Olympia Theatre Portico

Surely the canopy was not as much a hindrance to pedestrian movement as the various smoking ban hoardings surrounding the bars up and down the rest of the street.

edit, thanks for posting this Lotts. I had been wondering what was happening with it.

Re: Granite

There’s a dirty white granite pavement along there now. It would have concrete flags and the old fawn-colored granite kerbs until a few years ago, but it was replaced because the council weren’t enforcing the “listed” status of the old kerbs … and because the new stuff looked good when it was put down …..

I don’t understand what the council mean this time by the “availability of granite”. There is no issue because the old kerbs are gone … new white granite is freely and cheaply available.

Hope I’m not sounding like a broken record, but it really needs to be questioned what they did with all the granite – complete pavements or just kerbing – taken up in recent times for works such as Luas.

Both Luases got a completely new street treatment in the city centre. Streets like Harcourt Street, Abbey Street and Chancery Street would’ve had a lot of old granite. Where was it all put, and why do they claim they’ve run out of it now (as they did in the recent Henrietta Street case)? Did they sell it off to help rebuild Iraq or something?

There used to be a huge mound of it piled up in the yard of that Marrowbone Lane depot (which is located between Guinnesses & Cork Street). I saw it myself a few years ago. But it’s gone now.

I read a piece last week in the Irish Times that the portico will finally be restored later this month once the pavement works have been complete. Eh what pavement works? I hear you say… Exactly….can’t see any sign of them and surely the widening of the pavemnet along Dame Street is not something that can be done in 2 weeks….seeing that its taken 1 year to do just a section of Capel Street! Meanwhile the surface of Dame Street must be the worst in the city as any cyclist or driver that uses it will know. Another great maintenance job by DCC

The newly-painted cast iron columns look magnificent in bright and playful fire engine red.

While various pieces of cornice/guttering are arranged on the ground awaiting erection.

Surely that granite gutter a few pics up can be diverted away from such an important area. What is the obsession with gutters in the middle of pavements in this city?! Why can’t surfaces slope down to the road?

All in all though it looks like a great job. Now the icing on the cake would be a decent reinstatement of sash windows to the left facade – this meagre cost would make for an enormously positive contribution to the theatre facade and wider streetscape.

In a way the modest facade is the most characteristic feature of this institution: it follows the Georgian tradition of plain facade treatment with an architectural flourish only permitted about the doorcase – in this instance the canopy – while concealing a riot of internal decoration and plaster contrivance, as with many of the music halls of English and Irish cities in the 18th and 19th centuries. Restoring the facade to a venerable condition would do much to heighten this effect, even if the neighbouring building would appear to be a later acquisition. Hopefully its shopfront will also be receiving some sympathetic treatment.

Well that’s made my day!
Thanks for the wonderful pictures Graham.

I always hated that thing. Cant believe its being replaced exactly as it was. The colours look like a cheap Xmas lantern decoration. Should have had a competition to restore the facade and put in a new (modern) canopy. Oh well.

@archipig wrote:

The colours look like a cheap Xmas lantern decoration.

And your point being exactly?

🙂