The Greenore Hotel to be demolished
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The Greenore Hotel, built by The London and North Western Railway in the 1870s as one of the most imposing railway hotels in Ireland, and one of only a handful to be built of brick, located at Greenore Port in north Co Louth is to be demolished according to the website The El Paso Times. Apparently an article about the impending demolition has also appeared in the local newspaper.
The building is not a Protected Structure, having extraordinarily been rejected for inclusion in the county’s Record of Protected Structures around 2000-2002 by Louth County Council, in spite of detailed conservation reasons being advanced to the council by the Minister’s office and by the (then) Architectural Heritage Advisory Service of D
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Thanks for that Graham. Interesting to note how the fact that ‘the public’ could not see it due to its isolation was listed as one of the legitimate reasons it should be demolished. Surely this could be said about many other buildings of historical and architectural importance. Good luck with finding out more about it.
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Yes, they’re fascinating buildings aren’t they? So unusual – there’s about five of them lining the road.
I’ve relatives who live a rambling Edwardian semi-d in the village (with incredibly rare original bench toilet in the bathroom, as well as surviving outside toilet :)) who told me who built the houses but can’t remember who!
The Railway company obviously built much of the housing in the village so maybe it’s possible these larger ones were the ‘executive’ branch of its property arm, built in tandem with the development of the newly fashionable golf course?Odd sums up Greenore very well Frank – in a way it’d remind you of Royston Vasey in The League of Gentlemen 😀 – a former industrial village isolated and forgotton about, preserved almost as originally built, shielded from the influences of the modern world. You can see just how isolated it is, up there on the north side of the nose of the seahorse:
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The building is not a Protected Structure, having extraordinarily been rejected for inclusion in the county’s Record of Protected Structures
The Port must have got in there and objected when it was proposed for addition … didn’t want anything to constrain their options for it! :rolleyes:
Have they looked at sustainable development implications? Demolishing a large structure like that is going create a lot of landfill – only so much will be recycleable.
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I was sent some information on this by a local….
I would like to draw your attention to a demolition currently being undertaken in Greenore, Co. Louth. The Greenore Hotel which was opened in the 1870’s by the London and North Western Railway Company has been let run into disrepair by its owners and is currently being demolished. The county Conservation Officer is powerless as the building is not listed ‘ our elected representitives voted NOT to have it listed. We all remember the controversy over the Drogheda Grammar School, it was a listed building but here we have a building of similar architectural and historical significance legally being demolished.
In 2002 the Port Company applied to build a storage warehouse on the site of the hotel and demolish said building. Planning was granted by louth County Council, according to them this building is’ ‘of no architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical interest sufficient to warrant its inclusion in Louth County Council’s Record of Protected Structures.’
The planning was sucessfully appealed by An Taisce, an Bord Pleanala stated permission is hereby refused for the said development for the reasons set out in the Schedule hereto;
It is considered that the former Greenore Hotel/Railway building on site is of significant historic and architectural value, both in itself and in its important historic and visual relationship with the Victorian core of the village of Greenore.’ The proposed development, which would involve the demolition of this building of considerable heritage value would, therefore, seriously injure the amenities of the area and be contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.
Having regard to the architectural and historical significance of the hotel building and the absence of an overall plan for the development and growth of the port area, the Board is not satisfied, on the basis of submissions made in connection with the planning application and the appeal, that the proposed demolition is necessary or that the proposed erection of a warehouse in this location would justify that demolition. The proposed development would, therefore, seriously injure the amenities of the area and be contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.
May I also point out that (as per Commissioners of Irish Lights) Louth County Cllr. Peter Savage is also a former general manager and managing director, Greenore Ferry and Greenore Port See http://www.cil.ie/sh620x4140.html
I have attached some newspaper articles and observations by an Bord Pleanala, please search http://www.pleanala.ie for the following case number 28638.
I contacted Jill Chadwick (the conservation officer) and she regretted to inform me that there is no Preservation Order presently on the structure, it was only ever a temporary 6 months protection and they are technically within their rights to demolish the hotel. Her only recommendation was to express our opposition to the demolition to our elected’representatives. Jill’s e-mail address is jchadwick@meathcoco.ie or planning dept on 042 935 3180 if you need further clarification.
I visited the site late yesterday evening and the hotel is still (more or less) in the condition as per the photo in current Argus article (scan attached). I don’t believe, as stated by Terry King CEO Greenore Port, that the building is impossible to presereve. Infact the roof section that has so far been removed was not part of the original structure.
Another photo available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenore
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@Paul Clerkin wrote:
I contacted Jill Chadwick (the conservation officer) and she regretted to inform me that there is no Preservation Order presently on the structure, it was only ever a temporary 6 months protection and they are technically within their rights to demolish the hotel. Her only recommendation was to express our opposition to the demolition to our elected’representatives. Jill’s e-mail address is jchadwick@meathcoco.ie or planning dept on 042 935 3180 if you need further clarification.
I am a little confused; if Greenore is in Co Louth why does the conservation officer have a Meath County Council e-mail address?
That detail aside this is a depressing surprise
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So it’s coming down already 🙁 😡
It really goes to show the extent to which architectural heritage protection lies in the hands of wholly inexperienced councillors, who, even in spite of the (almost by definition) expert opinions of those proposing additions to the Record, see fit to vote these things down.
Why was the Hotel voted out? The only conceivable reasons are either an objection by the Port, or by the councillors themselves who didn’t want to ‘unduly hinder’ the development of the port.
A truly depressing state of affairs. The hotel looks even more impressive in the above photo 🙁
A typically parochial, dewy eyed piece of journalism too.Louth shares its Conservation Officer with Meath.
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I located some photos of the hotel including interiors on the UK Railway Museum web-archives
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