fergalr

Has Newman House been suggested yet?!

Was in there yesterday..I can’t help but feel that they missed out on an opportunity to have a second floor arcade like in Stephen’s Green.

@TLM wrote:

though! Does anyone know when the licences for the fast food units etc expire? Wasn’t the council planning on not renewing these?

That’s what I understood would happen. Sadly it seems that Irish politicians are doing what they do best: nothing.
I have never seen a restoration of an old building like this in Dublin. I suppose the Custom House is the only other example of such obvious reverential care. Kudos to all involved. It is reassuring to see that we can do some things competently.

Hibernia has rather a long neck, doesn’t she?!

Pictures are brilliant, thanks for putting the up. The building looks stunning, I was past it yesterday. The GPO has never been what you would call an elegant building, though. Compared to St. Georges up the road, it’s not exactly Johnston’s best work.

To be honest, I’m not displeased with the entrance to the ILAC..while critiques to urban “wallpaper” can be warranted, the curvy bit is a refreshingly funky change from the linear perspectives of the street. And look, it’s better than the atrocious “who needs windows?” Roches Stores beside it.

I couldnt’ see it being impressive from any angle. If, as posted here, the OPW is quitting its mansion on the Green (what a loss to the east side of the square) then it’d be as good a building as any. Would easily be large enough to function as an appropriate residence for our Head of Government, is appropriately dignified and has space for hosts of other functions, offices etc.
And a quick commute to work 😀

I can’t see the public going for that..a little too nice for the “Shower in Power” would be my guess.

The Steward’s House is just too…proletarian to be honest. And if it’s beside the road, is that not a bit dodgy from a security point of view?

Is “Rural Housing Design” not an oxymoron these days?

I served as a juror two years back and the state of the place is ferociously bad.
The rotunda is pretty cheap looking with masses of..I think beige paint all over the place. The central four courts are cramped uncomfortable and tacky looking. The jury rooms are a disgrace.

Surely if Cork City Court House can have cash pumped into it, the highest court building in the land could be the recipient of some restoration funding.
And, yeah re-extending the wings would be a good move too.

I guess, in a sense, the argument comes down to whom you believe has a more important stake in the land of Ireland. The landowners themselves, who either own it as long as they choose or as long as the lease holds out. Or the wider community, the entire population of Ireland, who deserve for their country to be treated as well as possible, given the constraints of a growing population, the rights of the occupier and the need for greater transport links throughout the country.

I agree with the article wholeheartedly. The land of Ireland, as specifically stated in the Constitution, belongs to the people of Ireland.

All of us.

Obviously a thriving rural economy and thriving countryside regions are what we would all like to see in Ireland. All the money shouldn’t be staying in the Pale and other financial outposts. So I’ve always been of the opinion that new housing in and around existing urban settlements is the way to go down the country.
The one-off housing is destroying our little island. Selfish, ugly, thoughtless bungalows, being strewn across the fields of Ireland will do irreperable damage environmentally, socially and economically (tourism..).

I was hiking in Kerry this time last year. Some friends and I were climbing near Mangerton, just south of Killarney National Park.
As far as the eye could see, one-off housing proliferated. I’m not exagerrating when I say that in one direction it was one-off housing to the horizon.

It’s deeply depressing, and I don’t mean that in a hand-wringing urban liberal sort of way.