O’Connell Street Monument
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Much rubbish has been forwarded by Dublin Corporation as regards their intended ‘gentrification’ of our beloved boulevard. The reams of press-releases almost weekly concerning the main thoroughfare contain little information differing from what was known years ago… Will the Corpo stop telling us what needs to be done and just do it! I see that Andrew Street and Sth. William Street are being repaved in granite without much fanfare, yet the Corpo’s intended paving for O’Connell Street has been talked about for years.
As regards the ‘spike’, I hope it is never built. It is a cheap and clumsy replacement for what was arguably the best sited monument in Europe. It is another insult to fellow Northsiders to see this ‘experiment’ ocurr, when we have seen another ‘replacement’ (the floozie) fail so miserably. I doubt very much that we would see such an accumulation of architectural and monumental rubbish on the southside.
The monument, if it goes ahead, will fail where it is supposed to succeed – the linchpin of O’Connell Street’s rebirth. Rather than securing the street’s future, it will be the spear driven through the heart of the once proud boulevard, ensuring its terminal decline.
so, hoping that the spire will be built, HOW tall is it ACTUALLY going to be?
120m. It’s tip will be lower than the top of RTE’s mast in Donnybrook.
It will be approx 100 feet lower than the chimneys at Poolbeg and circa one-seventieth (1 divided by 70)! the volume of the larger chimney. Its slenderness makes all the references to “taller than Liberty Hall” so much eyewash.
All the same, the Minister’s mailbag will be bulging with cranky comments. So, if you like the spike, write him before July 31st (at the Custom House). It can make a difference.A monument which was a runner-up in the competition featured on ‘Curasi Ealaine’ (RTE) last night, seemed to be a far more interesting and relevant to Irish society. Are any images of this scheme available?
What the hell is the difference if it is now the 21st century ??? Why the constant need to remind us of the obvious, as if the connotation of new and good made sense. Just because the spire – or Monument of Light – is different to the surroundings, to the to the expectations of the Dubliners who will have to see it is not good in itself. This project is deeply unsypathetic to the architectural history and the skyline of Dublin and no amount of internationalist patronising pseudo-art expert posturing on fact that we have entered the 21st century will alter that. Why should we attempt to be international if that means to symbolise ourself with meaningless symbols, to be truly forward thinking is also to be partaking in the rich architectural traditions of the world which are full of meaning and do not discard substance for show.
DEAD RIGHT!
I can’t wait for it to be built – a wonderful, unique structure for our very own city. In traditional Dublin style, Long live the Sliver by the River!
as to the guy who posted about the spire being “an insult to Northsiders”, I think “claiming” a monument 100 or so metres from the Liffey as “northside” is a bit hard to swallow. It’s in the city centre not the suburbs, and it belongs to and is representative of all of us, north, east, south and west.
What do you remember St. Louis for? What do you remeber Dublin for?
re: lofty’s remarks.
For starters, there’s no way that the RTE Mast at Montrose is anything like 120m (c.400ft) It looks to me to me more like about 200ft (c.60m)
Secondly, I cant believe the person who is small minded enough to seriously perpetuate the ‘northside/southside’ crap in relation to the Spire or anything else for that matter.
To that kind of person I would say , get out more, stop being so petty. See the world. See that Ireland is TINY and therefore to talk of this psychological divide that is the pissy Liffey is only laughable. True, it makes for good natured humourfor locals but it should end there and not enter a reasonably serious forum like this.
Tom F…. Go back to Blackrock with your dribble!!!!!!!!!
I recently returned home to Ireland for a short holiday, and made my way into Dublin. It is so great to finally see the city coming out of the dark ages, it’s like the sun could never shine there before, because it was so dismil, it probably figured, why shuold I. Now it seems that the sun actually likes to sun on Dublin. Being born and living not too far from O’Connell street for some years, and finally ending up in America, gives me two different outlooks on how cities should, could, and might be. All the changes in Dublin are just great, it’s bringing life back into a somewhat run down world, and making the people see the city for what it is, a European City. Yes Ireland is part of Europe, and has finally figured out how to turn the lights on. All the ideas where always there, it’s just that no one was willing to risk putting them into play. And look at the difference, the place is alive. I feels good to go home and say that this is my city, this is my home.
Does anyone know what the situation is with the monument? I know the minister has the final decision and according to previous postings was supposed to have made that decision by the 31st of July – so what the hell is he at? I heard the delay might have something to do with what appears to be a fairly one-sided EIS – anybody have any updates? I’m fairly pissed off with the absolute lack of urgency concerning the streets regeneration, although its good to see that disasterous ‘building’ that used to house that tacky ‘crazypound’ dump (near the bridge) is getting a facelift.
The newspaper reaction to the Millennium Spire has been quite extraordinary. The supposedly balanced Irish Times prints letters from objector Michael O’Nuallain on an almost weekly basis. O’Nuallain should be given no credit whatsoever for slowing up what is a magnificent project. And every time, he is given either column inches in a newspaper or camera time on TV, there should be a graphic beside him showing what his suggestion for the site should be i.e. a tower with a flying saucer on top. For grand projects like this or something like LUAS or Metro, the government should have a special fast track to bypass our disastrous planning system. Horrible Lego buildings pop up every single day because nobody knows enough about them to object. But worthwhile projects which have a high profile end up on the backburner because of lunatics like O’Nuallain.
. . . and his creaking pals, Daithi Hanly, Uinseann Mac Eoin and Ulick O’Connor, who co-signed his recent letter to The Phoenix.
SYRINGE IN THE DINGE
dear la la
i think its great the names that people come up with for all the art pieces
i wonder does berties mates encourage him to get pieces put up so they can come up with funny names
on a personal note i think it shows the irish character for what it is, funny
but on a serious note there are many problems in this country and for the most part i think that most government, planners architects have no vision and keep this country where it iswe are at a point in time where we can really make an amazing contributioon to this city and to this country, the tiger is roaring but the money is not going to where it should be
i just came back from sweeden and denmark and was amazed to see the organization of theings and there infrastructure
who says socialism is a bad thing?walking around the docks for the first time in over 16 months, as i was working away, i was amazed to see the changes but i was sad to see how dead it was, i talked to many people there, workers, passers through, kids in sherriff street playground and while there are nice buildings it could be a whole lot more
what can we do???
As student planner (2nd year of MSc. in ‘planning’ in Cardiff University) i can’t wait to see ‘the spire’ go up on O’Connell Street.
I think it’ll be a great new, modern monument that Dublin City (and Ireland) could be proud of.
I have seen projected pictures of the monument and while i worked for Fingal Co.Co. on O’Connell St. this summer i tried to imagine what it would look like from several different streets.
I think that from whatever angle it will be viewed from, it will certainly be an attractive focal point that will enhance the visual quality of our national thoroughfare.
As for people moaning about it ‘not fitting in’ – why should it fit into the (at present) dominant architectural styles found on the street. They represent their own architectural eras (the 20th century or before).
We are now in the 21st century. Why should we not follow our predecessors lead and build something that is ‘cutting edge’ and RELEVANT to today?
Think for example, of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was built a hundred or more years ago as a temporary structure for the World Fair.
Not everybody liked it but, it represented the pinacle of French engineering at that time, even better, it was ‘cutting edge’ and symbolized a forward-looking France, embracing new technologies and styles of the time.Needless to say, The Eiffel Tower went on to become arguably the most famous symbol of France.
So, why can’t we here in Ireland erect, and be proud of, something that will be far from meaningless, in that ‘the spire’ will be symbolic of our new found wealth, and our hopefully continued well-being and bright future???
Lets’ have a modern monument for a MODERN IRELAND!
No more on this subject.
The Spire should be built.
Dara Holohan, may I congradulate you on your wise words, and you must be the new messiah of the planning world. We need more open minded, well educated Planners, not the territorial minded types.(Northside vs Southside, do intelligent people really care about that, I doubt it).
Anyway, let the spire be built as a symbol of these times. Do those against the spire want more Po Mo spew. We have all learn our lesson from postmodernism, & the lesson is ” NEVER TRY TO MAKE A PASTISCHE MOCKERY OF TIMES GONE BY, MOVE FORWARD”.If yea want a modern statement why not make it eco-friendly and do it with recycled materials rather then energy intensive aluminium. A mate of mine built the bulk of an eco-resort in Australia (Eco beach, Broome)out of recycled materials.
As for the materials required I would recommed recycling the Wellington Memorial up in the Park. It would satisfy a multitude of constituencies.
“Kiss me, Hardy.”
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