Old pictures of Dublin
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Some great stuff here – thanks for the effort Morlan 😉
What’s always interesting about photographs from the 1940s and 1950s is seeing a city on the cusp of change; the last gasp of the old regime before the new world of modernity is ushered in. The earlier alterations are often already apparent – the city awkwardly trying to modernise itself through a veneer of neon signage, new shopfronts and motorised traffic, but all layered over the existing substructure of a decaying classical buildng stock which seemed omnipresent – just ‘there’ in the background, but rarely acknowledged and used merely as a support structure for better things.
What I always find a constant in these pictures too – whether self-generated or not is hard to define – is the sense of a complete lack of a ownership amongst the public over their city. They neither knew what they had, why they had it, or saw any reason to get involved in its improvement, promotion or protection. All as if it was beyond their control, as if cities were far too unweildy machines to even attempt to tame, if indeed even worthy of it in the first place. One thing is certain though – poverty in some shape or form lurks beneath every last photograph. It’s a shame that when money did arrive ten, twenty years later, it was so sorely misdirected.
This picture of the Four Courts is most interesting. The replacement granite to the front of the east wing graphically displays the extent to which the building was blasted during the Civil War. I’d never seen it so clearly before.
Indeed the extent to which many of our major public buidings looked like a collection of patchwork quilts for much of the 20th century is something that is probably under-acknowledged.
This scene of the Grafton Street end of Nassau Street is a gem. Jammet’s was considered one of Dublin’s better restaurants in the mid 20th century.
Such a shame this projecting buildng has now lost its significance through crude alterations and its positioning in the midst of a tawdry jumble of high street outlets. Interesting also to note the pavement width of the reticent 1940s is still in place for the heaving crowds of today…
All of the shops appear to have protective grilles over their windows. Must have been early morning, or perhaps a Sunday.
graham is that nassau st pic corresponding to the Sound Cellar and Subway stretch? Is Jammets now the Porterhouse, formerly Judge Roy Beans, with the 1st floor window now the Library bar of Lillies – must remember to look upwards next time i’m there
Yep alonso. What a change eh?!
For some reason that area is probably the most chaotic part of the entire city centre. Nobody has a clue what anything looks like. You’re bombarded with hoards of pedestrians, queues into Subway, brash shopfronts, an obstacle course of utility boxes and taxi rank-cum-loading bay, and a preposterously narrow footpath to top it all off. It’s every man for himself – just getting out of it is an achievement, never mind getting a glimpse of its building stock!
yeh and the arcaded block on the Dawson st corner just adds to it. Still n all, there’s a true Dublin institution in amongst the random mess – the Sound Cellar, the greatest little record shop in the city – down that narrow corridor to the right of Subway – always has a few tickets for the sold out shows if you were known to the fine character and proprietor Tommy Tighe. There’s much commentary here, especially in recent times, about old fashioned retail in the city, and despite the niche nature of this particular shop, i think it represents something that is encreasinly being lost. Oddities like prices always being rounded up to the pound/euro, none of this 12.99 nonsense, never getting a receipt coz you were never questioned when bringing a scratched cd or Lp back and way before the tax, you always got a brown paper bag rather than plastic . A great place and I hope it’s surviving well in this download age. Although we all abhor street clutter, Nassau street without the Sound Cellar tickets and gigs listings board wouldn’t be the same
(some of ye are nostalgic for fine terraces, some for street lighting, others for statues, great buildings, simple forms and epic architecture. I’m nostalgic for the place I bought my first punk rock records and tickets for Slayer in the SFX – different strokes eh?)
Very interesting little analysis, never knew this little enclave was also part of the exchq/wicklow area of what I explain to visitors as the ‘victorian neo-hip’ core of the city. Alonso is dead right about the sound cellar being a socio-historical gem Apart from the proprietor beign a dyed in the wool Shamrock Rovers ne’er do well ( for posters on here only familiar with the SKY TV version of this sporting code, it’s quite distinct from the inter- parish brawling more popular on this island. you may be surprised itp know in real life actual soccer teams do play against one another in this city-not just on the telly).
As for the SFX, we should have a general thread for the city’s lost live music venues/ the list would be endless… I will start it myself soon but I could only start it from c.1985…Interesting how John Morton Jeweller (last shop on the right – the one with the three ladies looking in the window – how times change eh) managed to survive intact so long having only closed in 2005 – the shopfront virtually the same as pictured here
enjoyed seeing those vintage photos too. Just looking at that image of Nassau St really brought it home that you often miss out on the fantastic architecture out there above the ground floor of buildings. As the other poster said, you are so busy trying to watch your footing, not being knocked down by cyclists etc that you miss out on some gems.
Stumbled across a site recently that has a lot of photos of Dublin from late 1980’s/early 90s. While not of the same vintage as the ones above, it brought back some memories of how the Dublin I grew up in looked like. The pics are dominated by buses which is the purpose of the website gallery so a lot of the architecture/streetscapes are obscured but some of you may enjoy this more recent trip down memory lane. If this has been submitted elsewhere, my apologies. PS hope the owner of this website doesn’t mind my opening it up to an additional audience. link below.
@tomk wrote:
not being knocked down by cyclists etc
:confused:
On this stretch of Nassau Street? Really? On the footpath or on the road?
Did the Liffey drain away in 1884? It’s been sucked out of the O’Connell Street illustration 😀
Date taken: April 1952
Photographer: Thomas Mcavoy[/B]Does anybody know where this photo is taken?? The houses look rather like the council houses in Marino and Inchicore…. but only one fireplace per house? Is that not rather strange?? Considering they appear to be the larger 3 bedroom houses, one would expect to find 8 chimney pots in each of those stacks, not 2….
That’s a great image of Wood Quay – always wondered what it looked like before it got swept away, and now I know it was a lot more interesting than what’s there now!
Tara Street and Butt Bridge, the second and third are taken from where Apollo house is now I think, anymore would be great
It’s interesting to note the original Butt Bridge had pedestrian walkways approaching the mechanised section with balustrading and lamp standards of a similar design to the contemporaneously reconstructed O’Connell Bridge. The lamps and their chamfered stone plinths are identical, with the exception of them seemingly being dual-armed, of which there are strangely no other examples in the city. A shame, indeed quite odd, they weren’t reused in the 1930s reconstruction.
Curious little lamps atop the piers of the Loop Line Bridge too.
1 of 4 picks of the wood quay site at rebuild 1977
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catb/sets/72157600197787349/forgive me if i have this arse over tit, but are those people standing on Fishamble street? Is that Handels Arch to the left? If so, bloody hell!!! What was on that site immediately before it was cleared?
Take a look at the other photo with Christchurch in the background, provided in the link, also look at RHK – bloody hell!
@alonso wrote:
forgive me if i have this arse over tit, but are those people standing on Fishamble street? Is that Handels Arch to the left? If so, bloody hell!!! What was on that site immediately before it was cleared?
Yes, Fishamble St. The site as you see it before it was cleared was Dublin Corporation Waterworks Department yard. The people in the photo are standing in front of the Turncocks office, which is visible in the photo. Across the street (behind the people in the photo) were the Waterworks offices.
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