GrahamH
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Revolting?! This is one of the more elegant schemes to be built in Docklands. The arrangement of units is attractive and engaging, breaks the monotony of the quayfront, and the glazing is textured and eye-catching. Sure, the main block is overtly stoical and montonous, and could benefit from a crisp height projection at parapet level, but ugly it is not.
A crude revised mock-up beside the new Point using ihateawake’s image.
(If anything highlights the gaping gulf between architects’ photomontages and reality, this is it).
Bearing in mind the Watchtower will be flanking the other side of the Point, there is no need for overt height competition at this location. Height to the rear is potentially desirable.
Alas looking at the above image it would appear the charitably titled toilet block of the Point will be exposed to the river. Presumably this site will eventually be infilled? The limestone and brick of the Point look great since their cleaning. Some vivid texture there.
Precisely. The banking counter would make a great feature in centre, acting as a bar serving the surrounding tables.
Absolutely. And the pair only netted a piddling €3 million.
A one-stop shop for admin is desirable, notjim, but surely not at this of all locations, especially if plans for College Green ever come to pass which directly relate to uses on Foster Place.
That’s interesting about the bar – a welcome development, but possibly not the more permanent use that would be preferable for this site, nor the hoards of smokers, ashtrays abd fabric railings that will inevitably clog the entrance. Hopefully it will market itself differently to The Bank on College Green too.
I went in the Royal Bank buildings a few months ago having taken the wrong entrance into an adjoining office building, and the most bizarre scenario confronted me. A solitary man was seated at a desk in this cavernous unlit banking hall, with thin shafts of light penetrating various voids catching strewn papers and upturned furnishings, and an enormous and remarkably ugly Connemara marble fireplace looming behind him.
*sinister voice* “Can I help you?”.
*overawed voice* Can I live here too?
12/9/2008
Just rooting around Foster Place yesterday evening, it occured to me what a magnificent hotel the former Royal Bank would make.
(Archiseek)Very much in the European tradition, it is of the perfect grand townhouse proportion, with ranks of gracious classical windows overlooking the leafy confines of Foster Place and the extravagant Coomons portico opposite. The banking hall which is conveniently off-centre would make for a spectacular lobby-cum-lounge, restaurant or bar, while the first floor appears to host some fine rooms with elaborate cornicing. It’s so easy to envisage the frontage newly restored, with potted plants, flags and window boxes and all the other manicured paraphernalia that comes with such premises. Such a low-medium intensity use would act as a welcome presence on the street and generate modest activity appropriate to the context.
What plans do Trinity have for this bank, if any, now the nursing school has settled elsewhere? I don’t see how this building could be sensitively converted for educational purposes – even if possible it’s hardly the most appropriate use.
It’s quite a substantial building, especially if the adjoining Francis Johnston townhouses were amalgamated into the premises (currently separately owned).
There’s also potential for frontage onto Anglesea Street.
Incidentally the townhouses feature a quirky detail with their doorcases, seemingly unique in the city, whereby the interior hall is narrower than the doorcase suggests, resulting in a ‘false’ fanlight 🙂
Alas the right-hand house has spilled the beans by painting their overhang white.
Looks like part of an overdoor panel on an independence era limestone building – Manfield Chambers on O’Connell Street/Middle Abbey Street or the earlier Morrison Chambers at No. 1 Dawson Street. Hard to reconcile the possible gothic arch though.
Also an interesting little something revealed itself recently during the Ulster Bank works – part of the original shopfront was unearthed behind the 70s cladding that had simply been covered over!
A polished pink granite pilaster with an elegantly detailed egg-and-dart limestone capital. Lets hope this informs reproduction now that we know precisely what was once there.
Alas not quite such illustrious goings-on elsewhere regarding shopfronts…
Right at the entrance to the street at O’Connell Bridge. Tens of thousands of tourists standing looking at it every day.
Lovely addition to the Wall of Horror.
Some images of the newly installed O’Connell Bridge balusters and capping. Carved of Portland stone and bedded using a lime mortar, the installation was well-considered, but the balusters are poorly detailed.
A substantial amount of O’Connell Bridge’s balusters have been replaced over the years, with varying degrees of economy and accuracy. It is fair to say however that the newly installed balusters are probably the poorest scaled and most obviously inaccurate replacements ever used on the bridge.
A shame. The basic measurements of the plinths and caps weren’t even adhered to, and the bulb is rudely shaped.
This is not nit-picky – it’s upholding basic standards. A lot of money and planning went into this job: there’s little excuse.
A neat patchup job was done on the existing capping however.
And Fr. Pat Noise retained 😉
Also when is lighting going to be dealt with properly on this, and indeed all the other, bridges? Poor O’Connell has been given special electrical engineer treatment.
So awful.This would never be permitted on an historic building (well, most) – so why the bridge? As noted before, is one supposed to observe the rich carvings but not the industrial tack all around them?
Poor Anna Livia got anything but a Winning Streak with this terrible job.
Ah thanks for that link. All questions answered.
From the image it would appear it is intended to built the parapet in a different brick, matching that of the rebuilt 19th century parapet of the adjoining house. Surely the correct thing to do is to rebuilt both parapets in appropriate brick.
Agreed with hutton – the bunker ground floor is not pretty.
@gunter wrote:
You are a seriously dark individual!
You’re not the first to say that, alas.
And extremely interesting. However please do not say it is also intended to incorporate a ‘rebuilt’ parapet as pictured above? And when was this decision made? Who made it? Has the decision been released?
I always thought this was going to be a case of a toss-up between a conservative-with-a-twist brick scheme and a thoroughly abstract but uber-refined and respectful ‘incident’. As such both the mesh and glow-in-the-dark ones both have immense appeal, but suffice to say the stark and stoical, respectful yet individual, grim and foreboding brick number does it for me, What swings it is that it has a tenement quality reflective of the street’s history and current character, and that if built, will be sustained long after the thoroughfare (if ever) becomes a smug tuckpointed enclave of charcoal and lavender doorcases.
There are reservations however that the focal Kahn elevation is an overdressed elevation for a minor side street, and is being used for the sake of it being an architectural competition and elevating the scheme beyond that of plain reproduction. Still, very beautiful, and the vaguely gothic/gothick character singing the tune of the 1740s.
Glad to see even Malton didn’t have the time to wait around till his 18th century equivalent of a yellow cliff on wheels moved out of shot. To think it sat there for the full two weeks it took him to compose that.
Talking of different worlds:
Nicholas Street c.1900.
Nicholas ‘Street’ today.
Both taken from exactly the same position at Christchurch. I never knew the remains of St. Nicholas Within were moved back to accommodate road widening. Difficult to gather if that’s more surprising than the fact the remains were even kept at all.
The Dublin Corporation block was also extended/altered to the left since the original picture was taken.
More fresh thinking from Busman. The one dispute would be the chosen locations for all the bus termini – St. Stephen’s Green, Parnell Square and Merrion Street – the very places you least need ranks of buses compromising spaces. Nonetheless the latter two both feature secondary areas which would be more accommodating.
@SunnyDub wrote:
I fear your College Green Platz idea is hopefully unrealistic, at least in the short-term, I think it’s more Picadilly Circus than a quiet pedestrian zone.
College Green can be whatever we want it to be. There are no rules, only guiding principles from elsewhere which can be pick n mixed at will. Equally apathetic resignation, or appeasing of transport authorities will also not result in the best outcome for this place. An urban framework plan with a clear vision as Peter has mentioned takes priority, by all accounts acknowledging different transport scenarios. But a defined strategy that protects the integrity of this critical civic space first and foremost is required before any decisions are made about transport. It would be entirely unacceptable, and so typical of Irish planning, if College Green was merely landscaped as a left over token incidental space after the transport engineers have had their way.
I had gathered together a series of photographs on College Green and College Street, but accidentally deleted the lot, but frankly it was just a rant anyway so no loss. Also it was simply so depressing taking them that I couldn’t actually put myself through it all again. Coupled with a wander around the area last evening, as well as typical passing through on a near daily basis, it really is crushing to see how much the main throughfares of Dublin city centre have degenerated over the past few years. All of that boom and nothing to show for it on any of the main streets except O’Connell Street. In fact it’s so depressing I’m beginning to avoid the Westmoreland/D’Olier/College Green axis for the more heartening aspect of the quays. Frankly it’s a dump to walk through, and horrifically congested with pedestrians at peak times. It’s worse than sittng on the M50 with the amount of waiting bus patrons and tourists wandering aimlessly around without a sole attraction in the entire area save Carrolls tack merchants. It’s sickening to see the current white elephant of the Docklands and campshires (all perfectly valid in the longer term) receiving such investment with barely a soul gracing their acres of new landscaping, while the city core quite literally rots, Save an emptying of bins and the odd pavement sweeper, the public domain is completely untended. This cringe-inducingly embarrassing scene has been like this for months on end, in high summer. It is an absolute scandal.
What on earth does this say to visitors about how we hold ourselves in regard, never mind the city itself. The ground around here is also constantly littered with bank receipts, vomit (as people congregate here after dark), litter left by the homeless, and other general filth. One cannot be anything but mortified at the standards that are tolerated in the presentation of this city. There’s no point dredging through all the issues – we all know what they are, from public domain, buildings to retail uses, and all as important as each other. But the more these standards are tolerated, and these largely in prestigious and watertight legally binding Architectural Conservation and Special Planning Control Areas, the more it breeds and contaminates adjacent streets. We can see Dame Street beginning to lose its grip on quality uses already, and even the sniff of the potential of Lidl on College Green merely confirms this trend. The latest addition as mentioned before is this delightful number right opposite City Hall and Dublin Castle, the very origin of the city.
There have been so many objections to this place in all its previous guises, unmaterialed and otherwise, over the past few years it’s really quite remarkable. And yet in spite of all their planning issues, and multiple and highly prescriptive conditions, the likes of this still goes on in the most historic part of the city.
Cheap off the shelf aluminium frames, multiple useless doors, postering everywhere, fit-out exposed to the street. sandwich boards all over the pavement, ‘temporary’ signage, cheap lighting and exposed electrical conduiting, and already rusting upper balcony…
And the wider building, while crisp and a decent contemporary interpretation of adjacent structures (as stipulated by planners, can you imagine what it was like before) was still allowed away with terrible factory fenestration and crude devices designed for maximum interior rentability. I mean this is basic basic stuff.
And then the banner crops up advertising cash conversions…
An excellent submission was made by a Cherie Flynn on a very recent application for an off licence in this unit. It’s worth reading as she sums up a number of issues facing the area at large. Apparently Supermacs have been sniffing around the Burton building, which says it all really.
The depth of buildings in front of Tailors Hall is really quite something. It’d bring a tear to the eye, almost as much as ctesiphon’s heart-warming tribute. Although ‘Perhaps a few’ is ever so slightly the understatement of the century.
There’s also great images of the excavation of High Street in the 1970s. The false sense of optimisim you glean from them is quite bizarre – as if this central area of such importance had been cleared in anticipation of some urban greatness of mammoth ambition. Until they poured some asphalt over it all and shouted ‘finished!”
This false trade journal is absolutely preposterous – I would estimate that at least half of all of the hoardings in the city centre have been occupied by this journal for the past two weeks, indeed quite possibly all of them. What a joke given DCC is supposed to have ‘exclusive use until the end of August’. The adverts are also terribly designed, printed on sheets of otherwise blank scrolling paper, and present a down-at-heel environment wherever they feature. And as for the nighttime distraction…
The Bleeding Horse unit is a particularly dangerous distraction at nighttme, as I’ve seen first hand, located at a busy and complicated pedestrian junction right outside a number of pubs and hotels. Nothing other than shameful describes the thinking that permited the likes of these.
The 70 perhaps? The winding street is certainly more reminicent of the south side alright, but clearly on the fringes of a ‘respectable’ area. Cuffe Street area maybe?
We must bear in mind the lamppost. These never featured in the Liberties, and certainly not on Cork Street. There’s certain a northside fringes-of-a-Georgian-area quality to this place that’s difficult to pinpoint. Like Parnell Street shortly after it was bombed (by the Corpwaffe) in the 70s, or the Summerhill/Mountjoy area but less ordered. Testy.
@ctesiphon wrote:
Cork Street was on my mind
There’s a song title in that. Of the saccharine melancholy variety,
