Devin

How the CC resisted putting in the standard skinny heritage repros in there in that historic and heavily-touristed location, I don’t know. But apparently those lamps at Guinness’s were planned & designed by the CC Lighting section … and how well they complement the surrounding circa 1900 industrial architecture!.…so lads, more of this approach please & less of the blanket ‘heritage’ approach!

That’s extraordinary that the planning section of the CC aren’t involved in post selection or preservation

The remarkable thing is that seemingly all other items of the city’s historic street furniture – stone & cast iron bollards, stone paving & setts, coal hole covers etc. – are listed for protection in the development plan….but not lamp standards 😮 (An T have asked the CC to come up with a policy for lamp standards that would protect remaining originals, encourage good contemp design & restrict use of historic reproduction).

That Irish Eyes site you linked Graham is hilarious 😀 ……..pure paddywhackery! ………but at least they managed to snap an original circa 1900 lamp standard lurking on Beresford Place and not a modern replica around the corner on Custom House Quay!

RE: THE SILVER REPRODUCTION LAMPS

@Phil wrote:

To replace [the Art Deco] lamps with reproduction ‘heritage’ lamps displays a very warped sense of history

@Graham Hickey wrote:

On one level it is warped indeed, but I think it is important to note that these silver lampposts are much more than just heritage pieces of furniture: they are as much a part of Dublin as red telephone boxes are to London. And I presume that in some areas of that city brand new boxes have also been installed over the years in places where needed not because they’re olde worlde, but because they embody the city in a manner like nothing else.

Likewise in Dublin, in fairness to the City Council, the erection of these lampposts in appropriate places is generally executed in this spirit rather than in that of a yearning for the days of yore as is generally the case with pastiche concoctions.

I hope it is ok to cross-quote into this thread (for fear of quoting out-of-context, the original posts are here: https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?p=33946#post33946 ). Since they make up such a heavy proportion of the city centre’s lamp stock, I think it’s probably best to talk about the silver repros in a dedicated Lamp Standards thread.

There are two basic types of repro lamp in use in the city. The first, and most heavily used, is quite a flimsy and, in my opinion, poorly-detailed historic-style lamp. It is found on: Winetavern Street, the Quays (excluding 6 beautiful original shamrocks outside the Four Courts), Stoney Batter, North King Street (part of), Parnell Street (part of), Summerhill, Capel Street (north end), Abbey Street Lower, Mayor Street (most of) & Commons Street in the Docklands, Fleet Street (painted blue), Ship Street (part of, painted black) Sth. Gt. George’s Street, Aungier Street, Wexford Street, Camden Street, Heytesbury Street, New Street, Dean Street, Clanbrassil Street, Harcourt Street, Ely Place and Herbert Street (the last three streets have some originals as well).

I can’t agree about the validity of these, Graham. I think there is something sick about smothering so many important city centre streets with what is a fairly cheap and nasty piece of false history.

Then there is the other, more substantial and less-used type, which is a fairly accurate replica of probably the most common genuine historic Dublin lamp standard (apparently dating to 1900-30 and found extensively throughout the North and South Georgian cores). It has a stout, deeply moulded base & ornate head. They are quite an impressive replica and are sometimes hard to tell from the originals, but the giveaway is the column]http://img226.echo.cx/img226/7108/reproductraditlamps1a4dr.jpg[/IMG]

Silver repros on the Quays

Thanks for all that Graham. I’ve got some stuff on lamps in the city myself which I shall put up soon. The quality, design and appropriateness-to-location of new lamp standards, and importance of protecting our historic lamp standards, are soo important, but, unlike buildings, lamps can often come and go without you noticing…

Yeah they’re nice-ish buildings (M Redcap’s & the one beside it), but when there’s a high density scheme with a new pedestrian street proposed, arguing for relatively modest buildings can go against you. People seem attached to Mother Redcap’s – not least An T; it’s our local 🙂 – but it’s only been there since 1988. Before that, it was a shirt factory. There’s nothing of interest inside.

The protected structure is a bit of the City Wall at the back of the site.

Too right about the terrible ’80s/’90s buildings in the area. The buildings on High Street are just unspeakably bad….I think the worst urban buildings anywhere in the country….

Greg, An Taisce made a Dublin City Council submission and were one of 3 parties to appeal to An Bord Pleanala against the Mother Redcaps plans. The An Taisce appeal was made on the basis of scale and impact of the new development on the character and setting of the Tailors’ Hall, a protected structure. DCC Ref. 1606/04; ABP Ref. PL 29S.208027. The appeal details can be seen here (put the last six digits of the ABP Ref. into the box) :

http://www.pleanala.ie/numeric/indexnum.html

@GregF wrote:

There was a fine building that stood on High Street just a few metres down from Tailors Hall, An Taisce’s HQ. It was the former AIB Bank (beside MRCB paints) and dates from Victorian or Edwardian times. I’m sure it had a fine interior too and it had survived the Corpo’s inane road widening schemes of the past.
I was very saddened to see at Christmas that it had been gutted with only the facade remaining. I suppose it will be transformed into appartments or offices. I did’nt read or hear any objections from An Taisce!

Just since we’re talking about this area, the bank building you refer to in this post from a while back was a originally 4-bay mid-Victorian building. 2 bays were added on the west side in the early 20th century, to match the rest of the facade. In the redevelopment, only the interior behind these 2 bays was demolished, which was not of any merit. The interior of the original 4-bay building survives.

Really? Well that’s good. I’m glad that Town Councils are getting on and designating ACAs. I’m dissapointed in Dublin City Council’s efforts so far with only O’C St. designated…There are so many city-centre streets that are prime candidates for ACA – like Capel Street, Thomas Street, Grafton Street – which have have large concentrations of older buildings which though not outstanding work well as an overall group. Also dissapointed that DCC are persisting with the old, toothless Conservation Areas in their new Development Plan 2005-11 🙁

There are some clanger examples of double-glazed Georgian sashes around town! Because 2 sheets of glass are involved, strips of wood have to run across the outside & inside of the window in a Georgian pattern…there’s no putty involved. I’ll post an example if I can.

The ‘Diamond Buildings’ windows in Dundalk are a reasonable imitation of a Georgian sash from a distance but are vile up close, with their selotape Georgian strips :rolleyes: