue as raised by GrahamH.
What exactly is it with DCC and other local authorities in the Dublin region that has them in thrall to the Pole manufacturing industry ?
O Connell St is presently a sorry looking shambles with little ACTUAL improvement over what went before save the Granite !
Presently we have a hotch-potch of signage some of it useless and outdated all over Dublin each sign meriting a new pole and the work necessary to erect it.
Just this week another set of poles has sprouted along Lwr Kilmacud Road to facilitate a new private bus service serving the Beacon Centre in Sandyford.
It would appear that None of the Proffessional Planners could bring themselves to contemplate how a Bus Stop plate could indeed be supported by an existing Lamp Standard or ESB/Telecom Pole.Instead we see our roads and streets disappearing beneath a forest of stainless steel and aluminum for no good reason. (Other than perhaps a financial interest in the well being of the Pole industry ??)
These are the same Local Authority planners who have intense difficulties with the concept of pedestrian barriers at contentious locations as an aid to safety……!!
A shower of Wasters methinks ???? 🙂
The white vans wiith the thelodalite gangs were out last night. Note the red lines marked in the pavement… Im hearing that a dozen bus shelters are due to go in – should work well with the proposed adverts, as noted already in the “..Sts cluttered already” thread. :rolleyes:
Whats the betting the shelters will be the new Modern Standard ones now replacing the old Adshels throughout Dublin.
Probably the last part of the O Connell St Bus Stop Action Plan ?
The provision of some form of shelter is welcome but I remain curious as to what design criteria will be applied thereto…..
Lets do a group Breath Holding Hug…ready ?…..Breathe In and Hold…..:o 😮 😮 😮 😮
Good coverage of the decorative bollards at the north-end of the street on the prev page, G.
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@GrahamH wrote:
I don’t know if this has appeared before; a very early – 1850s – photo of the GPO bollards when they were still lamp standard bases:
.Yep – and doesn’t the GPO look so much more regal with the coat of arms intact? And the corner Georgian still in its elegant Regencyish state, with all five of what are now only two elaborate window surrounds.
Here’s a ghostly outline of the lamps from 1858.
And the hole in the top today. Only the left-hand bollard retains it, as the other is filled in.
They really were peculiar looking things, combining two utilitarian pieces of street furniture into one – an early example of form following function 🙂
The Bank of Ireland building on Lower O’Connell Street has had something of a chequered past, a history that helps reconcile the oddly modernist elements of its facade in what was part of an otherwise neoclassical street reconstruction (remembering this is the earlier, post-1916, phase of rebuilding).
Originally this elevation was decidedly more traditional in character, but was substantially remodelled in the 1950s to form what we see today. Armed with some basic information, it’s very easy to read the modern-day facade.
Prior to 1916, this site was of course occupied by the famous Dublin Bread Company building of c.1901.
Following the Rising, the remnants of the Bread Company building were completely razed, and the site redeveloped as the Grand Central Cinema, constructed between 1919 and 1921. The façade was quite different to what we have today, with an imposing cast metal and glass canopy extending over the footpath at ground floor level; it was for this feature that the giant archway was constructed.
As can be seen, the upper façade was also substantially different, with ranks of elegant lintel-capped windows at second floor level sited around small Corinthian columns and pilasters – perhaps redolent of Castle’s Rotunda at the top of the street? Certainly a design more fitting with the rest of the standard neoclassical stock surrounding it. There were also giant lintel-topped doorcases set austerely in the deeply channelled walls either side of the main entrance.
According to Jim Keenan, from who’s publication the above three photos are taken, a fire broke out in the cinema in 1946, completely gutting the building. The cinema remained a burnt out shell at the entrance to O’Connell Street for nearly three years until it was finally sold to the Hibernian Bank in 1949. It was around that very year that this extraordinary aerial photograph was taken, purely coincidentally showing the gutted interior of the former Grand Central, with steel girders exposed to the elements.
From the same year the building was acquired, 1949, this picture of Lower O’Connell Street also clearly depicts the scorched shell of the Grand Central.
The Hibernian Bank went about transforming the building into a high-profile branch in a typically bankish ‘quality’ fashion, with newly imported Portland stone, and impressive, locally-crafted bronze fixtures commissioned for the façade. Presumably it was decided to replace much of the upper facings because of irreparable scorch marks or expansion cracks to the original stonework. The work seems to have taken the best part of two years.
As can be seen, the upper façade was substantially remodelled, with the classical windows replaced with tall modernist apertures filling the full height of the bays. Additional windows were also added to the attic storey (largely redundant for a cinema), with the decorative medallions also removed.
Unfortunately the upper railings seem to have disappeared since, seemingly even later than the 1950s.
The Hibernian Bank Limited lettering was also incised at this time.
Needless to say, the elaborate glazed canopy that dominated the Lower street was not re-erected.
The Hibernian Bank also replaced the imposing stone doorcases on the ground floor with even larger versions, this time dressed in finely detailed bronze, made in Dublin by J&C McGloughlin Ltd in 1951, a large iron and steel foundry originally based on Pearse Street that later moved to the Dublin 8 area. They seem to have closed around 1980, but that’s open to correction. They’re probably most famed for their magnificent Leinster House entrance gates from around 1890.
Exquisitely detailed, they also feature what must surely be the most well-hidden date stamp in the entire city; it’s almost a hands-and-knees case.
Just inches from the ground.
The windows also appear to be of bronze – though the attic storey of timber – while much of the original stonework was retained in the reordering.
Some beautiful detailing and contrast in textures.
Here you can see the bank newly completed in the 1950s with the giant side doors wide open. Also note the extra setback storey that was added to the top, apparently in compensation for the loss in height from the former Bread Company building.
© Ken Finlay CollectionAlso just an earlier view of the canopy, painted white by 1944.
All in all, the remodelled building makes for an attractive and coherent addition at the entrance to the street, whatever of the recent glazed insert…
I think the building looks better today in it’s remodelled form. The long vertical windows add kinda elegance.
I have been looking at some of Graham’s photos of the GPO, both pre and post 1916. I notice that after 1916 there are square vents directly between the windows of the first and second floors. Pre 1916 there wasnt any. My first thought it was for steel support for the above floor but that doesnt make any sense…why the vent?
What ever happened to the symbol in the triangle above the GPO columns, its gone after 1916? I apologise for my lack of vocabulary (triangle) dont know the correct term.:confused:Interesting bit of Ass-Covering codology goin on presently at Princes St/O Connell St.
Somebody has obviously costed the amount of Garda man-hours which has to be spent here at peak times.The result is a flurry of digging and setting in of some tactile edging at each “side” of the entrance to Princes St.
Added to this is yet another Stainless Steel Pole or perhaps two in anticipation of some additional signalling to augment the present ped crossing array.
Slight oversight on the original comprehensive safety-audited IAP design no doubt.
Nothing to be concerned about…Nobody killed,Nobody Dismissed,Nobody responsible…..However…I wonder if the City Manager,Asst City Manager,Director of Traffic and Chief Engineer have considered the possible negative effects of yet another Pole on the Reversing Artic which appears there each evening at 18.45 ish…..
If anybody wishes to see what long commercials or PSV`s can do to traffic signal poles (Ad nauseum) then have a peep at Leeson St/Pembroke St junction where another new pole has just been erected following yet another flattening job…..Wonder what was recorded on the CCTV unit specially installed to keep watch on this very pole…….?? 😮
I`ve noiced in my recent net surfings that Dublin is being increasingly portrayed by images of the Docklands which I must say, , gives a far better impression of the city. O Connell Street , the recognised main thoroughfare of the city , is increasingly fading into the background, which is sad really given it`s historical importance. I mean , if you stand back from O Connell bridge and look northwards, you cannot help but admire the structural elegance of the street and what it once represented, long since destroyed by neon lights, atrocious advertising, despicable shop fronts, fast food outlets and horrendous traffic congestion. What an opportunity the IAP presented, and what did we get ?
A totally disproportionate spike (representing drug abuse in the area ?) and a resurfacing / paving exercise that seemed to take an eternity. You wouldn’t think it approaching it now but O Connell Street has many beautiful buildings, GPO, Carlton Cinema, Ambassador, The Gresham, Clerys so why couldn’t the street be redeveloped highlighting the existing architectural merits, instead of having them swamped up in a mass of convenience stores etc. I mean that’s what people notice when they go there, not what’s good about the place. Whoever is responsible for this shambles should hang their heads in shame. If the political will was there I`ve no doubt the various parties could work together to produce potentially the finest thoroughfare in Europe, but this is Ireland and the more things change , the more they say the same.
I`m off to the Docklands..PS , when is somebody going to knock that God awful Burger King shit hole at the lower end of the street. That semi circular window facade on the first floor has done my head in for years !
Thanks god for this: it is no longer planned to close the gpo in favour of a museum, instead the plan is to glass over the internal coutyards and include a museum as well: from the Times,
Proposals to glaze over the hidden courtyards of the GPO in Dublin and open them to the public as part of a plan to create a museum for the centenary of the 1916 Rising will be presented to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern shortly, The Irish Times has learned.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2007/0409/1175721063271.html
Just to reinforce Johnfp`s views on O Connell St`s general dishevellment,has anybody noticed how the much vaunted eternal Light atop the The Spire of Light has been extinguished since before St Patricks Day.
Interestingly the red Air Navigation Light has also been absent for that time,something which could well have proven hazardous for the VIP`s reviewing the Easter Commeration Parade should one or more of the Air Corp`s pilots become disorientated from all the Loop de Looping etc.
All the oul DCC talk about the Spire`s Lighting System being of the super long life variety appears to have been quietly forgotten……..quelle surprise !! :rolleyes:
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