GrahamH
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It does look pretty weird, esp in contrast with the weird browny coloured stone of the rest of the building. Its granite is’nt it? Also that new cut stone addition to the left of the facade has now lopsided the building. Are there any plans to build a mirror image it on the other side in place of that Victorian addition?
How much would that cost! A three storey cut stone portico with four massive columns and pediement these days would cost 100,000s or probably millions, not that he can’t afford it or anything but he’d probably end up casting it in a reinforced resin or something!
Castlehyde dosn’t strike me as a house that ever had a portico, or even suited to a portico if it was originally proposed.If you consider a couple of measly 500w bulbs that cast a shred of light to the extreme ends of the building, and eight uplighters at the bse of the columns, half of which are blown at an given time as floodlighting…..
If they can blast Government Buildings out of it at nightime, why can’t the same be done with Leinster House? They have also yet to do properly:
The Custom House, Four Courts, Ntl Museum & Library & GPO. WAKE UP OPW!!!Brilliant double page spread by Shane O’ Toole in the Culture section, the pieces were polished 24 hours a day for over a month, wow!
I don’t mean the secuity cameras. On the train every day passing Amiens Street, I see pylons in the shape of the Hangman structure (for want of a better example) which project out over the road, complete with illuminated arrow signals attached overhead.
Leinster House is not adequate as the base for the Parliament, practically, yes, but asthetically and cerimonially, no. It is an embarassment when watching the BBC news in the evening, at election times etc, to see a correspondent, standing outside a small and undistinguished building that bears no correlation to the purpose of housing a national parliament. It does not stand out like a beacon like the Palaces of Westminster or the Reichstag, or other parliament buildings, although I accept that Ireland is a small country. Leinster House is’nt anything much architecturally, simply a granite wall with some geometrically placed classical windows, it has little relief or depth and is fundamentally unmemorable, just nice to look at in passing. The OPW hav’nt even bothered to floodlight the building, it shoud be lit in brilliant white light, considering it’s prominance every night televisually.
Charlie Haughey attempted to get the State to use Kinsealy as the official residence of the Taoiseach but later abandoned the idea. Henrietta Street would be suitable, like Downing Street, ajoining houses could be used for necessary offices, although Downing Street is closed off to the public, for security
It’s not a matter of looking back through rose tinted glasses, or having a closed mind in favour of all things classical, but rather retaining what already exists that works well. The Victorians & Georgians built in the manner they did because it is effective & asthetically pleasing. If ‘classical’ street furniture has been removed, ie all over Dublin in the 60s & 70s, it is only right that it should replicated in areas where it is appropriate. However, plonking down some shoddy reproduction rubbish in predominantly modern areas is equally damaging & fundamentally stupid.
Saying that, there’s a lot to be said for terrible ‘contemporary’ street furniture, such as those lights craning over the Boardwalk, looking at them today, they’re nothing more than cheap, crude, unfinished, moulded steel pylons that are being passed off as modern or ‘cool’ design.
The OPW have just stripped away one of the last original features of St Stephen’s Green, an organisation that supposedly prides itself upon conservation and respect for the past in the face of progress. The least they can do is retain the lamposts on the west side of the Green that have not been touched, pending LUAS works.
You mean to say that it is appropriate for the
Prime Minister to be driving home to a 3 bed semi, or what ever it is, on the outskirts of the city?Exactly. the OPW have just spent millions on new offices, restaurant & bar and other facilities, undoubtedly with no consideration to the idea of moving from the site.
The White House is derived from Leinster House, or rather the top two floors are. The first and second floor windows & their pediments on the garden front of the White House are exactly the same as Leinster House, it’s architect being James Hoban, obviously being influenced by Cassel’s house in Dublin. Apparently the Capitol Building was influenced by the Custom House, it’s foundation stone laid in 1793, just two years after the completion of the Custom House.
Now theres an idea, although I wouldn’t even bother converting it. They were’nt given the building. After the Act of Union in 1801 it was used for art exibitions etc until the BOI purchased it, I think in 1804 for £40,000. There is a myth that a condition of the sale was that both the House of Commons & Lords were to be removed from the building, but apparently this is ‘unfounded’. However a public cash office was needed and the House of Commons was impractical for that use, with it’s public gallery etc, and so it was replaced by Francis Johnston and the building’s dome removed. He also blocked up the windows behind the colonade with niches for security, in the days of gold etc.
In the EIS, it says it will not be visible from some areas within the city centre such as Merrion Square, (mainly due to the immediate height of buildings), but will be visible from the likes of Rathmines, although not that clearly as it’s colour will be pretty much the same as that of an overcast sky. At night though, it’s illuminated tip should be quite distintive. Originally it was planned to light it with something like 23 florescent tubes, but that has been shelved in favour of LEDs which last for approx 30 years. I agree, they should have the ability to change colour, as should the floodlights positioned on the 4 corner buildings that light the Spire itself.
Is’nt it! I can’t wait to see it up, it is now the tallest piece of sculpture in the world, if you consider it as being that.
True. All of those cars parked around detract from the Green. Originally, in the 18th century, there was a wide boulevard/avenue known as the Beaux Walk encircling the Green where the pavement and parking spaces now are, lined with a double row of trees. Pity it couldn’t be restored, considering the area is a four laned motorway at rush hour and a barren wasteland during the day.
In very limited and specific cases to regulate?!?! Ah well, if they launch a new poster with a young couple having relations on the lawn of their new bungalow blitz abode, replete with uPVC windows, guttering & facias, fancy gold tipped gates, and over flowing septic tank, I’m sold!!!!!
