GrahamH
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The 1920s as far as I know is broadly the time when glass production became standardised with the development of more modern techniques but it could have been a bit earlier. But it still wasn’t until the mid-century that the most recent method of glass-making came into being.
One good example of very late curvey glass is Eason’s on O’Connell St, where many of the panes in its upper sash windows have such glass. It’s quite an extraordinary sight from inside if the light catches in a certain way. I’m not sure though if these were made in the Victorian plate/cylinder traditon in the early 20s or in the more modern, but equally flawed early 20th century technique.
In 1998, Hawkins House was voted Dublin’s Worst Building on this site.
Nearly 7 years on, would it still top the poll?
The results of a re-run would be interesting…Good point.
Re the lack of max speed signs on smaller roads, it is intended to replace all of black line national speed limit signs with actual speed in kph. Of course that’s not to say that just these will be replaced, and we will continue on travelling for 30 miles without seeing another in time honoured tradition.I think sign-posting is an interesting indicator of a nation’s disposition, and in Ireland it is one of not caring for rules, or indeed making them in the first place. Perhaps that is being stereotypical, but I think it is still relevant to the roads situation. Being meticulous to the last detail or authoratative are not our strong points.
One aspect of the UK’s road signage that has always fascinated me is the aforementioned use of lighting on virtually every sign in the country, certainly in urban/semi-urban areas & all ntl routes.
It is carried out with mind-blowing precision – even the tiniest of blue one-way arrow signs in the back end of nowhere have lamps attached above. On roundabouts the amount of lamps arching over the traffic flow signs can reach ridiculous proportions, while on motorways most map signs are floodlit. In rural villages sign posts are lit, places in Ireland that would barely have a sodium street light.
It is extraordinary. Never in a million years would such attention to detail be paid over here, indeed the very idea of local authorites going to the effort of installing electrical services to all their signposts, let alone maintaining them is laughable.
It’s a totally different culture – although one must accept that Britain is of course a much more developed nation.On thing I’d be reluctant to let go is our stripey poles – leave them alone MT, they’re part of who we are! 🙂
Who needs Ballymun anyway – why don’t they flatten Capel St and build there instead. Another of those marvellous landmark buildings that everyone loves so much for the city – its distinctive yellow head could be seen for miles around, not to mention from space 🙂
Must admit to having a nosey in the window…
Also their brickwork could do with a bit of repointing 🙂As long as a park is retained is what counts. The fact that an open space here (as opposed to a building on the site) opens up the view of the pleasant side facade of City Hall is an added bonus.
Any pics of the proposed building – saw it before but can’t remember much. Lots of wood cladding used?Delightful isn’t it!
Is the glass in your door the same as your neighbour’s? That should tell you if it’s original.
Also, is there that leading effect on your upstairs windows too – it’s hard to see from the pic. This could also offer a clue, considering next door has it too on their PVCs.
Overall, considering the design of the house which is of the more simple and modern design than the more ‘heavy’ granite-linteled, granite dressed Edwardians with a deeper red brick, I would expect simple one-over-ones. But this is just my impression – it is possible it had casements, it is possible they were leaded, and it’s possible they had stained glass! It’s also possible they were sashes with all of the above!
The neighbours should hold the answer if they replaced them – although if they did that to the house, that would be the first and last time I’d be speaking to them 🙂Ah – seeing that up close, it is concievable that it’s original – not an expert in stained glass though!
What about your front door – please don’t say that’s gone too…Now there’s an idea! I wouldn’t have any objection to it moving anyway; it would be rather silly just to leave it there. It is more a part of The IT’s heritage than the city’s. And if anything, to remove it would largely restore the WSC terrace’s upper floors to their original state!
But more than that needs to be done – despite the work carried out by the Irish Times, I have heard it described as something of a half-hearted restoration and would have to agree from the perspective of attention to detail. Some of the window openings are partially reduced in size, or have otherwise been adapted. Also there’s quite a bit of mirror glass as I recall, and some non-sash frames there too that require replacement.
It would be great to see traders operating behind some of the remaining shopfronts – especially in place of the rather seedy, net curtain-clad windows there before.What do you mean being left to the end Stephen? Is it not just about to be tackled, now that the western side is nearing completion?
Whenever it is dealt with, the large cast iron pillar box there should not only be retained, but fully restored as well. And there’s at least another one way up near the Gresham that deserves the same treatment. To have them replaced with those terrible day-glo lumps of plastic they call modern design would be a great shame. The contrast between the new paving and old boxes should also look good. Indeed these are the closest items of furniture on the street to be in any way described as ‘original’.
I see your problem now Oblicorn – it’s a tricky one.
How frustrating to be part of a one-off semi, if only there were more on the street!What I think is very clear is that the upstairs windows were simple one-over-one sashes, the proportions are pretty much correct.
Whereas I couldn’t confirm for sure, I’d be 99.9% sure!Downstairs, I’d say sashes also prevailed, rather than casements (although still possible) but the sashes may very well have been of the design in the second pic. As you can see in that case, in order for the stained glass to be used, the upper sash has been made larger than the lower. However If these were used, it would be highly unlikely that the stained glass prevailed upstairs.
Looking your house, I have to say I wouldn’t have expected stained glass at all – simple one-over-one plain white sashes with horns seem the most likely. It is the stained glass in the aluminium frames (which incidently is no more Edwardian than I am) that is proving irritating. On first impressions one would expect there to be a precendent for that glass to exist, but there may never have been any – it could just be an olde worlde feature dreamed up at the time.
A clue could be the glass in or above the front door – is there any stained glass there? Or in the neighbour’s front door?Have you asked the neighbour about their windows – they look like they were installed around 1990-96, i.e fairly recently.
Looked fantastic alright! There really is nothing like fireworks – forget all modern distractions, both adults and children are still captivated by them, even if high-tech wizardry is used nowadays to operate the things!
If the gushing report on Six One last night was anything to go by, it must have been good – you should have seen it… 😮Has the betting office decision been appealed to ABP? On what grounds were they refused permission does anyone know – are use-specific guidelines set out for the O’Cll St/HARP area in the City Dev Plan?
Regarding McDonalds, as yet I fail to see how a McCafé is going to be integrated into this premises, what with the new fittings spread so broadly out across the place, and the lack of space for a specific counter etc – certainly not in the ‘intimate’ fashion of Grafton St anyway. Perhaps they’ll dig up what’s just gone down!
As for a juice bar on O’Connell St – did you ever think you’d see the day? 🙂Is the Carlton judgement not due shortly – think I heard late Jan/early Feb somewhere.
The CC must be so frustrated with this, it’s holding up so many things and it doesn’t reflect well on them either, even if it’s not their fault – they’re the fall guy in all this.I imagined so – can’t exactly see it adapting to its new location anyway – “ah sure just tack it on the front there” 🙂
Didn’t see this coming either. It has to be welcomed. In much the same way as Trinity killed Pearse St, The Irish Times at best can be accused of manslaughter regarding D’Olier St – it was just unfortunate the nature of their operations led to the inevitable dead frontage along there. Coupled with O’Cll Bridge House straddling nearly half way down, and nothing but Pearse St at the end as an attraction, the street just died.
If it wasn’t for the bus stops there, there’d be little pedestrian traffic at all.The ideal situation would be to to convert upstaires to residential, whilst having retail on the ground/first floor. As to whether a major outlet would want to take on such a project, the project being the street rather than the buildings, I’m not too sure.
Much of which is reflected by Michael Ross this week:
The Sunday Times – January 2nd 2005
On the face of it, five Georgian houses, their interiors and exteriors listed for protection, constitute an unlikely place to install a national theatre. When the houses are on one of the more forbidding sides of Dublin’s Parnell Square, it might seem all the more unlikely.
Yet all that stood between the arts minister John O’Donoghue and the announcement of the Abbey theatre’s move to the Colaiste Mhuire site on Parnell Square was the intransigence of two owners of an adjoining property that the state wants to acquire for the theatre. Collaterally, they have done the public a service by stalling and possibly scuppering a peculiar and potentially disasterous move.
Colaiste Mhuire, formerly a Christian Brothers school, passed into state ownership two years ago as part of the compensation arrangement with religious orders in relation to abuse survivors. Although the former Carlton Cinema site nearby on O’Connell Street was preferred, its acquisition became mired in legal dispute. A site on Infirmary Road was rejected because of its distance from the city centre. For a minister in a rush to meet his self-imposed deadline to announce the new Abbey site by the end of the theatre’s centenary year, Colaiste Mhuire was a convenient option.
No projected costs were announced for the move, no architectural treatments were sketched out, no public debate about the suitability of the site was engaged in, much less a long overdue debate about the role of the national theatre. The plan dovetailed with plans to splurge $500 million on refurbishing O’Connell Street and Parnell Square: the Abbey promised to be a vital cultural anchor in what has stubbornly remained after dark, despite the nearby presence of the Gate theatre and the Hugh Lane gallery, one of the north inner city’s more menacing boonies.
Had it all come off as intended, thereby creating a critical cultural mass, the spending of tens of millions of euros on a private society without public debate might be less of an issue. However, as O’Donoghue beavered away to meet his arbitary deadline, potentially better alternatives were not even debated.
A move across the Liffey to the Hawkins House site is the no-brainer. The Department of Health building there is possibly the city’s worst; the landscape would be greatly enhanced by its removal, and would allow ample space for a national theatre. The civic-mindedness of The Irish Times might usefully be appealed to, in relation to the former Irish Press building on Burgh Quay, which it owns, the site of which would provide for a suitably magnificent waterfront home for the Abbey.
Even as the minister was working away to his wrong conclusion, other viable sites in the city centre came to the market, notably the Irish Independent building a few hundred metres up Abbey Street from the national theatre, which sold to Arnotts 13 months ago for a modest €26m. Some might think that the landmark industrial building, with its uninterrupted floors that once housed vast printing presses, might be more suitable for a national theatre than a Georgian warren. Evidently the minister knows better.
Copyright: The Sunday Times
Next door really holds the key. Even if they didn’t replace them themselves, their replacements may hold the answer anyway in style.
Casements are exceptionally common around Drumcondra, esp along the Drumcondra Rd and its off-shoot streets. Sashes were generally still used to the rear even if casements were at the front, so don’t let any rear sashes con you either!Anyway good look searching 🙂
I wouldn’t know any joiners – others here will be able to recommend.
Ah the classic stained glass in aluminum move – classy 🙂
Can I ask if your house is detached, semi or terraced? Your neighbours should be able to tell you what windows were in their house originally if they changed them at the time. Frankly if it meant trawling through neighbours’ photo albums to find pics of family in the front garden with windows behind I’d do it! You may be a little more sane, in which case the Ntl Archives may have pics 🙂Forgot to mention that other type of window you brought up – the standard Edwardian one with a vertical bar down the centre dividing the window into two vertically opening casements. These nearly always had a horizontal pane of stained glass at the top, that was either fixed, or opened inwards by tilting.
This seems the most likely if there is stained glass in the aluminiums. This may not be orginal galss as it is probably difficult to fit the original into metal frames, but it could be.
Your neighbour’s house should offer the most clues if it is attached to you.
Maybe you could contact the person you bought the house from either.There is a certain ship-like quality to it alright – don’t remember it swaying, just the dizziness from the height!
There is something of the deserted 1940s swimming pool to it up there – like those abandoned ‘baths’ you see all over southern England. Just the mosaics, the railing, the roof profile, even the aluminium windows – it’s all slightly exotic, yet sadly decayed – F McD’s ‘misplaced optimisim’ perfectly sums it up. That man really has a knack for classic phrases, they just fall off the tongue! 🙂
What is the obsession with twee pine furniture in this country, with ‘tudoresque’ hardware – never fails to astound.
Particularly popular in the country for some reason. Reflected in all Londis, Mace, Costcutter & esp Super Valu promotions.Like red-brick – sign of quality…
True, but by 1905, single panes were so standardised that they prevailed pretty much everywhere.
Another type of window popular around this time was a Georgian upper sash and single-pane lower sash – perhaps something to wary of also Oblicorn, although they were mostly confined to grander one-off houses.
