GrahamH
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That’s the first time a building has made me laugh – that’s one for the postcards – Greetings from Ireland!
I don’t believe it even exists – has to be a Photoshop job.
It certainly would be extraordinary to see it in ‘real life’ alright – good point about buildings now not being willing to simply blend into the streetscape – most notably the Schuh building on O’ Cll St in a garish sand colour. Not only was no attempt made to be sympathetic to neighbouring buildings and materials, the developer didn’t even bother to clad it in red sandstone instead of the present eyesore – one need only look at how well the colour works on the building beside the Mansion House. But the CC were tripping over themselves to grant permission to anyone willing to put up anything of a contemporary nature in place of the 70s disasters and so we end up with a contribution to the street it could do without.
What I think desperately needs to be done as part of the IAP is to return Westmoreland St to its former splendour and unify as much of it as possible. As it stands there is but a single WSC building in its original condition left on the street, next to the EBS, with exposed mellow red brick and the trademark granite window dressings on the first floor.
The rest of the street is comprised of Victorians from the short College St – Fleet St/Fenian St axis, but importantly mainly WSC buildings from here onwards to the river. This whole stretch is so tatty and cheap, with an incoherent mix of rendered-over WSC buildings painted different colours, the Ballast Office and the disgraceful intrusion of the mock-Georgian rubbish of the Blood Bank/ex-Man Utd shop, which wasn’t supposed to be built anyway along with the shimmering cubes of the EBS.Every tax incentive under the sun should be offered to property owners to strip back the render-jobs, none of which even have stucco detailing or pediments except Bewleys – and in the interest of the street as a whole I think these should be removed. Indeed most buildings still have the granite surrounds, some merely painted over.
Replica facades should be built over the Blood Bank building, which was supposed to be done in the first place, and a state-interest in the building perhaps could help. I think the EBS should have replica facades built too, not least over the woeful granite and glass wing, with the Lafayette building maintained – moving it to another location is an interesting possibility but it could work quite well reflecting the tall and narrow Beshoffs across the road. With the exception of these two buildings this entire stretch could be unified, and re-emerge as the city’s second street, with a very limited amount of ‘scenery building’ as it were.Essentially all the ingredients are already there – just concealed under a layer of lime mortar and magnolia paint.
This street could literally redefine the city centre; it has always been Dublin’s problem that all of its Georgian heritage lies outside the trodden routes and commercial core, resulting in some areas of the centre being mediocre and bland.
To return Westmoreland as much as is practicable to its Georgian state would inject that grand feeling and clear definition of space that the centre needs – contributing to the axis from College Green, the street itself, the views from O’ Cll Bridge and the quays, and of course O’ Cll St.
Of course it would require a lot of effort, influence, arm-twisting (wrenching more like it) and money, and perhaps the idea is overly simplistic, but it would contribute so much to the city and would be worth more than the effort injected into 100 of the likes of Grattan Bridge combined.The Tara site is nothing short of magical to visit – any roadway should be sufficiently far away. But anyone watching last night could make no objective judgement on how it might impede or not – not even a basic graphic was provided, or any sort visual aid, which was ridiculous although not surprising.
AT played a blinder as always…
Two snippets of info – it was built in 1901, and to the tip of the roof was 9 storeys.
Also it consumed two Georgian properties.I wouldn’t advocate rebuilding it, not only because it shouldn’t have been built in the first place, but it would be rather fantastical and would take more away from the vista of domes and cupolas of this stretch than it would contribute.
It was nothing short of disgraceful that the Corporation let institutions carve up Westmoreland St and Sackville in the 19th century – and it only happened after the WSC disbanded.
It was the worst planning that the city has ever experienced in my view – even worse than Fitzwilliam St, and certainly on a par with O’ Cll Bridge House. This two streets define the very character of the city.
Westmoreland looks cheap and messy now, and parts of O’ Connell little better. The simple classical Georgians are rubbished next to the elaborate Victorian piles.
If The WSC development had survived up to 1916 on O’ Cll, it would have been a simple matter of rebuilding them, and would have been substantially cheaper than the unified plans proposed by the Corpo and laughed at by property owners.
They weren’t just bad at planning in the 20th century, the Corpo couldn’t even manage what little had been planned already.It’s a pity on the Drogheda bridge and indeed the West Link that you cannot appreciate the dramatic views of the two valleys – the same is largely the case with Brunel’s Bristol bridge (keep forgetting its name) but you’d think a century and a half later this issue could be resolved – especially with the West Link, it’s such a shame to be encased in concrete for the length of the span – most people don’t even know what they’re missing.
Oh dear – look at those Georgians, the quoin-stones, the sashes, the brickwork, those chimneys – if only 🙁
The post-1916 pictures show a bizarre scene of the Bread Building standing in all its tall glory, albeit beheaded, and utter devastation around it, without a single other building in the terrace – it was probably holding them all up!
Did it act as an Edwardian Liberty Hall with what looks like a viewing deck or something on top – it’s this part I find really spooky looking, kind of gothic with elements of Lutyens too.It looks kinda creepy if anything – seven storeys I think, it dominated the skyline of the whole area – another example of the lax attitude of the Corpo to planning at the time.
I was just thinking that! The bricks used and the concrete are very similar.
Sorry, you’re right Paul about the building being well ‘ended’ – I was thinking of the issue similar to what Rory just raised, the fact that the neighbouring building on Grafton St is a couple of storeys lower, making the corner building look stranded when seen from the Green side.I like the idea of a glazed section on the proposed building wrapping round over the lower storey of the Gaiety – this would also in part alleviate the height differential issue.
I note the top storey setback is cropped out of the image – it would be helpful if it was fully included – and preferably not shrouded in darkness!
The bulk of the building presumably would be much greater in daytime with the loss of transparency – a daytime image is needed.
The terrace from the Green looks really nice when seen in your images Graham – always interesting to see familar buildings from a different perspective.Forgot I took this picture of the S G Centre.
Now how can you not love that – look at it there, all she needs is a bit more icing sugar and a cherry on top 😀Poor steel windows, everyone hates them now. Their slender profiles are great, but so unappreciated – pretty much all of 30s and 50s Dublin have had them replaced. My granny is the last house on her 50s road with steel windows, everyone else is PVC – it’s a difficult job persuading for restoration/reproduction.
But it is possible to doubleglaze and draught-proof them – it’s mainly the maintance issue, and the hinges etc jamming over time that people don’t want them – heaven forbid a bit of oiling and repainting were necessary.
I agree too about the lovely Bus Stop building – the only problem I have with it is that the facades on each street look too small owing to the size of the plot – it looks like it has had its wings chopped off.F McD did say that indeed phil – although I didn’t actually say that it wasn’t criticised at the time – but yes, he did also say recently that as the cladding was just bolted on, it could equally be bolted off again – believe me, leave it as it is – you don’t want to know what lurks beneath it!
A red brick STW wasn’t it?
I agree that the centre is not bad – everyone loves to laugh at it cause it’s so out-landish now, which is fair enough.
But in the late 80s, this was possibly the highest spec building built in the city in that decade. This was the first time attention was paid to detail and finishing in a major public scheme (Powerscourt aside) – ok the Victorania frills and Regency green is out now, but was the height of fashion then.
Equally the balustrading, the lamp standards and wall sconces and flooring etc was unique in Ireland at the time and is worthy of praise,no one else bothered their arse to execute such high-standard developments at the time.
The fact that it is so over-the-top now I think makes it almost immune to criticism today – it’s in its own little world.The corner ‘iron’ facade externally is equally distinctive, and not nearly as bad as people make it out to be and despite the crudeness of the supporting girders at close quarters, I like it.
I agree the floor access arrangements – an obstacle course to say the least, and the front does need to be cleaned (one of the first major uses of PVC here behind it too)
It’s extraordinary how tourists love this building, they’re always scrambling over each other to take pictures, esp at Christmas when it looks great.
Opening the shops to Sth King St would be great but there is a significant height differential which would probably render it impractical.
I agree about the shops – crap, indeed the only use I make of the entire centre is the handy cash machines at the (first) side entrance, and to olge in the window of the Sony Centre – mmmm dv cams….I agree the status of the Gaiety should be maintained – regardless of what goes nextdoor it should be subservient to it in scale.
It’s also a pity that Molesworth St, one of the few oases of calm left in the city, and with a distinct charm, is now going to have to surrender itself to a barrage of traffic from the Green.
Also irritating is that if Molesworth is ‘saved’ from it, Ely Place – even more quaint, will be lost!“The rest of the street…will not be affected” – indeed.
The only granite on the entire 1650ft length of O’ Cll St’s carriageways to date is that of two pedestrian crossings on each side of the median and the small area of the crossing at the Spike.But whatever about the exaggeration, I agree about consultation with Roads – I mean…ah sure whats the point in stating the obvious – you know the routine.
Also agree about the rubbish mounting from 3 o clock or so – it is disgusting and disgraceful.
Clearly your one in the ad does – and to herself at that!
Thanks for that – never noticed it before – usually too busy drooling over the Indigent Roomkeepers (very early plate windows!) must pop into the cafe someday, probably crawling with tourists at the moment.
It would have to be across the road though for the bank to be outside the window and there’s nothing there but the Roomkeepers building and the one beside it I think…
Dick Gleeson, City Planner was on the radio last week having a chat about the development thus far – nothing new was revealed really – mainly that the next stage to be started ‘straight away’ is the median down to the bridge which will followed ‘straight away’ by the widening of the western (McDonalds) pavement (presumably surgical gloves and free health insurance will be provided to workers on this section)
Then the eastern pavement will be tackled. No timeframes were given but I think the entire lower section is to be finished by middle/late next year. Presumably the busy western side will be finished by Christmas.He described northern O’ Cll St as a ‘challenge’, and spoke of the Carlton’s central role in this part of the scheme. He hopes that the Abbey will come to the site, and said that it has become more likely that it may move to here. However what was good to hear is that the CC still want a significant shopping/leisure use attached to the site, something in the region of 500,000sq feet (isn’t the ILAC 250,000) which could either be in the form of an open street stretching back to Moore St, or a more traditional mall-like scheme.
He said it would be a challenge to incorporate both the Abbey and a major retail facility into the development, in particular accommodating the service needs of the Abbey such as the standard 3 storey high entrance for scenery, and a large loading bay for the accociated large vehicles – but nonetheless it is feasible (suppose then Moore Lane in a full circle would return to its original service/ancillary use). He also mentioned car-parking as necessary.
Also he said that if such a double-amenity development arose, further properties further north would have to be acquired – presumably referring to the Fingal building and/or the space behind.Asked about shops on the street, nothing new here – the improvement in public space will improve the image of the street, eventually resulting in the market dislodging some of the less desirable retailers (to Talbot St :D), and that the public purse isn’t big enough to buy out more reluctant offenders – also mentioning that just a couple of fast-food outlets would still be acceptable.
And on the issue of poor old Parnell Square, plans are advanced to reshape the area as a ‘cultural square’ with the Gate and the Municipal Gallery as the the cornerstones. It is proposed to create a public space (didn’t mention where – Garden of Rememberance?) and to execute ‘other interventions’ – again no timeframe.
Has anyone been on the street at night, i.e what do the uplighters etc look like? Some pics would be great. Apparently they’re all up and running.
The Charlemont Bridge is one of the worst things built in the city in recent times – it’s incredibly ugly and the red just makes it more noticable.
Even a motorway bridge in that new smooth concrete would have been a million times better – the current yoke looks like some postmodern experiment in Milton Keynes from 1987, esp when contrasted with calm and collected Carrolls building a couple of feet away.
