O’ Connell Street, Dublin
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Servers at work can be incredibly erratic in what they will permit and not allow, I once worked in a company that had monthly quotas of 30 minutes for entertainment of which 10 minutes was taken for each page opened so if you wanted to check what was on the box that night 20 minutes was gone. :confused:
Regarding the PP ‘sports cafe’ application, I’m not surprised that it has been abandoned given the clear nature of the refusal and the number of other potential uses for the building. I was just thinking of Habitats pending move to College Green today and it really is a sign of the shift in the retail centre northwards in recent years.
If they could inch just that bit further across the river…
The Suffolk St building seems to be at an advanced stage judging by the few elements evident under the scaffolding.What is it with landmark ex-BoI premises? In Dundalk, exactly the same thing has happened: a bookies has moved into what is probably the third most prominent building in the town, a large Regency pile of a place. Strange coincidence.
Hopefully someone will move into the BoI on O’Cll St soon – it looks a sorry sight closed up as it is. The upper windows could do with a small bit of work too, as could the ground floor.@Graham Hickey wrote:
What is it with landmark ex-BoI premises? In Dundalk, exactly the same thing has happened: a bookies has moved into what is probably the third most prominent building in the town, a large Regency pile of a place. Strange coincidence.
Maybe they think that the horrific plastic fitout will be masked by the quality facades that these bank buildings possess. A more cynical individual might say that the change of use is a transient one en-route to becoming a bar where planning is refused in the first instance. Given that many would consider a bar a slighly more desirable use than a bookies.
@notjim wrote:
isn’t the point that a bookies isn’t a change of use from a bank.
I’m not so sure that if ‘change of use’ is properly enforced that it this particular change of use wouldn’t constitute a change of use, when one looks in any well written development plan under ‘land use zonings’ there is a comprehensive list of ‘permissable uses’ & ‘uses open for consideration’
Betting shop is simply listed as betting shop whilst banks are listed as either ‘retail bank’ or ‘financial services’ depending on the plan. There is no way that gambling could possibly constitute a financial service as 90% of the product i.e. nag and dog races are consumed upon the premises due to their short duration unlike investments and/or credit which take months if not years to mature. A good comparison would be change of use from shoe shop to chipper.
Has work commenced on all the statues, or is it just the main ones?
A bit of both. Fr Mathew was started at the end of last week, while work on Larkin began just yesterday or Tuesday.
All that’s left now on O’Cll St to be covered are Sir John Grey and William Smith O’Brien – no doubt they’ll look quite strange as two giant cubes facing each other 🙂Joyce on Nth Earl St and the Sheahan Memorial have yet to be deal with. Presumably they’ll be tackled last.
Here’s an excellent project commissioned by Dublin City Council in 2003 to bring together information about the 9 monuments in the area (though Yvonne Wheelan’s work is still better :)). It’s the material in this project that was used for the information signs on the street.
http://www.dublincity.ie/Images/O’Connell%20Street%20Statues%20Survey_tcm35-10452.doc
Another perhaps dodgy fact on these signs is that Fr Matthew is of Carrera marble: it says limestone in the report as one would expect, but says marble on the street…though it is possible that he’s just manky dirty – one need only look at WSO’B after all…
It’s interesting (with the benefit of hindsight of course) to note how WSO’B doesn’t fit into the street like the other monuments do – it’s clearly evident he wasn’t designed for this location. His scale is wrong, esp compared with Sir John Grey, and the proportionately larger ‘flight’ of steps at the base is indicative of his original island location at the foot of D’Olier St.
Not that this detracts from it in any way, if anything it makes the monument much more interesting!On the subject of monuments, what about a memorial to Luke Gardiner in the last vacant plot on the street, which also happens to be the ideal location – the entrance to his Mall half way between Fr Mathew and the Spire?
Anyone know what he looked like? 🙂I think hes due some recognition fror his architectural legacy to the city.
Sheahan is under wraps. Can imagine that Joyce would require more than a days work.
Also the pavement at Parnell St – Cathal Brugha St is being narrows in anticipation of works to the central mall. Things are starting to move again. Any news on our new kiosk?
Luke Gardiner does indeed deserve recognition…
Not only did his property speculation impact on the city, but some Catholic Relief (emancipation) acts are regarded as his work – so he was not an insignificant political figure. He was also intimately associated with John Beresford – they were close allies in political, social and financial circles. With his death went all tight control of property usage in the Gardiner Estate – with long-term consequences. People think the Act of Union was responsible for the northside’s fall from grace but it is often forgotten that the Act of Union impacted on the entire city, and it was only into the 1840s did the northside stall when the southside was ever expanding.
I did a dissertation on this guy – I must publish it! 😀
Luke II or Luke II? 🙂
Who is more deserving of recognition on O’Cll St – father for the Mall and the street he’d be standing on or son for the contribution to the city at large?Anyone know where I could access Gardiners Dublin 1991, a 60 page pamhlet It was missing from 45 Merrion sq when I was there.
I have a copy at home but I aint giving it away! 😉 I think UCD Arch Library has a copy.
Luke 1 started Henrietta Street, Charles started Rutland Square, Luke 11 made more ambitious plans… Mountjoy Square, Royal Circus, Denmark St, Hardwicke St. etc etc….
Conk, below are links to TCD and UCD library web-pages (if the direct links arent working just go to their library home pages via ucd.ie or tcd.ie and put in your search). The architecture library in UCD (as long as it is still the same) is more open to just walking in than Trinity, so would probably be a better place to try to look at it.
It is quite amazing that one of the City’s most emminent developers/ urban Master planners; Luke Gardiner was never comemorated with a lasting memorial, the only problem now is that if a memorial were to be erected today it would more than likely be in a pastiche form.
Perhaps a mini-Georgian on the median would be a fitting tribute 🙂
But which of the two would you commemorate – Luke I or II?
You couldn’t very well dedicate it to the second, ignoring the man who originated the street it’d be standing on!
Perhaps a monument in honour of both of them?Despite both being raving speculators, they clearly had a vision for the city, an aim to increase its standing on an international level.
@Graham Hickey wrote:
Despite both being raving speculators, they clearly had a vision for the city, an aim to increase its standing on an international level.
The Gardiners really were visionary in a Dublin context in that they were the first developers to plan ‘New Towns’ and not just develop individual edge settlement extensions. In a modern day context speculation really is simply prediction and there is nothing to stop speculators leaving a good legacy behind them, a simple piece of prediction would be that densities and that architectural standards will increase, in essence the perfect excuse to hold land whilst prices are rising. When one looks at places like New York and Hong Kong there have been many speculators who have left lasting monuments to their greed of incredible architectural quality.
The Gardiners should have a monument although I would feel much more comfortable with a contemporary work perhaps based on a broad site outline of the overall master plans that were executed.
Yes – anywhere in the city indeed, It’s extraordinary nothing has been erected in their memory – though one could argue that one need only look around the whole Northside to see what’s still standing in their honour…
Well here’s a rough History of the Lampposts of O’ Connell Street for anyone who’s interested.
By no means is it complete, and not every date is pinned down, but it broadly covers the main schemes the street has experienced over the past 130 years.Really interesting.Thanks for posting that Graham. 🙂
Sorry to slightly change the subject, but in one of those photos, I saw a building I have never seen before.
I seen many old photos of Dublin before, but never seen that roof before? Does anyone have more pictures of that building?
Thanks.
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