O’ Connell Street, Dublin
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i just see the picture of o connoll bridge in the 1950’s… its all nice and flat. Currently its a mess and extremely bumpy.. they should really iron it all out
@Peter FitzPatrick wrote:
I suppose that would require temporary raod closure Greg (not that big a deal really imo), certainly better than permanently obliterating a substantion section of the median trees …
I’ve still heard no logical explanation as to why it cannot be positioned on the plaza & face north.
Whatever the reason, DCC has said the trees are permanently felled and the horrible gap is now designated the spot for the erection of the crane to service the “self-cleaning” spire every year and a half or so. Apart from the disgraceful compromise of the O’Connell Street plan, am I alone in thinking Mr Ritchie should be addressing the flaw in his design, or footing the cleaning bill?
Didn’t he blame the air quality? If this is true, it is a little ungracious IMHO. Besides, it makes one wonder why he didn’t know what sort of air quality to expect in the middle of O’Connell Street.
It’s a shame that nothing can be done about the ugly joins that mar the close-up view.
@AndrewP wrote:
Apart from the disgraceful compromise of the O’Connell Street plan, am I alone in thinking Mr Ritchie should be addressing the flaw in his design, or footing the cleaning bill?
Agree Andrew, his silence is deafening, particularly as he pretty much trumpets the Spire as his flagship project. Whatever about the cleaning, (it bloody well is possible from the plaza side), the lines up the length of the spire are a major flaw.
Passing by yesterday the paving is almost complete and the trees are definately a thing of the past. The lamp posts have been replaced though and the ugly phone box obviously isnt too much of an inconveninec to annual cleaning. Its the latest in a list of failure with this project, including:
- the length of time it took to complete the project
- the failure to implement street improvements in any other part of the IAP area, especially forgotten side streets like Cathedral St and Sackville Place.
- the failure of the kiosk initiative
- the compromise taxi rank
- the failure to provide a logical bicycle lane
- the need to retrofit the street with tactile paving rather than at design stage
- the failure to remove old street lighting from buildings
- the lack of a coordinated approach to street furniture and signage despite this being a key element of the design
- the dissappointing lack of fllodlighting for the Spire
- the failure to encourage the redevelopment of derelcit sites on the street, most especially the Carlton
- the disgrace of bicycle stands littering the central median
- the lack of attention to O’Connell Bridge
- the failure to date to continue the works around Parnell Street
The saga continues:
New public square planned for site off O’Connell Street
The Carlton cinema site: the site covers over four acres and links OConnell Street to Moore Street and the Ilac Centre
A city square is to be built on the site of the former Carlton cinema on O’Connell Street, after many years of legal wrangling, writes Jack Fagan .
Plans to create a new public square on the site of the disused Carlton cinema to link Upper O’Connell Street with Moore Street in Dublin 1 are to be unveiled this autumn as part of a long delayed rejuvenation scheme for the area.
Dublin Central Architects, representing three architectural practices, have apparently agreed on an overall design for a new shopping, leisure and residential area covering more than four acres between Upper O’Connell Street and the Ilac Centre.
The square will become the centrepiece of the new quarter which will cost more than €500 million to develop and will directly link O’Connell Street into the retail core of the city.
The Ilac centre is undergoing a major remodelling and upgrading and on the opposite side of Henry Street, Arnotts is gearing up for a massive redevelopment that will greatly enlarge the shopping areas.
The scheme is expected to include about 6,503sq m (700,000sq ft) of double-height shopping with a heavy emphasis on restaurants, bars and other leisure facilities to attract tourists.
Planning permission will also be sought for a high quality hotel with 150 bedrooms and a wide choice of apartments to attract both single people and families.
The overall success of the development will be strengthened by the City Council’s proposed rejuvenation of the adjoining Parnell Square where the planned opening of a new Metro station is expected to generate a huge increase in pedestrian traffic.
Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Land, nominated by the City Council to handle the regeneration of the Upper O’Connell Street area, has been coordinating the overall plans which are being handled by three architectural firms, BKD, McGarry Ni Eanaigh and Donnelly Turpin.
Although it will be 10 years next month since the Carlton site initiative was first announced, it has been repeatedly held up by legal wrangling between the Carlton Group of landowners and the City Council and also between the owners.
The council put a compulsory purchase order on the site in December 2001, after determining that the Carlton Group, which had secured planning permission for the site in 1999, had neither the finance nor the expertise to advance the project.
A challenge to the CPO by architect Paul Clinton, a member of the Carlton Group, was dismissed by the High Court and is now on appeal to the Supreme Court.
Although the lengthy legal process has prevented the redevelopment of the site, the saga involving the Carlton and the vacant site beside it has gone on even longer. The site has been vacant since 1979 and the cinema has been closed since 1994.
Since then the cinema has been suggested as a venue for a national conference centre, now under construction at Spencer Dock, and as a site for the Abbey Theatre.
It’s a bit of a silly story in truth. Instead of the new street that has planning permisison there’ll be a square. Anyway the councillors seem set on overturning the deal with O’Reilly as soon as the CPO is completed.
Does that mean that the gaping hole will remain? That gaping hole that breaks the unifromity of that side of the street and that has been there for nearly 30 years. FFS…. It’s kinda like the way the Corpo used to turn derelict sites about the city into parks years ago!
What is it with the bins on O’Connell Street too. The polished steel bins which were initially installed as part of the make over have been removed and replaced with dull matt grey bins. Kinda don’t look as good . However these newer bins have replaced the awful black Victoriana pastiche bins on Henry Street. More in keeping with the contemporary feel of the street.
Another article here: http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/10751529?view=Eircomnet&cat=National
Dublin’s GPO to close only to rise again as a smart shopping centre
From The Irish IndependentSunday, 15th July, 2007THE GPO in O’Connell Street, Dublin, is to close – as a general post office.
The Government has grand plans to “open it up to a public” in a revamp costing €250m that will turn the inconic building and its huge interior courtyards into a mixed development of museums, restaurants, galleries, shops and performance areas for the arts.
The redevelopment of the site is linked to the celebration of the centenary of 1916 in nine years’ time.
Secret discussions have been taking place over a long period between the Office of Public Works and architects and planners about making the GPO a “focal point” for huge development plans in the northern quarter of Dublin city.
“There are considerable architectural possibilities about what can be done with it,” said the Minister in charge of the Office of Public Works, Noel Ahern TD, yesterday.
“There are enormous possibilities if we get the right mix of creative ideas,” he said.
A think tank involving the ultra-trendy architects Foster & Partners of London, who designed the proposed expansion of U2’s Clarence Hotel, has been involved in looking at the GPO complex and possibilities for opening it up from the surrounding streets such as Henry Street and Prince’sStreet.
With the post office counters removed there will be free access into the massive interior of the building.
“The think tank came at it from an architectural point of view; now it is a case of moving on and talking to the stakeholders” said the minister. He believes that work will have to start in the next year or two if the Government’s plans are to be completed in time for the 2016 celebration.
Included in the plan is a glass cover for the vast courtyards, new archway entrances from adjoining streets and a multi-story interior which could even include an element of upmarket apartments, depending on a final agreement for the building and its courtyards.
Minister Ahern wants the building to retain the historic name of the GPO and to retain a post office “at some level”, but this would only be one element of the development, which is at the early planning stages.
In the next couple of weeks meetings will be held with various interested bodies, including An Post, to discuss the plans.
The future of the GPO is now linked to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, which is seen as a “seminal moment” in the development of Irish independence and the modern state.
An integral part of the plan is for a “creative” museum which will celebrate the 100 years since Padraig Pearse, James Connolly and the Irish Volunteers occupied the building in 1916, beginning the final phase of the struggle for Irish independence.
The front facade of the building remains from the original GPO designed by Francis Johnston and erected in 1818. Much of the rest of it was destroyed by shelling in 1916. Ironically this facilitates the development of the courtyards and other buildings on the site, making development a much easier proposition because much of the fabric of the vast site was built after 1916.
Noel Ahern has already presided over a series of meetings of an informal group which has been charged with celebrating the centenary of 1916 and opening up the historic site for public use.
“We want people in there, we want a lively place so that people can walk in off O’Connell Street,” said Minister Ahern.
He also believes that it should be more than “dawn to dusk” and that the GPO site will be a vibrant place for visitors well into the night, and that in conjunction with other developments in the area can turn O’Connell Street into a vibrant part of the city.
Last week Arnott’s department store, which is controlled by barrister Richard Nesbitt, got the go-ahead for a €750m redevelopment of its huge land bank in Abbey Street, Henry Street and Prince’s Street, which includes the former Independent Newspapers site.
The Arnott’s site, the GPO site and the Carlton site, which extends back into Moore Street, will all become part of a 5.5-acre redevelopment of what has now been called the Northern Quarter.
The scheme, which has been been approved by Dublin City Council, will be 12 to 15 storeys high in places.
The Office of Public Works, which is to begin consultation with stakeholders in the GPO in the next couple of weeks, is determined that the old post office will become the focal point of this development. The best architects and planners will be involved in the design process.
At present, An Post uses the GPO building as a company headquarters – and although it is a famous meeting point in the centre of Dublin it is generally considered that its presence has ‘deadened’ the area rather than adding to the vigour and attractiveness of O’Connell Street and the surrounding area.
“Meet ye under the McDonalds clock.”
Very very true. The image sums it all up. This could well turn out to be a tacky and cheap disaster.
Could hardly be a focal point for 1916 commerations if that’s is gonna be the case!
You forgot the giant floating hamburger over the pediment- this is Foster, remember.
Of all the rubbish quoted in that article, perhaps the worst bit is the contention that because the interior isn’t ‘original’ it isn’t worth saving. There are dozens of people in the OPW and DEHLG (wasn’t that Noel Ahern’s last post, for Housing?) with sufficient knowledge to inform the junior minister that such an approach went out with red braces and side-lace shoes. I mean, facadism? It’s been thouroughly discredited as a conservation philosophy by now, right?
What do you mean ‘The Clarence Hotel’?
lol – brilliant Morlan 😀
At least the Londis one is temporary – we’ll only have to endure it for two and a half years.
What a ridiculous article – I can’t believe even the Indo decided to run with the ‘shopping centre’ line. And I thought the Mail were stooping to a new low with their shock and awe spin on the story :rolleyes:
Where and when exactly has the GPO ever been ‘generally considered’ to have a ‘deadening’ effect on the area? This is the second busiest pedestrian intersection in the entire country after Grafton Street, with the GPO being a major player in drawing the crowds. Have any journalists ever actually used the GPO? Or indeed government ministers for that matter? It is constantly thronged with people for every hour of its trading. The sole deadening effect, if it could even be described as such, is the access-blind facade under the portico with no entranceway; it is illogical and ridiculous that the most grandiose portico in the city heralds a blank wall to the intending patron. It’s a pity this wasn’t reopened in the recent refurbishment.
And what rubbish about post-1916 fabric: this entire building is protected, including most of the late 1920s interior fixtures and fittings – it is no more a simple matter ridding the building of these as it would be of 19th century originals. Indeed the fact that they are so central to the building’s use makes it doubly so. Indeed have the Government considered that, in light of ABP’s recent (and proper) landmark ruling regarding Bewleys of Westmoreland Street, that the conversion of such a landmark building as the GPO to an alternate use when its existing use is inherent to its heritage, character, location and purpose is simply not permissible?
Personally I’ve no objection to the redevelopment of the enormous rear of the building and courtyards, and fully agree that it is a wasted behemoth in the centre of the city in terms of so much of an historic building and location being devoted to administration space, sorting rooms and service yards.
http://www.fantasyjackpalance.com
And there’s no reason why a small retail and restaurant element should not be included as an aside to the main museum, perhaps with an elegantly glazed arcade extension to the existing one, leading into the adjoining courtyard, but the public postal office must remain central to the principal facade on O’Connell Street.
It must also be remembered that the newly reconfigured Princes Street (as part of the Arnotts scheme) is going to open up the enormous side elevation of the building to the public, becoming almost as important as the O’Connell Street frontage itself, easily accommodating a secondary grandiose entrance to the redeveloped complex – it doesn’t have to smash through the public office.
Leave the grand old lady on O’Connell Street alone.
The courtyards aren’t vast.
I don’t see why the post office can’t be maintained as is and the rest of the building given over to other uses. Just because An Post are comfortably esconced within…
I think the main post office in Prague has a cafe etc within its glazed courtyard, but I can’t find a pic online. It would be nice to have somewhere relaxing like that in the manic centre of the city.I think the cafe idea is good if it were at the back in a glassed courtyard et all etc……but the main part of the building at the front should be left untouched. Any meddling would lead to its demise. A museum is the only option if the function of the building is to change. There are enough fast food joints and cheap huckstery shops on the street as we know. It’s a wonder that Carrol’s the tourist shops don’t sell minature replica’s of the GPO.
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