O’ Connell Street, Dublin
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I hope this pic hasnt been on this thread before but here is a nice illustration I came upon. Its from 1820.
Will they ever illuminate the bloody thing? It’s bizarre at night-time. A 120m sculpture puncturing the skyline and no-one can see it. Reminds me of that tall yoke in Pyongyang.
@Alek Smart wrote:
Lets be clear on this….the Luas link is dead in the water.
By 2009 or whenever,the money will be gone,the various worthies are already muddying the waters in preparation.The Luas link will be quietly shelved as being non cost effective in the “New” fiscal situation as,of course,MetroDub will cover the same ground…ergo many asses will be saved an ignomonous dragging through the mud.
The REAL reason is the lack of any concept of how we were ever going to be able to plan,design and regulate for major overground civil engineering works in the City Centre between St Stephens Green and O Connell St……It`s not how we do things in this Republic i`m afraid….NEXT PLEASE !!!!!!! 😮
Reading the front of the Sunday Indo today spurred my ageing grey cells to drag this from the ether……..Here and elsewhere I have expressed pessimism at just how much of the Transport 21 spending did not appear to be buttoned-down.
Lots of aspirational oul shitte spouted endlessly at Press Conferences by well coiffured representatives of the DOT/DTO/RPA/DCC and any visiting luminaries who can be roped in.
Never in the field of human cleanliness has a bath proven so incredibly expensive as Mary O Rourkes !! 😮
@notjim wrote:
the spike’s lights seem to have been repaired again!
This was premature, they only worked properly for a week and now are down to about a quarter again! According to the Business Post, DCC has just put the maintenance contract out to tender. Oh how I wish this had worked better: fewer visible joins, the bottom section the same lustre as the rest and the lights working. It really is lovely from anywhere but OCS, Abbey, Earl and Talbot Street, but from these it looks a mess.
Re the Luas link up, thank god, this was the least needed of the T21 projects, for my money, why not just run it to interchange at Pearse; this would add far more useful connectivity than ||ing the metro between SSG and OCS.
And on another point entirely, isn’t it fantastic how well OCS has worked, for all the disappointments and delays and silliness and shoddiness from the building owners, it is just so much better used than it was eight years ago, even at the Parnell St end there are crowds.
I`m afraid notjim,most of the crowds you see are being brought there by and for Bus Atha Cliath with it`s vast overuse of the street…..Take them buses out and watch the crowds disappear…ESPECIALLY at the Northern end….
As for the Spire…little wonder DCC are looking for a new contractor….What happened to all the PR puff about everlasting light units etc etc …sold a big PuP methinks….cost of it all well concealed I would imagine…FoI request anybody… 🙂
Alek S: I agree there are too many buses and that they account for some of the people north of abbey st; I think you are too negative in thinking they account for all; a lot of people live on Parnell st now and are happier about walking down OCS than they would have been in the past.
And if any of those people live on the stretch of Parnell St between O Connell St and Capel St,then Dublin Bus regards them as being outside it`s pale…..Not as much as a Public Transport Rickshaw travels along this stretch of Parnell St despite it being virtually a dual-carriageway….WTF 😮
In fact not a single service is routed down Parnell St west, Bolton St, North King St, etc etc – basically the entire block bordered by Broadstone in the north to the quays in the south and from O C St/P Sq W as far west as Church Street is bereft of buses – a massive massive block (about a quarter of what we might call “town”) – while literally at peak hours a few hundred movements occur on the main thoroughfare in each direction.
Even at that only the 83 uses Church Street. On the other side Garndiner Street, especially lower, is also pitifully underutilised. An Láritis is still flourishing well and truly – the Pillar’s been gone over 40 years lads!!!
Oh Alonso..I`m with u all the way here Bud 🙂
With the current kerfuffle ongoing about Buses being parked-up along Parnell Sq etc I have long agitated for my employer to send some of it`s senior people for a bit of a walk along Parnell St.
My stroll would be….along Parnell St to the Parnell Centre (Surely the greatest example of a failed commercial development in An LÃ r ?) then bearing right into Loftus Lane and thence back into Kings Inn st to rejoin Parnell St heading in the opposite direction….just the exact type of routing a City Bus route could well do with taking…
I agree that Loftus Lane/Kings Inn st is not exactly sparkling with vibrant civic life BUT it does offer available,non-contentious kerb space with the only possible traffic conflict being the Exit from the Parnell Centre multi-storey.
The potential for re-routing some of the existing cross-city services to travel along Parnell St and access the Swords Road QBC via Dorset St Lower is also being ignored as both Dominick St and Kings Inn Street offer viable alternatives to the somewhat fraught situation now in place at Granby Row (A MAJOR accident just awaiting its opportunity here :mad:)
The entire raison d`etre of my proposals is to S P R E A D O U T the Bus Network by utilising streets which are currently ignored in favour of the imaginary convienence of O Connell St.
Similarly if one stands at the bottom end of Jervis Street (Liffey End) and looks Northward,one has a straight-line route directly onto Parnell St obstructed only by On Street Car Parking and with only the Jervis and one other Multi Storey exit to be effectively factored into any Public Transport corridor .
Indeed for may City Centre visitors Jervis St is at least equidistant from the Henry/Mary St shopping centres as is O Connell St and if we devise our strategy correctly we could offer FAR more in the way of Bus/Bus-Bus/Luas-Bus/Luas/Rail connectivity than we currently do.
I remain totally bamboozled at the reasons why our City Bus Company AND the other Civic Authorities continue to totally ignore an area which offers so much in a non-contentious way as does the Parnell/King/Dorset Triangle…but then again I am NOT in any way shape or form a Professional Planner so perhaps I lack that something special…..??? :rolleyes:
Someday i’ll get a real camera I really will! Here’s my attempt to capture it from where I was anyway…
I had the best place in all of Dublin! Stewarding at the crossing point at abbey street, so I was right at the edge of the parade, and also where the police and the the amazing cavalry unit were.
O’ Connell Street at the ready just as the sunshine came out 😀
Start of the parade
Cav 😀 Weren’t the bikes just amazing! Not a spec of dirt on them! Wow! (trust me I know the work that goes into keeping them like that and the trouble they go to)from today’s times
GPO may become setting for presidential inaugurations
THE GPO in Dublin may become the setting for future presidential inaugurations, following its transformation to accommodate a museum commemorating the 1916 Rising, The Irish Times has learned. FRANK McDONALD , Environment Editor reports.
Plans being drawn up by architects in the Office of Public Works (OPW) envisage demolishing part of the building to create a glazed courtyard to the rear, two-thirds the size of the Upper Yard of Dublin Castle.
The two existing courtyards within the GPO are “rather mean”, according to a spokesman, so the plan is to demolish the cross-block between them and create a much more impressive civic space.
Beneath this courtyard, there would be a vast concourse – “something like the Louvre [ in Paris] rather than Clery’s basement” – which would be accessible from the front and sides of the building.
The concept being worked on is to retain the existing post office, but reconfigure it to create a processional route from the neoclassical portico on O’Connell Street to the courtyard and concourse.
“This could become the ‘front room of the nation’ within a building that’s central to the foundation of the State,” the OPW spokesman said. “It could even be used for presidential inaugurations.”
Traditionally, presidents have been inaugurated in St Patrick’s Hall at Dublin Castle, “with 500 people crammed in, so it would be lovely to have these ceremonies in a space that could accommodate 2,000”.
The proposed concourse beneath the courtyard would be a large, column-free exhibition space similar to the central concourse of the Louvre museum, with roof lights above to flood it with natural light.
Apart from a 1916 museum, it would contain a philately museum and possibly also a museum of Dublin. A working group headed by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is examining the options.
The National Museum is advising on the content of the 1916 museum, which is likely to be broader than the Rising itself and its aftermath, but it is likely that professional exhibition designers will also be involved.
It is envisaged that shops would be installed at ground level, along the Prince’s Street frontage of the building, to complement plans by Arnott’s for a major redevelopment of this “back street” area.
The proposal to demolish the cross-block, which is located halfway between the front of the building and the GPO arcade, means that many of An Post’s 1,000 staff will have to relocate to other offices.
However, the OPW spokesman emphasised that the GPO would continue to house the “headquarters function” of An Post as well as the post office, which dates from 1814 and was rebuilt in the 1920s.
The OPW’s in-house design team is headed by assistant principal architect Michael Haugh, with Charles Moore as project architect, and overseen by commissioner David Byers, who is also an architect.
The sketch scheme they are preparing is expected to be presented to the Cabinet in May, with a view to getting approval to proceed to planning application stage and finish the building work by 2013.
© 2008 The Irish TimesVery exciting works, and of an ambition that is necessary for this signature building. I support almost every element of the plan.
A few matters remain unclear: notably that the courtyard facades of GPO are distinctly grim. I wonder how this will be handled – limewash everything/parts perhaps?
Secondly, I don’t quite understand how a ‘processional route’ behind the portico can also be a space capable of and suitable to holding 2000 people – anyone any ideas? And would this/should this be an adaption of the existing decor, a crisply modernist scheme, or a full-on neoclassical job?
And while I support the plan, especially with retention of a significant post office element, I abhor the idea of inaugurations being moved from the Castle. The mellowed splendour of the setting, the ceremonial route from the Park approaching the axis with City Hall, the grandeur of the environs of Cork Hill and its suitably distinguished buildings, the drama of the sweep into the Upper Yard under the Fortitude Gate – itself a wonderfully evocative piece of military design – the setting for the inspecting of the guard, and then of course the illustrious St. Patrick’s Hall. All of this would be utterly lost, not to mention the focus being taken away once again from the west of the city. It’s a far surperior setting to the manky retail-lined route with crass galvanised barriers tacked up along the way in the case of O’Connell Street.
The size of St. Patrick’s Hall is agreed a problem, but either way you have to draw the line somewhere. For Douglas Hyde’s inauguration there were barely 250 in the room.
And of course,directly opposite the GPO Portico we have,just to lend some gravitas for the background shots……Ann Summers with a suitably presedential window display…Bring it on I say !!! 😀
@GrahamH wrote:
Secondly, I don’t quite understand how a ‘processional route’ behind the portico can also be a space capable of and suitable to holding 2000 people – anyone any ideas? And would this/should this be an adaption of the existing decor, a crisply modernist scheme, or a full-on neoclassical job?
I was under the impression that the new enlarged courtyard is the space being referred to Graham ? It would seem that with the removal of the ‘cross block’, it would be capable of accommodating up to 2000.
Overall the plan does sound very promising, although surely the removal of the cross block poses plenty of challenges ???
Agreed that Presidential inaugurations should remain at Dublin Castle for all the reasons you outline, although perhaps the GPO & its new glazed space could become the first port of call for the new president, where she or he (almost said she exclusively!) could deliver their first address to the nation, in front of a larger crowd, of dare i suggest, ordinary people.
Many a great speech delivered by new Presidents over the years, seem to become lost in the somewhat stuffy environs of the castle & those attending. I think there would be appropriate symbolism at play in the President leaving the seat of Brittish rule in Ireland & travelling to the place where the quest for freedom began, to address the free people of the nation, in a structure created by the new Ireland.
Ok perhaps getting a little carried away, but you know what i mean, i hope 😀
The locations of the castle & GPO line up nicely to allow for a presidential procession/parade through the heart of the city. In short, let it start at the castle but finish at the GPO. Now that I’ve thought about it, I can’t think of a more appropriate place for a new President to meet & address the people.
Fully agreed. Indeed if anything the inauguration process is distinctly short – it’s a shame it’s usually done and dusted by midday. Making a day of the event by extending it to include a more public ceremony or address in the GPO is a tradition that ought to be established.
Yes I think you’re right about the courtyard and the 2000 capacity Peter, in which case all the more reason not to use it for the inauguration proper – I’d rather not have the President signed into office in an atrium thanks very much! I’m sure the Stephen’s Green Centre would oblige with a more competitive tender!
In some respects the inauguration ceremony has been muddling (admirably) along for the past seventy years – however a wider and more ordered protocol is in order by now I think.
Without question though the sense of enclosure, of exclusivity, of purpose-design in many respects, that the Castle affords the ceremony is unparallelled. The fact that it is largely reserved just for presidential inaugurations (in terms of day-to-day use, whatever of the odd corporate event) in itself makes it of special significance that would be a tragedy to lose.
@Graham H wrote:
Yes I think you’re right about the courtyard and the 2000 capacity Peter, in which case all the more reason not to use it for the inauguration proper – I’d rather not have the President signed into office in an atrium thanks very much! I’m sure the Stephen’s Green Centre would oblige with a more competitive tender!
In some respects the inauguration ceremony has been muddling (admirably) along for the past seventy years – however a wider and more ordered protocol is in order by now I think.
Without question though the sense of enclosure, of exclusivity, of purpose-design in many respects, that the Castle affords the ceremony is unparallelled. The fact that it is largely reserved just for presidential inaugurations (in terms of day-to-day use, whatever of the odd corporate event) in itself makes it of special significance that would be a tragedy to lose.
Point taken on the atrium ! Now how do we go about making this happen, fancy a run for office 😀 ?
I assume the ‘processional route from the neoclassical portico on O’Connell Street to the courtyard and concourse’ will likely involve opening up the cu chulainn window ?
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