The Four Courts – A Possible Restoration?
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I was wondering if there are or were any plans to restore the Four Courts? It wasn’t exactly rebuilt to the stanards of the Custom’s House after the fire. Is it possible to do this or is no-one interested?
The Four Courts under went a significant restoration program in 1996 to the best of my knowledge, with the exception of the railings the buildings interior and exterior apper in good repair. The original restoration in the 30s involved significant alterations including the partial demolition of the two wings. I think it looks better, any opinions or photographs.
The other clever alteration was turning the pillars in the rotunda around to hide the bullet and bomb damage.
It is not likely to ever happen. The original besign had the two side buildings approx 15 metres closer to the liffey. Thus it had the feel of the bank of ireland, or the sphinx. Also the dome was not open at all as it is now. It used to house the law library.
And not that it even needs to be said, but floodlighting – good God the floodlighting. What a disgrace.
agreed 100% Graham !
The original besign had the two side buildings approx 15 metres closer to the liffey.
It wasn’t that much – only about 3 or 4 metres, or one window bay. You can see it here in this pre-’22 pic (below). Now the wings are flush with the arcade screen. They also had valley roofs, closed in at the front, giving them a more blockish and powerful appearance. Now they are single-pitched.
I served as a juror two years back and the state of the place is ferociously bad.
The rotunda is pretty cheap looking with masses of..I think beige paint all over the place. The central four courts are cramped uncomfortable and tacky looking. The jury rooms are a disgrace.Surely if Cork City Court House can have cash pumped into it, the highest court building in the land could be the recipient of some restoration funding.
And, yeah re-extending the wings would be a good move too.The loss of the ‘chunky’ valley roofs was as equally damaging as the chopping of the wings – they gave the building a grand solid air, forming the great arms that wrap around the central temple. What a shame – they ought to be reinstated, not least as a perhaps more feasible project than the wing extending.
Fantastic chimney in the middle of the pic there – they don’t make them like that anymore 🙂
You can see the old footprint of the wings where the basement comes out under the pevement – there are light panels set in the concrete.
Courts.ie description and history of building
http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/pagecurrent/C405A2905C07523880256DA900495EE2Just came across this pic on the Art&Architecture site and wanted to post it somewhere on here, so here it is;
[ATTACH]6998[/ATTACH]Wow fantastic shot ake (pity about the truck lol).
Really though doesn’t it highlight how poor those weak pitched roofs are – such feeble terminations.On the general theme of conservation, it’s a shame how quickly the building has sullied since cleaning in the mid-1990s, particularly the capitals. To see the difference, RTÉ News still use a great raking shot of the portico and dome for the picture window beside the newsreader for certain court stories, which was shot just after the restoration. They are absolutely pristine. Thankfully it hasn’t been updated! It’s depressing to see it knowing what matters really look like.
The same can be said of the most splendid capitals in the city, those of the House of Lords portico, which are similarly choked with dirt. It’s not a big deal to lightly spray down dressings with water once a year – City Hall were doing it recently up on a cherry picker with a pressure hose, taking non-abrasive broad sweeps. Contrary to popular belief that ‘acid rain’ or urban rain causes such accumulations, the opposite is actually the case. It’s areas that don’t get washed by rain, e.g. highly detailed Corinthian capitals which are notorious for turning black, that gather deposits. City Hall is still pristine nearly 8 years after cleaning seemingly because it’s being maintained.
Not that everything ought to be gleaming, but if you can limit the obscuring of detail in a non-intrusive way after the effort of a major cleaning, this should be done.
The church st part of back of this building always annoys me: it is a complete mess. In the context of moving lots of its business to infirmary road surely the poor modern additions could be removed or redone?
It is a lovely photorgraph, showing the courts spreading out along the quays like the Customs House. A verdant row of leafy deciduous tree is a lovelier prospect than a truck yes, but blocks out the view all the same;
[ATTACH]7004[/ATTACH]
In “Dublin- A Grand Tour” by O’Brien and Guinness, reference is made to C.P. Curran, and it is said his photographs of the interior of the Four Courts, taken before the burning in the Civil War are the only record of them. I would love to see these images if anybody could tell me where to find them or even better if anybody has access to them and might possibly post them here for all to see.
PS.
Curran wrote “Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries ” (1967). Are the images in this book?I seem to remember hearing that the Four Courts will be restored when the new courts complex at Parkgate Street is complete and the heavy duty criminal cases are moved there. The Four courts will then be restored for use in more ‘civil’ cases and all the scanners and security stuff can be removed as they were only there for the heavy duty cases – thus the front door can be reopened then
ake, Curran wrote that no ‘adequate’ pictorial record survives of the Rotunda/Great Hall decoration, but he certainly did take pictures of some of the elements prior to the ‘catastrophe’ of 1922. It was upon these images that he drew these sketch representations, and included them in the book. The original photographs alas were not published.
Suffice to say Gandon hated Stapletonesque faffing about with dinky neoclassicisim – he wanted robust!
@Rory W wrote:
…………- thus the front door can be reopened then
The security measures are rather tiresome for the wigged folk. Two gowned members of the bar arrive at entrance, only one has necessary electronic ID. “Zorry zir, you kannot go in” Rather than make a fuss after the initial protestations, the second BL goes away to the entrance for ordinary folk. “Look, did you not recognise who that was, the former Minister for Justice?” “Yes, Zir, I knew eggactly who he is.” 😀
@GrahamH wrote:
ake, Curran wrote that no ‘adequate’ pictorial record survives of the Rotunda/Great Hall decoration, but he certainly did take pictures of some of the elements prior to the ‘catastrophe’ of 1922. It was upon these images that he drew these sketch representations, and included them in the book. The original photographs alas were not published.
Suffice to say Gandon hated Stapletonesque faffing about with dinky neoclassicisim – he wanted robust!
Thanks Graham.
Looks very high quality. What a shame no one bothered to take proper photographs of the interior. Strikes me as rather strange that nobody did, even up to as late as the 1920’s.
On a related note, does anyone know if any pictures were taken of the Custom House interior before it’s destruction?
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