ctesiphon
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There’s ‘neglected’, and there’s minimal management/intervention. A simple park with cut grass? Sign me up!
I used to wish I could remember what the park looked like before the redevelopment so I could do a ‘compare and contrast’ in my head, as my memory of it from many years ago was very vague- didn’t spend much time in the north inner city as a kid/teen. Now I’m sorry I found out. So sorry. Though I’m not much given to hyperbole, I must say that it breaks my heart to see those pics.
Can we have the old one back please? Pretty please?I am currently doing a masters in planning (MRUP UCD), and was in a similar predicament before I applied. In my experience, your work record counts for at least as much as your education, if not more so. My degrees prior to this were a BA in Art History and Philosophy (3rd), and an MA in Architectural History (2.1). However, I was lucky enough (if that’s the right phrase) to get a job in Duchas as a researcher, from which I graduated up the ranks. I think it was this, more than my education, which got me into the course. That, and enthusiasm. Once you get a foot in the door it should be easy to show how keen you are (you are keen, aren’t you?).
One other thing- don’t limit yourself to high profile courses. There’s plenty out there if you do a bit of detective work. The high profile ones will always be heavily subscribed, but it’s often no reflection of their quality (this is NOT a comment on the MRUP, whose reputation is deserved 😉 ), and vice versa for the less known ones too.
Good luck with the hunt. And if you don’t get it first time round, don’t let it put you off trying again.I was in the square a couple of weeks back with a classmate (Planners) and we noticed a site notice on the adjacent building (I presume that’s the FAS building?). If memory serves, it was for apartments with, presumably, some sort of retail outlet on the ground floor, though I could be mistaken. I do remember thinking that it would be taller than the existing building (currently 3 storeys?).
St Mary’s Church seemed to be almost there (I know, I know…), with the hoardings gradually being removed. It was my first time seeing the glazed addition to the north-east corner, not unlike IM Pei’s Deutsches Historiches Museum glazed cone ramp thingy.
I agree that the FAS site redevelopment is welcome, but I must say I quite like that southern end of the park with the blank wall, the trees, the sandy floor, the table-tennis table- it makes a change from the bleak, hard-edged body of the rest of the park. (Not a fan, in case you couldn’t tell.)Both buildings also display a feature where the tower base apppears to be ’embedded’ in the ashlar of the ground floor. A rare enough sight in Dublin, but very common in Glasgow where it is a hallmark of their Victorian heritage. Yes, I am very fond of it indeed.
Headstones lying flat on the ground are called slab graves (or slab stones) as far as I know- don’t know if this applies to headstones that were formerly upright and have been laid flat. There are also a couple of them behind Dublin Civic Offices, at the top of the hill above the amphitheatre- almost completely illegible now.
The ones in Wolfetone Park were moved to the edge prior to the redesign (ahem) of the park. What concerns me now is their future, in light of the planning application for the redevelopment of the site adjacent to, i.e directly south of, the park, with which the park shares a boundary.Regional variations exist not just in vernacular architecture, unless you define ‘vernacular’ very broadly. Kilkenny City has an unusual feature where the doors of two adjacent Georgian buildings are united under one fanlight (making for interesting solutions to the problem of internal partitioning). Many buildings in County Laois display a feature where the front door is recessed in a shallow ‘scalloped’ arch. Buildings in coastal towns such as Kinsale often have slate hanging on their (usually seaward) walls. Cork Georgian is markedly different from Dublin Georgian (and Limerick Georgian etc etc).
I must however disagree with you, Boyler, when you say that “All the old buildings in Ireland were designed on foreign architecture like French Gothic for churches and Italian Classical for the Customs House, Four Courts etc.”. This is far too simplistic a reduction. It might be true to say that there was no native style for large public buildings, but neither was Italian classical or French classical a native style, borrowed as it was from ‘the antients’. Each generation has taken a template and put a native spin on it, which has been used by many writers as an argument for the enduring validity of the classical model. If I must cite examples, then the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, the church on Pope’s Quay in Cork and the two Georgian churches (both Cathedrals?) in Waterford City spring readily to mind to refute your assertion re French Gothic. And the eighteenth century ‘barn’ church is one of Ireland’s most distinctive building types- a mix of large scale public with vernacular.Off the top of my head, I know that Mark Bence-Jones has an entry for Castle Freke in his ‘Burke’s Guide to the Country Houses of Ireland’, also called ‘A Guide to Country Houses- Ireland’ or something (published originally by Burke’s Peerage in the UK, then republished by, I think, Constable). The book describes the buildings and lists occupants, former and current, and their ‘rank’ in the peerage- Baronet, Viscount, etc.
Also, Maurice Craig has written about it- I recall a mention in his ‘Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size’ (a tremendous book from the mid-1970s that’s sadly long out of print, but in most libraries), though the house is hardly ‘middle size’- I think he mentions it because of its unusual name.
Start with the Bence-Jones- it’s readily available. If you’re in the US, your local library could possibly do an inter-library loan with Trinity, UCD, Irish National Library, etc.
Good luck with your search.Hear hear for Enniscorthy! The view across the river flood plain on entering from the Dublin side, the view over the bridge through the Minch Norton buildings (sadly being mucked about for shops, yes, more shops), the qualities of its hillside location…
But Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny gets my no.1 vote. And Castlecomer comes near the top too. Then, like Kefu, I think Abbeyleix really has something special. And the formal arrangement of Fermoy deserves a mention.
And I nearly forgot Whitestown, Co. Louth, near Carlingford (itself a gem), though Whitestown is a one-off (AFAIK)- a dispersed cluster village of dwellings and farm/outbuildings.
And Lismore, with its shopfronts, bridge, castle, churches, and the fantastic Riding House.
And Villierstown, Co. Waterford…
I can’t really play favourites with these towns; each has its own character, which makes comparison difficult. Maybe in 20 years (or sooner?), when all Irish towns consist of a Spar, a Centra, a Lidl, a Starbucks, an internet cafe, a pub in a converted church, blanket suburban-style semi-ds and inappropriately located apartment blocks will comparisons be possible or worthwhile. For now, local distinctiveness and difference are what make places into, well, places. Treasure them.The ‘best’ aims for objectivity, which is impossible. ‘Favourite’ seems more appropriate.
Custom House by default, Graham? Please. (Though I suspect a gag…?)
Favourites, in no particular order:
Parliament House, College Green (the original 1730s E.L. Pearce part, not the Gandon/Johnston add-ons).
Berkeley Library, Trinity.
Carnegie Library, Lismore.
Court House, Loughrea.
City Hall, Dublin (the basement is my favourite ‘room’ in the country).
And that 3-storey over basement bow-fronted building in Waterford City opposite the Assembly Rooms (recently comprehensively refurbished).
I’m sure there are plenty more- this is a top-of-the-head list.
