your favourite building in Cork and why

Well, get the ball rolling, some views to refesh people’s minds

Favourite building: Holy Trinity Church

Pics of two of the Cathedrals…

Modern: probably the crawford gallery extension.

Old: Holy Trinity, have an old night time pic somewhere, will dig it out.

St. Joachim and Annes Home in Anglesea Street.
A lovely old building in an ever changing landscape.
Most times it goes unnoticed.

After my first visit:
Loved:
(a) SS Peter and Paul’s – awesome Victorian Gothic and a really fascinating area round about.
(b) The new tower on Eglinton St.
(c) The Glucksmann Gallery (but naff exhibits).
(d) St Mary’s Pope’s Quay – a truly Roman interior.
(e) The O’Rahilly buildings @UCC.
(f) All the Art Deco stuff in the centre.
(g) All the red-and-white sandstone/limestone buildings.
(h) All the warehouses.
(i) All the bow-fronts.
(j) The accent!

Hated:
(a) The self-indulgent lighting standards on Grand Parade, etc.
(b) The wirescape.
(c) The way much of this gem of a place has been neglected.
(d) What passes for planning/conservation in the city.

some images of the Glucksman gallery…

among my favorites are;

(a) the glucksman
(b) that old house Lawyer pointed out above
(c) the old burned-out mansion on the lower glanmire road
(d) St John’s college (old building)
(e) St John’s college (RORSA’s extension/development)
(f) the gingerbread house (now Amicus)
(g) the embassy at the top of the South Mall
(h) the Crawford gallery and EEA’s extension

PaulC: for what it’s worth, the curvy new extension to the Crawford was not as bad as I thought it would be (although there seems to be no real logic for it); the interior spaces are impressive, although the finishes are poor (especially the exposed concrete ceilings and the slapdash whitewash job). Exhibits in the new extension were poor and the space was both under-used and empty; the Crawford has a great display of large-scale sculpture which shouild be housed in the new gallery. The cafe was packed, the gallery was empty – something wrong there.

I think Cork’s most positive attribute is the general urban form of its central area. Can’t really think how to explain this at the moment, but I suppose I just think it has a human scale that gives an overall cohesive appearance.

Individual Buildings that I would chose though would have to be the Butter Market, Church of Christ the King and the Toll booth on the centre of St Lukes Cross. I am also quite a fan of the Glucksman.

I love cork’s centre because the main streets form a horseshoe that is linked through with pedestrian streets, meaning the entire stretch from patrick’s bridge to grand parade to parnell place is easily walkable 🙂 the fact that the city is in a wide valley with visual connections from everywhere to everywhere is human-friendly as well.
as far as favorite buildings go, I just thought of that narrow terraced yellow-brick building on south mall, has a lot of character.

I really like Cork city’s “core”; from Grand Parade to Parnell Place and from the South Mall to Paul St. Lots of really interesting, and diverse buildings (I love the view shown in dallas’s third image above – I nearly bought an apartment in Lavitt’s Quay with almost that precise view).

I also like the fact that with the interesting topology of the area (2 river channels and surrounding hills/ridges on the North and South sides) it means many streets are ‘bookended’ with nice hill-side views.

Getting back on topic, just to be different I have to say one of my favourite (apart from the obvious) buildings in Cork is the Irish Nationwide building on Patrick St, on the corner with Cook St. It just has really nice detail on it, that you just don’t see on buildings any more. The stone has a really nice colour tone to it too – luvly! 🙂 The building next to it on Cook St. is really unusual too – but not in the best of condition.

p.s. If that’s the building I’m thinking of with the protruding window (don’t know the term for that), then I love it too. That’s where our offices are located as well! 🙂

p.s. If that’s the building I’m thinking of with the protruding window (don’t know the term for that), then I love it too. That’s where our offices are located as well!

is this the one you mean? i actually meant the smaller one across the road, with two arches on ground floor and red doors, pitched top… can’t find an image 🙁

who me: the protruding window is an ‘oriel’ (subject to correction by more knowledgable architect-types).
I think by far the best street in Cork is the South Mall, apart from one awful 70s development at one very strategic position at the SW end.

@Yossarian wrote:

is this the one you mean? i actually meant the smaller one across the road, with two arches on ground floor and red doors, pitched top… can’t find an image 🙁

Yup, that’s the one I was talking about; but I think I know the one you mean too – is it the one visible along the length of Cook St.? I think it also has the steps leading to a 1st floor entrance – for the old boat-house back when the South Mall was a waterway, or so I’m told.

Some minor graffiti appeared over the weekend on the front of the building pictured above; though signed off with: “Sorry for this, it’s a beautiful building”. Hahahah. Well, at least the little vandals have good taste! :p

Incidentally, it looks like a vista from Patrick St. to Shandon steeple will be opened up by the widened “Opera Avenue” (Faulkner’s Lane!!!). Plus, unless my eyes are deceiving me, the width of the lane won’t be constant. I know some of you might see that as a negative, I see it as a bit plus.

Given this is likely to be a fairly dull, large modern glass ‘n’ cladding cuboid (I’d love to be proved wrong), anything which breaks the monotony of those large, flat, featureless surfaces – in particular strong vertical lines – is a plus.

@johnglas wrote:

who me: the protruding window is an ‘oriel’ (subject to correction by more knowledgable architect-types). I think by far the best street in Cork is the South Mall, apart from one awful 70s development at one very strategic position at the SW end.

Cheers! Now I can bluff my way around architectural forums much more eloquently! 😉

I’d agree with you, I really like the South Mall, a beautiful mix of building styles; though there are some fairly dull modern office buildings thrown in too. Cook. St. has some beauties too, as does Patrick St.

IMO, it’s these buildings that form Cork’s architectural character, a mix of small buildings of varying building styles and materials, offering a lot of character, detail and contrast as you walk down the narrow streets.