St. Anne’s Park, Clontarf – Restoration
- This topic has 25 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 10 months ago by
.
- Posts
Anyone know if there are any plans to restore some of the wonderful follies in St. Anne’s Park. Should a wonderful array of unusual building and landscaping, should be restored to their former glory.
Greek Temple, built as tea house by Guinness family. Very ornate mosaics on floor.
Another Temple on lake
Castle Playhouse
And another castle
Observation Tower, great view of Dublin Bay after some adventurous climbing.
Clock Tower and Walled Garden
Fair play to the council in restoring the Red StablesIt’s a shame the house doesn’t remain, or even its ruins
I read that it was going to be the Presidential residence, and would have been much worthier in comparison to Aras an Uachtaran.
. I did hear that DCC were looking into it so perhaps you should give the Conservation Officer a call or even your local councillor.
Anyone got a picture of the house?
It’s in Freddy O’Dwyer’s ‘Lost Dublin’.
Fairly standard Victorian confection, not in the same league at ‘Kenure’ in Rush.
Truly one of the most remarkable scenes in Ireland; its splendid portico standing forlornly amidst a 1980s housing estate.
And from where a cracked 19th century bowl was salvaged to form the – somewhat equally abandoned – centrepiece of the State Drawing Room in Dublin Castle.
I digress.
@gunter wrote:
It’s in Freddy O’Dwyer’s ‘Lost Dublin’.
Fairly standard Victorian confection, not in the same league at ‘Kenure’ in Rush.
To say it was a standard Victorian confection is quite a harsh dismissal. Like Kenure Park, the house is likely to have incorporated the earlier house (Thornhill). The Ardilauns were patrons of the arts (they were benefactors of the Abbey Theatre, among other things) and of scholarship. This house was first remodelled by Benjamin Guinness and the extensions by his son made it comparable with the best of the mansions being built at that time in the USA, e.g. by the Vanderbilts (see Newport Mansions: http://www.newportmansions.org/page7016.cfm), as one would expect. The architecture was lavish, but it was not an amateurish wedding-cake like excess of ornament; correct me if I’m wrong, but we are not overburdened with Beaux-Arts architecture here in Ireland, this era being one of the most difficult economically in our recent history (the two other Guinness houses, Iveagh and Farmleigh are in other styles are as far as I’m aware, both also incorporating earlier houses). Maybe some of the interiors of St. Helen’s House in Booterstown (yet another house which was originally built in the 18th century, remodelled at this time by John Nutting)? As a last point, it is unlikely that someone with enough taste to recognise the quality of 18th century detailing at a time when it may not have been fashionable (c.f. façade of Iveagh House, modelled on Aldborough House, one of the interior ceilings is a ‘convincing Victorian copy’ of one in the Provost’s Housein Trinity) would commission something that was just a confection. Now, I hope my rebuttal is not too harsh itself …
@arachne wrote:
To say it was a standard Victorian confection is quite a harsh dismissal. . . . . As a last point, it is unlikely that someone with enough taste to recognise the quality of 18th century detailing at a time when it may not have been fashionable (c.f. façade of Iveagh House, modelled on Aldborough House, one of the interior ceilings is a ‘convincing Victorian copy’ of one in the Provost’s Housein Trinity) would commission something that was just a confection. Now, I hope my rebuttal is not too harsh itself …
Sometimes it takes a glib comment to draw out the reluctant poster 😉
When/why was it demolished?
In December 1943, the main residence of St. Anne’s, “The Mansion”, was gutted by a fire while being used as a store by the Local Defence Force and the ruins were demolished in 1968.
What a pity!
* Apologies for this tangent but I have often read books like the one above – Freddie O’Dwyer’s ‘Lost Dublin’ and Frank McDonald’s ‘Destruction of Dublin’ being cited/mentioned on here. Are these books still in print?
been wondering that myself, I have to pick up a copy of both!
Neither is still in print, as far as I know.
Lost Dublin will be hard to find- and you’ll have to beat me to it!
The Destruction of Dublin can often be found relatively cheaply in second hand shops. There was a copy in the bookshop in the George’s Street (Market) Arcade a couple of months ago (Powerscourt end of the arcade, right hand side as you face towards George’s Street).
Both are in libraries too- Richview architecture library in UCD, at least, and presumably others.
http://www.oldirishmaps.com/proddetail.php?prod=lostdublinODwyer&cat=74
http://www.amazon.ca/Lost-Dublin-Frederick-ODwyer/dp/0717112497
http://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9780717110476/ODwyer-Frederick/Lost-Dublin/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Dublin-Frederick-ODwyer/dp/other-editions/0717112497
bit pricey though
tried to get “Destruction” on Amazon a few years back – was expensive but not prohibitively so, but they couldn’t track a copy down in the end. Befriend a student or lecturer, gain access to the library and then read* it or photocopy* it from there
*rob
*robhow hard is it, to say we’re going to clean the graffiti off, oh ok,lets do that, i mean these don’t need to treated like the front of the aib bank.
could st anne park handle a building in its place? some sort of collapsible building? its a wonder they having had markee concerts there, i know they had things like nike basketball events…
These pictures probably don’t add a whole lot to the topic, but they are less often seen than the ones up. The first shows a partly boarded up but otherwise reasonably intact looking entrance front a whole 9 years after the fire. Maybe the vandalism was an indirect result of development near the park after this picture was taken. The second is simply another view of the house before the fire.
By the way, wits said it was being used as a store for fire equipment when it burnt down. The 1952 picture is taken from the New Neighbourbood of Dublin by Maurice Craig, Joseph Hone & MIchael Fewer. Apologies for crap quality.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055466607
What is happening at the front of the park where the pond is? Are they getting rid of it?
Yeah, they are saying they “can’t maintain” the pond anymore
http://www.finianmcgrath.ie/St_Annes_Park.pdf@arachne wrote:
These pictures probably don’t add a whole lot to the topic, but they are less often seen than the ones up. The first shows a partly boarded up but otherwise reasonably intact looking entrance front a whole 9 years after the fire. Maybe the vandalism was an indirect result of development near the park after this picture was taken. The second is simply another view of the house before the fire.
you can see daylight streaming down in the windows closest to us, obviously the roof and floors were gone.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
