GrahamH
Forum Replies Created
- Posts
I know that pub you mention ew, one of the finest buildings on the st, it has a black ‘shopfront’ and is bricked above st level, with detailed cornicing & eaves etc, a charming Victorian building.
In a 1950s picture I have of them, one has a splendid wooden oriel window projecting from its facade, now in its place is a nasty vast expanse of 70s picture window crap.
I can’t remember if the ‘Come in and Visit’ is still plastered across the same building -hopefully not.Hmmmmm
We still have no external floodlighting.
I saw the tip lit up again, in fact its divided into 5 sections and looks utterly ridiculous, contrived & artificial – on television at least, maybe its better on the street.
And again, the light half way up is just egregiously pathetic.
Silly silly silly.Dear oh dear, do we know where the proposed station is going on the st?
Suppose it would make sense to have it beside the Luas line crossing the Abbey St axis, but in what format so as to be unobtrusive?What was the wording of the Indo report Stephen – does the entire area’s dev rely on Carlton?
Anne Graham appeared pretty sure the dev in this part of the st would take place in 1 years time as planned.
Does anyone know if the Carlton has been compulsorily purchased by the CC? If so there should be no delay. Something major happened with regard to this site a couple of months ago but I can’t remember what.I was always under the impression that the Georgian townhouse at the top end beside the RDHotel was the only 18th century building on the st, not so.
I was looking closely at Joseph Tudor’s engraving of Sackville st from 1750, and there, on the corner of Henry St are exactly the same buildings that are there today, all be they now clad in Victorian frippery and nasty pink paint and a ghastly 80s shopfront.
This building must be fully refurbished, painted and the sashes restored. It would be wonderful to have a dignified wooden shopfront wrapping itself around the corner of the two streets, rather than the partially blank wall that currently greets visitors to Henry St.Was anyone there this morning or has all of the novelty factor of the Spire worn off at this stage?
Anne Graham, the Streets manager says the section from Abbey St to Henry will take a year, roughly from today, with the remaining section(s) another year.
Also it is increasingly likely that the trees at the top end are going to be retained as part of the plans, this is crazy.
One of the best part of the plans is that the new trees, planted at regular intervals down the thoughfare will unify the whole st, north middle & south, this scheme will be utterly lost with the retention of the mighty specimens dominating the place at the moment.These must be removed, whereas I don’t want to appear flippant about these wonderful trees, God knows they’ve seved us well as the grand old ladys of the st blocking the Gresham’s view of the derilict site & Fingal Offices across the road, they have to go to enable the full effect of the new trees to be appriciated, ie continuity.
They were planted I think in 1903, with most of the others on/left on the st in the 60s, 70s & 80s.
St Augustine & St John I say is the greatest also, amazing.
Which is more than can be said for the Pro Cathedral, I’m sorry but borrrring.
(Although the recent exterior cleaning is superb)What ever you’re into yourself…
Trees should definitly line the quays, they’d consolidate the city so well, as well as hide many eyesores along the way.
Parnell Square is to have avenues of trees planted as part of the HARP plan, well in theory…
I only saw a glimpse of the lit tip on the news, is the illuminated part divided into 3 sections?
There appeared to be 2 lines going across the tip, dividing it into thirds which looked silly, could have been a visual distortion though, it was TV3 news after all.
But speaking of silly, the light half way up piercing through, looks like its there for good, the Irish Aviation Authority have got their way.
The CC were offered 4 options for its finish, ranging from ‘extreme shot-peen’ – to less dimpled – to even less again – & finally a completely smooth polished finish.
I belive they did’nt go for the polished finish because they thought it would be ‘a bit much’, and so went for the next step up, ie, very lightly shot peened.
I’d say they were wary, in light of all the controversy surrouding it, that they might end up with a blindingly bright pole in the middle of the street & so opted for the less extreme option.
The images I have seen for the 6 yokes on the plaza are about 6 years old at this stage, and appear to be made of some material that glows from within after dark, (some thing along the lines of the perspex columns on the set of Graham Norton – to draw a bizarre comparison! – although somewhat more refined)
I’ve seen rough ideas for the stalls, benchsetc, but nothing set in stone.
As far as I’m aware, there is to be a light placed beneath each of the 250 or so trees on the st, to illuminate from below after dark, and LEDs are being considered for longevity.
The paving for the plaza is to be set in alternate strips of stone and/or colouring, whilst the standard pavements at each side of the street may have a cobble edging of a foot or so in width, finished off with wide granite kerbstones.
There is to be lighting at the edge of the side pavements lighting the 2 lane roadways on both sides of the st, lighting of a more intimate pedesrian level to light the central median, and the same again I think to light the side pavements.
The side pavements are to be widened, eating up part of the existing third lane on both sides of the st, the other parts to be consumed with the widening of the central median.
Stalls to sell newspapers coffee (at 3.50 a cup) are planned for the central median, as well as various sculptures etc.
The central median should definitly be reserved in my opinion for statues commemorating people, including modern of course, to be added in the future, rather than having abstract art, the idea of a ‘hall of fame’ as it were,down the St I find appealing, a great feature for the throughfare.
Not that I don’t support what the CC are doing.
The way they stuck steadfastly to their plans for removing the trees in favour of the new was great, as is the actual layout of the proposed trees.
The plaza for public celebration is wonderful, as it also addresses/emphasises the importance of the GPO on the Street.
The only thing I hate about the plans , (I don’t even know if its going ahead at this stage) is the ludicrous proposal to mirror the columns of the GPO by erecting six sculptural lighting yokes, the same height as the columns, on the opposite side of the st outside Ann Summers.
Otherwise, Let The Building Commence!
(even though its already underway!)Oh come on!
I realise you have to come up with some sort of backlash reply, but really, you know what I say is true, and I specifically said ‘most’ ie, not all are trash.
And I don’t say they are trash because they are simply dated or ‘of their time’ – most always were rubbish, from the moment they were built, just read the acres of comment in contemporary publications, whether Build magazine, newspaper columns etc etc.
Just because FF weren’t in power dosn’t mean there wasn’t scheming in the intervening years, or their spectulative supporters were’nt clinging like leaches to the party (just as they are today)
About Frank Mc Donald, I meant ‘disused’ in reference to passenger services, and his plan is exceptionally effective and simple, it has been endorsed by numerous planners & CC officals.
It links mainline rail, DART, Luas, QBCs, & taxis, as well as the added bonus of rejuvinating neglected areas of the city.
Most importantly it also serves the Docklands, and all of its future development.It is far from extravagant, but rather compact & efficent.
We know pretty much nothing about whats going on on O’ Cll St.
Yet its explicity stated in the IAP that the highest level of public consultation will be mantained throughout the project to ‘capture our imaginations’ & to offer updates etc
Even all here on this site with a general interest in built surroudings, let alone architecture, hav’nt the faintest idea for the most part whats going on, the type of paving, types of trees, the stalls proposed for the central median, lighting etc etc.
I had to give a presentation to about 100 Dublin people (adults) the other day about the Street, and the proposed changes.
NOBODY knew ANYTHING, even about the plaza outside the GPO, let alone about the tree layouts, tax incentives or the Carlton or Luas etcIndeed the only reason people know about the idea of new trees on the st is because of the ‘actions’ of the Greens and all of the media hype surrounding it.
Ironically, of the 2 boards on the st providing exceptionally vague info of its redevelopment, 1 has been removed to build the plaza!
Why arn’t there comprehensive information boards on the st, providing info as to the proposed physical elements of the st, and the timeframes & phases of development.
People love to read these things, not least if they are dealing with as grand a project as this.
We deserve them, not least as an explanation for why the street looks like a bomb site at the moment.We see new hoardings and cranes coming in & going up every week now, but with absolutely no details given to the public.
No wonder people have little faith in in the St, esp added to by the Spire fiasco – in which also no information was offered, even with people standing around peering into the site the whole time around its construction, & the public asking the site contractors questions.Likewise with the stunning St Patricks in Dundalk, which has just suffered a terrible fire just months after a massive restoration.
At least in Armagh the 70s altar used natural stone, in Dundalk the most pathetic twee Changing Rooms MDF structure has been installed on it’s altar, employing laser cut gothic arches, illuminated from within with a flouresent tube.
And as for the priest’s chair, dear oh dear.
Toytown or what…The only Metro that will work in Dublin is the version that is constantly being promoted by Frank Mac Donald, ie the Circle line, including the disused tunnel from Heuston to Connolly, then adding on to the Docklands, down to Pearse, and then more new tunnel onto Heuston again, stopping off on Stephen’s Green and various other areas like Wood Quay etc.
From all of this, Luas, QBCs and taxis can be linked.
In which case this airport line is exclusively an airport line and should not be trailing off to other areas, even Connolly which I suggested earlier.
But because we know nothing, indeed it appears no one else does either, about a circle line, or indeed any grand vision to be achived over time in the city, everyone is just groping about in the dark proposing this that and the other for lines that don’t even appear to have definite purposes.
Clarity, clarity, clarity is needed.
And vision.And at weekends the commuters are replaced by Saturday shoppers to Liffey Valley & Blanchardstown, one of the worst planning decisions/bribes ever made for Dublin.
Henry St is never appriciated for being one of the finest streets in Dublin architecturally, it really is stunning over ground level, esp standing outside Arnotts looking towards the Spire, the buildings lining this part are so beautiful and form what is really the only unified commercial terrace in Dublin, lots of red brick, terracotta, Dutch Billy features, sandstone mullions etc, all assembled by the late Victorians & Edwardians.
Its a pity that the middle part of the st is so poor, indeed you have to walk pass all these eyesores get to ‘the good stuff’ again, in the form of Jervis and it’s bumbling collection of ‘brick and sashed’ properties, and of course the exquisite and equally unappriciated Penneys building (I know it has a proper name, can’t remember!)
Penneys at last have applied for permission to replace its tatty 80s shopfront with cut stone that will not detract from the building, and no historic elements will be removed.
Work is already underway.I agree Stephen that a lot of the furniture is very tatty, largely caused by those bloody stickers that are put up by protesters and campaginers that are never removed, or are peeled at, leaving sticky residues behind.
Why is’nt this banned in the city, so much of our street furniture and lamposts have been destroyed by them, whats going to happen to the acres of stainless steel going onto O’ Connell St?
