GrahamH
Forum Replies Created
- Posts
@Jill in Canada wrote:
I dont want this to sound like a dating line
Yeah you kinda fell down on that with the next line 🙂
Phil will be along shortly now – he knows all the best nightspots, and how to shut em down 😀 😉You’d have to pad it out a bit with foam or something – lots of foam 😀
Anyone know how tall it was, and when it was built?
Please don’t say it has the honour of being the tallest building ever built in Dublin – wouldn’t surprise me :rolleyes:It is temporary – as jimg says of the poured into wooden frame type, I watched them make it 🙂 Actually well finished for a temporary pavement. Looks like it may be there for a couple of years as work progresses with Trinity.
Not sure what’s happening to the footpath here in the long term though…Windows are always useless at keeping a secret 🙂
The first thing that springs to mind about the 2nd floor windows of Flanagan’s and the RDH as you say is the thickness of the glazing bars. The thing is is that they’re borderline – 1750-55 marking the introduction of fine glazing bars. That’s fascinating what you say Devin about the Venetian to the rear of the RDH – is it possible that finer glazing bars were used to the front and thicker to the rear?
As for Flanagan’s, the panes are so very tiny that they certainly give the appearance of dating from 1750, or rather they make you want to believe that! It is possible that new thin glazing bars were installed into the original frames, accounting for the lack of horns. It is also possible that sashes are entirely new but just date from prior to the introduction of horns, circa 1820. There appears to be no original glass in them thanks either to 1916, 1922, Nelson 1, Nelson 2 ;), or just to some good old-fashioned renovation.It is most surprising the windows don’t all appear to have been changed with the addition of the limestone window dressings. On first impressions it looks as if the 1st floor sashes went in when the dressings went on, the 2nd floor perhaps survived, and the 3rd floor ones went in in when the top floor was rebuilt – and now that I look at them again it looks like the top floor was shelled in 1916; the windows are of the standard 1910s/20s Edwardian design, so much of which can be seen on Henry St & Lwr O’Cll St.
The classical nature of the dressings may suggest around 1810-20, just prior to the horn invasion, and also would tie in with commercial occupiers creeping up into Upper Sackville St…As for the RDH, the 2nd floor windows do look suspiciously refined for 1750 – just a bit unusual for windows to be replaced so comparitively quickly; then again Dublin doesn’t have that much stock from that period anyway…
What you say about the lengthened 1st floor windows certainly explains their bizarre proportions – even if the Gardiners are renouned for their later developments’ narrow windows, even they wouldn’t have gone this far 🙂
The railings of the RDH House are replicas as well as the windows…good, but peeling apint and the expose of steel tend to give the game away.The stretch of houses up to Dublin Bus was actually the most uniform of the Mall; similar to housing developments even today, those with less money are stacked together in uniform ‘units’ whilst the wealther are given free reign. Think this is very evident with the Gardiners’ later schemes which are all very uniform and standardised, while the money of the more salubrious Merrion Squares of this city shot themselves in the foot with the mishmash of stuff they built – albeit charming in its own right.
And just as Cavedish Row is mentioned, the ‘stickey-outey’ railings with that bulge at the bottom so prevelant along this stretch (started around 1753?) are identical to those used by Gardiner on his Sackville Mall houses, a real connection with the past if ever there was one. The Mall lives on 🙂Apparently 45 people were arrested last year. It would be desirable to have them closed at least til families have left; as you say the place seems to have taken on a decidedly sinister tone post-parade, even as early as four o’clock there were ‘incidents’.
Even if they don’t close I suspect there’s gonna be a serious Garda clampdown this year anyway, if it’s any consolation…
Wow, what a fantastic picture. It doesn’t even look real – like one of those touristy photomontages from the 50s 🙂
That tank clearly was massive!
Ah Teddy – a classic :). He looks much bigger on the bus seat than in the other pics…
I’ve been meaning to ask this for ages about Upper O’Cll St. It’s generally considered than the Royal Dublin Hotel townhouse is the last original facade remaining on the street, but is it possible that another exists in the form of Flanagan’s, next to McDonalds?
As is widely said, when Gardiner’s Mall was laid out in 1748, the western (GPO) side of the street was built of houses intended for professional people and merchants, while the eastern side was the preserve of the aristocracy, MPs and Lords etc. However, this only partially appears to be the case, as the smaller two-bay merchant houses only extended up to where Dublin Bus is now, which itself was the site of a large 5-bay house/s. Thereafter the houses generally turn into larger three-bay buildings with a scattering of smaller ones in the mix, the last example surviving of course being the RDH house built in 1752. There was a list somewhere on the internet of many of the Lords etc who lived on this side of the street and guess where they all lived – only in the larger houses from nos 40-60, i.e. Dublin Bus to Parnell St 🙂
As for the eastern side – were the remenants of Drogheda St ever demolished? Pics from the 19th century often show a jumble of buildings – although one of the Earls of Drogheda did rent out a newly built vast pile for himself on the present day site of Burger King 🙂
Anyway Flanagan’s is an example of one of the houses in the terrace of 2-bay merchant dwellings that stretched from the ‘Come in and Visit’ building :rolleyes: up to Dublin Bus. I wonder if the brickwork is original – it would be fantastic if it was, dating from 1749-50. As you can see in the first pic, the first floor windows have been shortened in height with the addition of the limestone dressings – the newer bricks underneath being the giveaway.
Also the windows above – what’s the likelihood of these 2nd floor sashes being original – no horns and in exceptionally poor condition. They also have small panes of glass and are virtually identical to the windows of the RDH 2nd floor… The top floor frames appear to be later. The top floor was also partially rebuilt in the 19th century as can be seen.
If only I could post Tudor’s engraving of Sackville Mall from 1750 – have a copy but no scanner 🙁
It really is fascinating, you caould look at it for hours, if you’re that way inclined….but there’s loads of misleading details too – loads – not least the fact that half of what’s in the picture doesn’t appear to have been built yet 😀It’s partially to do with the bridge itself I think – that time old effect used by architects to accustom you to large indoor spaces; when you emerge from under the bridge you are kind of fooled into believing the place to be much ’emptier’.
But certainly there’s also a real contrast, particularly beyond City Quay or Custom House Quay on the other side, so much so that it’s so strange to suddenly see the 50s flats out at the Grand Canal Basin there, looking like in the middle of nowhereI remember these now you mention it Stephen, thanks:
“The suite of furniture will include two cafes, a ticket and information offices, five retail units, two news stands, two self-cleaning WCs, twelve public telephone boxes and nine bus or taxi shelters”Gasp, a public toilet in the city centre – now there’s a novelty :). Although weren’t the ones on Burgh Quay closed from from lack of patrons….hardly the best position for them though.
The slatted wood looks very well on the kiosks, but the big concern is of course how bulky they will be sited on the median:
I barely remember it in ‘real life’ too 😮
I’ve a pic of it here in a book, it’s at least 10 storeys anyway. When was it built and what was it used for – a modern version of the Victorian holding tank before natural gas?
All of the paving on the sides and median is filthy with loads of stains, but only because it hasn’t been cleaned since construction – the place has yet to be fully furnished and polished off (the bleach suds in the first pic are from the daily McDonalds rinse down :))
This will include the installation of roadside trees, for which as you can see in the first pic provision has been made with large square holes, currently filled with tarmac.
Perhaps these holes are a bit big: their surface area on the Abbey phase is very large and the sandy gravel in them is contantly being worn down and kicked out a bit from people walking over them rather than around them. Are they so large just to accommodate their root balls during installation?Haven’t seen any kiosk designs TLM – maybe others have…
Garethace you raised many good points there about the sustainablity of these places. I’ve a suspicion ‘Ecoeye’ a couple of weeks back prompted you to mention them as it discussed this issue quite well. They are mammoth consumers of energy and a great obligation ought to be put on their shoulders to make them as efficient as possible.
I was out in Dundrum today for a nosey around and the heat in the place would knock you for six, it was unbelievable.
The people with me were also collapsing – I had to go outside for a breather such was the heat.Well as for the place itself, an Archiseek exclusive now – here’s a couple of (dodgy) sneaky pics from inside:
Also, rough comparisons with the exterior:
As for the centre overall – very well designed. The build quality is exceptionally high. The mind boggles at how many quarries of stone have been emptied over its floors – they mostly look very well, perhaps a little vulgar as acres of stone tends to look. If they so much as dare rip the stuff up in ten years time as fashions change, treating it as nothing but a fad, a material that has taken hundreds of millions of years to form, then we might as well give up all hope for humanity 🙂 That stuff should never be touched again.
There isn’t a seat in the place other than cafés which is an absolute disgrace. I passed at least five people or groups of people over the course of an hour sitting on the floor on the malls leaning against shop windows, some eating their lunch – contempt for the public if ever you saw it.
The centre itself integrates quite well with the village – the main body of the place spews out the backside of it, out of sight of the charming main street. As for the traffic……
Take the Luas 🙂
No silver birch trees have been used in this phase of the project as can be seen.
A lot going on in this first pic below with the installation of bollards and foundations etc – presumably for the street’s first kiosk. I don’t know how the Luas sub station next door is going to be concealed – clad in wood or something?
Also the continuation of the lampposts as per Abbey-Princes Sts phase:
Two more pics:
. The new median paving and trees behind O’Cll Mon
. New bollards in front of William S O’Brien – surrounding a trapdoor :confused:
Here’s some pics of the latest phase. I’m somewhat reluctant to post them as it is far from finished yet, and I should have some ‘before and after’ pics later, so don’t want to use them all up yet 🙂
Apologies for exposure etc – the camera’s of the ‘point ‘n’ click’ variety…Here’s the wide new paving on the west (McDonald’s) side:
Also below, the kerb curves mentioned many times before, used to accommodate the width of O’Connell Monument.
They’re both on the side pavement and the median; even the lines on the road bend 🙂
Lovely river of juice on the O’Cll Mon plinth there…:Also, the new posts aren’t evenly spaced – there’s four in total but the central gap is much bigger than the others…maybe because of the ped crossing :confused:
Yes the lampposts are the same as the first phase – these:
Hope to get some pics of the latest phase next week – I’ve wating for ages for the place to to be cleared up and lamppost heads to be attached etc. This phase really has taken too long considering the east side hasn’t been included. The median furniture is going in now, including some shiny bollards, not sure whats going on there…
I’m not a fan of the lampposts either, with the exception of the lamp heads themselves which are very nice with those large domes of glass. But the matt grey finish and band of black skirting at the base is so dull and mundane.
I just think it’s a pity a more distinctive profile and finish wasn’t chosen – something that’d stand out as the O’Connell Street lampposts rather than a design that could be in Barcelona or Berlin.
At least we don’t have black hoopy British High St yokes 🙂
