Global Citizen

Some more pics I took recently.
It may look somewhat obtrusive coming in from the Coyningham road but from a distance the colour and scale of the building doesn’t offend.
I think it blends in well with its older neighbours.

@WhiteCube wrote:

…if you’re ever in Wexford town there’s an architectural gem that should be preserved for the nation…a big sore looking yoke in red brick (i’m not sure what its supposed to compliment – there isn’t anything of that scale or material within 50miles), on the quays in front of the Talbot Hotel..”luxury apartment building”/juvinile detention unit..its a real country cousin to the many “brown envelope” developments in Dubliin

This thing ?

@rumpelstiltskin wrote:

Reading all the posts would be a tedious process……

I’ve spent a tedious Sunday afternoon doing just that. For research purposes and a bit of divilment !
I decided to rake back over the 10 and a half years of this threads existence to find the definitive answer to the question of Dublin’s ugliest building based on the suggestions and nominations put forward by the contributors. I used a very scientific formula to conduct this exhaustive endeavour. :p

Namely :

– Only buildings that are actually named are included. There were numerous references to apartment blocks being located close to this or that, so to avoid confusion I decided to omit such vague contributions.

– To reflect the context of individual posts, only buildings which I deemed to have been suggested as ugly by the poster are included and not other buildings he/she may have mentioned by way of comparison.

– Some people have nominated more than one building in their posts, with preferences numbered 1-10 etc. Others just mention 1 or 2 buildings in no particular order. I have included all buildings in these lists regardless of pecking order. (I don’t have time for all the re-counts proportional representation brings).:rolleyes:

– Someone suggested the airport as Dublin’s Ugliest Building. I took this to mean the present 1960’s terminal building as there are a number of other buildings in the airport complex with their own nominations.

So here are the results – and shut that drum roll up please.

Of the 66 buildings suggested, a total of 37 were nominated only once.
Too many to mention here, and I won’t single out one or two of the interesting ones because to do so would only lead us down off topic street.

A total of 19 buildings received 2 nominations. (Again, too many to list here).

The following buildings that grace our capital city are suggested on three occasions…
The ILAC Centre.
Central Bank, Dame St.
Woodchester House, Christchurch

These ones are suggested 4 times in the thread….
Ulster Bank, Georges Quay.
Civic Offices, Woodquay.

Those mentioned 5 times are…..
O’ Connell Bridge House.
The former Statoil garage, Usher’s Quay
Busaras

One building is nominated 6 times……
Liberty Hall

And the winner (or loser) with 9 nominations is………
Yep, its Hawkins House.

So now we know !

Here is some additional useless information.
Of the 66 suggested buildings there are….

6 Hotels.
4 Shopping Centres.
3 Churches.
1 Embassy.
1 Theatre.
1 Bridge.
Bits of an airport.

Now for ya. 🙂

I love how the bin on the bridge peers longingly over the parapet at its smug ex-lover on the quays at the bottom of the image.

@GrahamH wrote:

And vista of a different kind…

August 10th, 1859: A modest proposal to keep the dismal Liffey swamp out of sight

JOE JOYCE

The stench of the River Liffey was a regular feature of summer in Dublin until comparatively recent times. In its first summer in existence in 1859, The Irish Times described what it was like then and offered a modest proposal to solve the problems:

TEN MILES from the city, Anna Liffey flows through the richest and most tranquil scenery in Ireland. Now it lies a sheet of silver, under drooping trees, undisturbed and smooth as a mirror, except when stirred by the sudden splash of the trout, the leap of the salmon, or the wake of the kingfisher skimming along the surface to its nest.

Now it expands into goodly reaches plashing along the inland bays of gravel; and now dashes its foam over milldams and salmon wiers, sending a column of spray upwards to dance in the sunbeams. No poet ever yet sang of a river flowing through a town. The emblems of all that is bright,

clear and tranquil in life are taken from the open fields under green trees. No one, to look up the Anna Liffey from Essex Bridge , would think she had ever been beautiful, or that so hideous an age had succeeded to so attractive a youth.

Every sewer in the city empties its grey or brackish stream of defilement into the river. The white scum settles in thick lines on either side of the mud and sludge. The river itself is strong-smelling and inky, charged with every species of animate or inanimate impurity. Down the stream are carried carcases of domestic animals until they reach the returning tideway; then they are borne backwards slowly, knocking about among the barges, sailing heavily under archways, until at last a burst of rain swells the river, and, carrying away these bloated masses of corruption, lands them at last upon the Bull or the bathing sheds of Clontarf. For 12 hours out of the 24 a large portion of the bottom of the Liffey is exposed. The sun plays upon the festering mass by day; the malaria hangs about it like a cloud by night. It is black, noisome, pestilential; more like a gigantic sewer than that sparkling river which glitters among the trees 10 miles away. Every summer sends abroad the fever-laded breath of the river; every summer our corporate magnates meet and solemnly discuss the evil and the remedy. All sorts of proposals are made, but never a one accepted. Yet, year by year, this river of concentrated sewage is becoming more fetid and more deadly . . .

If our energetic corporation is alarmed at an expenditure of £40,000 to purify and beautify our city, cannot something be done? We have the noblest line of quays of any city in Europe. Can we not enclose something within them better than a polluted mass of putrefying matter? A very simple plan, we think, would rend the quays a favourite and

pleasant promenade for our citizens, until the corporation screws up courage to spend this £40,000. What is to prevent our erecting three strong flood gates at Carlisle Bridge , under the three arches? By these the fresh tidal water could be kept in at half ebb, until the succeeding half flow. The river would always appear full, and not a particle of the dismal swamp be uncovered. The occasional opening of these gates at low tide would flush the river, and carry down all impurities. We do not see anything against this plan but its simplicity and cheapness. These, we know, are formidable objections in the eyes of the corporation who, having no bowels, have we suppose, no noses. We venture to say that five weeks’ work and £500 would free our city from a standing disgrace, and our people from danger. What will our worthy Aldermen say to this?

© The Irish Times

Well spotted Graham.

What a difference 150 years makes.

Feckall really !

Great photos Alonso and Paddy.
Shame the place only holds 50,000.
If it’s a battle trying to get tickets for an 82,200 capacity stadium a few miles away, whats it going to be like getting to a match here ?

Why does the new Lansdowne Road (Aviva) have such a small capacity given it’s similar footprint to Croke Park ?