GrahamH
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I was interested to read a couple of weeks ago about the ‘topping out’ of the world’s latest tallest building in Taiwan.
It was topped out by a spire, like the Chrysler Building – and its exactly the height of Liberty Hall – 196 feet!It was mentioned it was going there all right – never heard of removing the water element though.
No more bubble baths for you missy!I read this too – had to laugh at the solution of infill panels – like putting a sticking plaster over an amputated leg.
But if its GRANITE – ah well then, the saviour stone of Ireland comes to the rescue yet again.When will people stop throwing granite at buildings trying to make them into ‘quality’?
This building is repulsive and jarrs hugely with it’s surroundings, most others in the terrace are red-brick, with the ground floor clearly defined, and the upper floor windows and features gradually reducing and changing etc.
This buildings slashes down the middle, its facade a sheer drop from top to bottom of the same material – it addresses the street only with it’s parapet height.
The concrete or stone frame around it further alienates its neighbours.At least Penneys is clean-cut and streamlined – Dublin Bus is a messy, cluttered pile of rubbish, and as for the blue infill panels…
I always thought the door was original as well – its the only decent part of the building.
Every piece of the original was numbered and catalogued as it was dismantled, for future reconstruction. What a disgrace pieces went missing – I always thought they just couldn’t be bothered carefully rebuilding and so threw up this entirely new structure in its place.
Interesting that the picket fencing was standard even then – I thought this was just an Iarnrod twee country-cottage invention (considering at Laytown the uprights are supported with a galvanised steel frame!)
Passed the bridge at Donabate today, its so attractive, very delicate and transparent – the same as Rush and Lusk but in better condition.
At Donabate there is a horrible vast expanse of glaring PVC window with the obligatory ‘Georgian’ plastic grid clamped between the panes. There’s also lots of PVC at Skerries which originally had beautiful sashes. IR engaged in nasty double-standards in this regard – scouping up its own heritage awards for the likes of Dundalk whilst simultaneously removing the original windows from it’s ‘lesser’ stations.
The larger stations always survived better simply because it cost to much to meddle around with them.It’s the fundamental problem with political leadership in this country, with all parties – just cover yourself for todayand let someone else deal with the resulting problems in the future.
Evident not least in the countless office blocks that the state is dishing out millions in leasing, when Government could have shown some forsight in the 70s & 80s and built them itself – instead of lining the pockets then and now of it’s developer-supporters.
They havn’t really been there for years – about a year and a half at most, as I saw them being erected, but I agree that such a length of time is unacceptable – they are most unsightly and ugly.
Is planning permission not required for such a structure?I agree, the glass corners give it a lovely transparent quality.
The pieces that are falling off are rectangular vertically and are about 6 inches in height, about 3-4 in width. They point outwards in the middle – suppose they’re somewhat like mini-capstones from tops of gate posts, only stuck on sideways.
You can see quite a few are missing already, although I can’t see any on the protective railings yet!The railings destroy the architecture of the flights of steps – as to their necessity I just don’t know.
I like the Bank, but hate its location.
It is in the Roches category of landing from outer-space,only 65 million times worse.It crashes down into the city, and to this day it still looks so obvious that a terrace of buildings were demolished to make way for it on Dame St, this gaping wound in the streetscape is the worst aspect of the building.
The original proposal to retain the facade of the Commercial Buildings and others and to have a large archway through to the plaza would have addressed this.The pathetic ‘replica’ of the Commercial Bldgs that’s there now should never have been built, it virtually overlaps the Bank and destroys the symmetry of the public space, with a st running down the left-hand side and this lump of clinical rubbish on the other.
Some views of the roof trusses look interesting – like from the Ha’penny Bridge – but from most areas of the city it is a cluttered mess.
It is the finest building from its time in the city, just the location is ludicrous.It would look fantastic if it was Cork County Hall, sitting in the middle of the field – its current position is utterly out of context.
What is the obsession with building a line to the airport, with the possibility of it not stopping anywhere along the way?
Surely a line to the airport, direct or otherwise is the very least of the city’s concerns, what about serving Ballymun and the plethora of other areas of the city, north and south, in need of public transport commuter services – a line to the airport to serve one-off trips for business people and holiday-makers is hardly the most pressing of matters for Dublin transportation.
Solve everyday routes, hence the long-suffering citizens of this city first, and then meddle about as much as you want with an airport line.
And the way the two phases jutting out onto the street arn’t even the same height – still, love the main body of the building – and the view of it from Stephens Green down Merrion Row (could do without the obligatory air-conditioning unit though)
Penneys are aiming to to fully finished by the beginning of the Christmas rush – around the second week on December.
Whatever about the shopfront the interior is most impressive to the rear, very spacious and well finished.What does the original Clontarf Rd station look like? Where exactly is it?
I always thought it wierd that a Victorian suburb like Clontarf should have such a nasty modern stainless steel station like it has now – the fact you say there was an original makes sense now!
I probably know the building you’re referring to, just can’t place it.Surprising some forsight was shown by GNR in the 50s for expansion, the very time when the likes of the Harcourt St line were closing.
Is there any of Howth Junction’s station left either – I can only note the footbridge as being original, looks most bizarre in the midst of the 80s DART rubbish!
I love the brick viaducts coming into Connolly and the junction with the Drumcondra line where they meet, and the useless tracts of land they trap in between them and the houses!
Theres a fantastic map/sketch from the 1850s of all of Dublin showing the lines coming into the city, with no housing at all around them, just crossing empty fields – no Loop Line either.Once the Northern Line hits the DART’s operational area, all hell breaks loose – there is no extra capacity whatsoever at peak times – it is laughably overstretched as it is.
With regard to Metro, there’s no point commenting or offering an opinion, we all know what a shambles infrastructure planning is in this country – there’s just no point – spend consultancy fees on cleaner buses and give up on everything else. At least then we’ll get some value for money.
What a facinating subject.
Whereas I know pretty much all of the GNR line between Pearse and Dundalk like the back of my hand – I have little to no new information that isn’t otherwise available about people and developments behind it all.I’ve always been hooked on 18th and 19th century architecture, and also railway design which is facinating – hence I could date and describe most of the stations but know little about their developers.
Drogheda station is quite unusual in its design – rather a more English form of architecture than the other stations – its use of brown stock bricks in the Victorian age is almost peculiar, and its ironwork is very clean cut, esp the pillars which are unadorned.
It has a very untypical well-finished ticket hall inside which would appear to be early 20th century.The yellow/red/purple polychrome brickwork is of course used at Malahide, indeed its an almost carbon copy of Dundalk.
There’s also a small office or signal box just outside Connolly on its eastern side which is constructed of the exact same brickwork, presumably also built in the 1890s, and is most notable considering its minute size and secondary location – imagine IR going to such effort and expense today for such a small structure.Rush and Lusk also has quality red brickwork – dressed with yellow – unfortunately however it has been painted over.
It is an incredibly beautiful structure and its design has been hugely successful – although I always thought it was a bit too stout, should be taller, hence slenderer.
It’s problems lie with the finish and the lighting.
I saw the lit tip for the first time in ‘real life’ yesterday – oh dear, now I know what you’re all talking about.I see what Jack means about the lights (what ones are working) glittering as it sways – very effective.
It was lashing rain yesterday evening and there was 3 rivers of water plummeting down the 120 metres of its profile, and I’m such a child – had to go over and put my hand underneath one of them, it filled with water in about half a second! (and then overflowed over my feet)
Incredible, esp as the torrents then disappear down the tiny gap between it and the base, on top of the LEDs beneath.What! Essentially they’re relocating part of it?
The whole charm of this platform is its expanse – the length of the structure sweeping into the distance – cutting 5 bays of it will reduce it to nothing at Connolly – whatever about Dun Laoghaire benifitting.E Manisty presumably also built the bridge at Rush & Lusk as well then – its exactly the same – it was used in a period scene in Michael Collins.
Laytown suffered a nasty fire over the summer hopefully it will be restored. It has no roof now – just scorched chimney stacks exposed to the elements.
Thanks for info about 6 & 7.All of the 80s green paint must be removed off platform 5’s brickwork, this was a particularly nasty cheap and cheerful solution for dirty buildings in the 20th century.
