Devin

Have to say I thought that was an excellent piece of historic/modern street furniture juxtaposition; the minimalist black lamps being placed in front of (but not too close to) the ornate seahorse lamps. This was subsequently ruined on the east side when the fridges were put between the modern & old lamps…….more reason to remove the damn things!!!

Didn’t want to get into the whole Hilton/Treasury/Lancefort thing, apart posting those pictures as a record what became of the 3 WSCs buildings on Westmoreland St., but since Garethace has written off the issue as being about ‘getting the right facade’ or something, ‘better go over the facts:

The scheme entailed demolition of 7 significant historic buildings: The former Pearl Insurance building – on the left in the above pictures (demolished behind the facade), 37, 38 & 39 Westmoreland Street – in the middle in the first pic above (completely demolished), the former Scottish Widows building – on the right in the above pics (demolished behind the facade), 3/4 College Green (completely demolished), the former A.I.B. bank, with frontages on College Street and Fleet Street (demolished except for facades and banking hall). All of these buildings (except 37 to 39 Westmoreland Street) were Listed – i.e. would now be Protected Structures.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

1870s
To start, these small gas-powered column lanterns were used to light O&#8217]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/Dublin1/1870s.jpg[/IMG]

Close up:

Among the other places where the 1870s lamps appeared were on the two arched-back bridges flanking the Four Courts: O’Donovan Rossa Bridge (seen here circa 1900) and Father Mathew Bridge.

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In the early years of the 20th century, the single heads were replaced with these great looking double heads, seen here on Father Mathew Bridge in the 1950s….

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….and here on O’Donovan Rossa Bridge in 1922.
The two bridges at the Four Courts seem to have been the only place in the city that these particular double heads were used (special treatment for the special building).

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But, being the great pioneers in conservation of the historic urban environment that we are, what do we do with these lovely lamps? Yes, we remove them (in about 1970) and put them (one of them) in the city lamp “museum” in the park in Merrion Square, to complement the “fussy municipal flower beds” and “tree plantings commemorating minor dignitaries” 😀 as planner Fergal McCabe so aptly put it recently.

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And finally, a comparison of the 1950s picture with the same view today. The corner building in the ’50s pic was demolished in 1983 to create a slip lane for traffic turning left from Bridge Street onto the Quays :rolleyes: , destroying the enclosure of the bridge.

It’s not bad. Though I think the Parisian look has more to do with getting a few stories in above the parapet!
There seems to be a reference to the original Wide Streets Commissioners’ granite shopfronts of the street in the façade.

The demolition of the 3 original buildings and several others nearby to make way for the Westin Hotel (originally to be Hilton before they pulled out) was the major planning/conservation battle of the late ‘90s, and went to the courts.

Some great lamps in Barcelona….here’s another just for pig (cast) iron:

It’s nearly 10 years old anyway. In the architects’ site posted by Andrew at the start of the thread it’s dated 1998 in the list of projects.

@Thomond Park wrote:

Looks like Devin lost sleep over it,

An Taisce appealed. but it wasn’t me

Looking at and reading all that is bringing back feelings from similar trips around the country.…you are literally in disbelief at what has happened; – arriving in a town, thinking ‘What’s it going to be like? How well have they preserved the place?’, then the inevitable ‘Oh God, it’s been destroyed…there are PVC windows in almost every building’.

And after a while travelling around you stop being angry and just become numb, there is so much white plastic.…in new buildings, old buildings, all buildings. The whole country is just swimming in a sea of white plastic…

There was an interesting tidbit in the Irish Times today saying that planning is being sought for a seven-storey 99-bed hotel on a site at Ormond Quay, Charles St West and Ormond Square.

The Irish Times are way behind with that one. A planning application for a seven-storey mixed-use building on that site was lodged last December (Ref. 5882/04) and, after going through further information and amendments, was finally granted permission in June and has now gone to appeal.

After waiting so long for a new building on this site, the approved (seven-storey) building is disastrous unfortunately. Disastrous in its effect on what is probably the most important view in the city: The Four Courts dome rising above the Georgian-scale terraces on the quays.
It’s the usual thing you’re seeing now; someone wanting three or so more stories higher than the surrounding building heights (because land values have increased so much, I suppose). That’s fine if the area can take a bit of diversity in the skyline, but definitely not here on the quayfront beside the Four Courts.

@modular man wrote:

This might seem like a naive question, but why are planning permissions granted by seemingly intelligent, qualified people if they are not in accordance with good planning guidelines.

Local Authorities are inherently pro-development; they are in competition for rates with the adjoining Local Authority, and want to see ‘action’ in their area. There is huge pressure on professional planners from senior staff and management to approve development, and recommendations of refusal for a development by a planner – on planning and environmental grounds – are often overturned by a Manager.

The question you have to ask is why are such a huge proportion of Local Authority decisions overturned on appeal?
Yes, there are serious deficiencies in the Irish Planning system.