GrahamH
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Thanks for the pics JJD.
Well from what can be made out in the right-hand picture, Arnotts as we know it is has effectively vanished, especially with the new hotel and apartments which could be any number of those large bulkheads.
Also it would appear that the new street punches through onto Henry Street via the 1960s extension, given the apparent new green facade depicted, and not directly behind the GPO – would this be the case? Perhaps not, as even the far side of the Victorian store appears to be missing! 😮 – so it could be anywhere really. Any chance of a larger image anyone – can’t find one anywhere!
Also are we to assume that Arnotts have acquired the Penneys/BHS building on O’Connell Street? Major opportunities retail and architectural there if the case.The only thing is that Princes St is quite narrow and also quite dark, though I see an attempt has been made to widen it as soon as practical. I wonder therefore will it ever hold the appeal of Henry Street?
It does have an identical orientation, but Henry St is a bit wider and lined with bright brick buildings – not dominated by the sombre deadpan granite facade of the GPO as with Princes St. Also the GPO facade will really have to be redeveloped into retail to make the street a success. At least this lovely side of the GPO will now garner a wider audience – it has a ‘wholesome’ charm to it and distinctive limestone dressings etc on the ground floor that rarely get seen.Sounds fascinating indeed! A very worthwhile project.
Well as dc3 mentioned earlier, here’s the second of the vitrolites on Upper Leeson Street in Dublin, now vacant:
Lovely transparent, light quality to it, and as typical is sited on standard Victorian stock:
The vents:
Some detail:
Interestingly the original mint green vitrolite has been covered over in this sticky-backed almost An Post green plastic material. You can see the original colour peeping over the vent in the previous image. I could pick at it fairly easily, so it should come off.
Attractive chamfered corners too:
Some damage there.
Back at base, the ground floor void has been resolved by making the glazing flush, suggesting solidity.
But again the acres of cheap granite just take away from any curious virtues this part has.
Though it certainly makes the building stand out as different from the conventional properties all around with their standard height ground floors.Head on:
The glazing looks good from a distance, and contrasts well with the AIB:
The idea of a giant thin glazed ‘slab’ forming the facade is also a well conceived I think, notable in a previous wide shot.
But up close it’s cheap grey tubular aluminium or somesuch, and does not look good:
The dome may be tokenistic, but fun all the same – I do like it : D
The gantry on the other hand, presumably a reference to the public hangings that took place outside City Hall, is the greatest gimmick going.
…and horribly galvanised.
The dome from the rear:
Very notably it doesn’t intrude on the skyline of the Georgian office block in the Lower Yard.
Overall it’s just too bulky and lacking in finesse for this important site. I’d much have prefered a couple of decent mature trees up against the exposed gable and an expanded, grassy, street level park. The plaza under construction unfortunately looks equally soulless.
EL ARCHITINO finally makes a return, and just in the nick of time! Architectural society has been corrupting in his absence, as evidenced by this building if nothing else.
Saw it in the flesh yesterday, and good god it’s one hideously cheap affair. I think it has to be noted though that this site is capable of taking a building, and the setback from the street line isn’t even noticeable given the conflicting nature of this whole area…
…but nonetheless what has been built is a highly unsatisfactory affair, on a number of levels. It is over-scaled, out of context, cheaply finished with dated materials, and lacking that crucial ‘lightness of touch’ that this site was crying out for. It is that above all that is so sadly lacking.
Particularly the western elevation, which is disappointingly poor – the crude balconies, cheap doors and galvanised finishes are such a slap in the face to the Castle that it has to be seen to be believed. There is such clutter here:
The stairs is so horrible I’m still not sure that it’s permanent – surely that isn’t staying there?!
Perhaps this is unfair, and should wait till it’s fully finished.
The opposite side has been given municipal public lavatory treatment:
…while the acres of polished granite are so cringe-inducingly dated:
Not even a fashionable tack-it-on tile was used!
My god I’ve only just realised that the gantry is just that, and not the construction crane I thought it was! It’s terrible! 😮
Yes the overall form and cladding is oddly similar to the Civic Offices. The deeply modelled base is reminicent of something too but I can’t put my finger on it, other than the tapered edges of Civic Offices of course.
It’s also strange when one considers this heavy base/pedestal in turn sits on top of the ground floor entrance void (though we can’t see it yet), which should make for an unusual state of affairs…The glazing is smart, and it looks cool at night, but the overall form particularly to Palace Street is cluttered and cumbersome, and those multiple voids to the side don’t even terminate in acknowledgement of the Roomkeepers’ parapet.. And the bluey grey part is an unnecessary contributor of clutter to the terrace, while the granite? -clad wall appears too severe and dated – hard to say without seeing it in the flesh.
The height however seems okay in ctesiphon’s second pic there, whatever about ‘that’ dome…Wonderful News! And on so many levels, as this affects many different parts of the area as well as the building itself.
Currently this part of Custom House Quay is nothing short of a wasteland, paved in acres of concrete slabs with little visual interest. Saying that, any new scheme ought to remain almost equally deferential to the building it flanks, but certainly more low-level interest can be introduced in the form of distinctive paving, sunken lighting and smart seating, perhaps with a central area addressing the portico and centre block. There’s fantastic views of the building to be had from here that are rarely featured in popular photographs – perhaps the scale of it just has to be experienced to be appreciated – and yet the Victoriana seating along here all faces the other way, across the river! Any new seating must be back-to-back in design.
One of the rare investments made by the Corpo in the bad old days is the lovely limestone quay wall along CHQ which is a great asset when one considers the muck of the George’s Quay railing across the river – the building’s principal viewing point. And of course nobody’s bothered to maintain it in decades and is in typically disgusting condition, something you wouldn’t even see in Moscow or decrepit capitals of eastern Europe, where pride is taken in such things. The state of it is shameful. Not that such a utilitarian structure should be there anyway; all of this sweep along with the Matt Talbot railings need complete replacement. It’d also do wonders for arguably Dublin’s most elegant contemporary bridge. Similarly seating and lighting is required on George’s Quay too, and in this case smart lamp standards can be erected along the quay as they’d don’t impede views from here. It’d make for a lovely, softly lit viewing point, especially observe the Custom House’s new floodlighting which must be a part of this plan!
Beresford Place is more tricky, and should the quay become pedestrianised it would make it even more difficult to redesign the place if more traffic was to be diverted onto it as a result.
Yes a rare modern-day equivalent that looks pretty impressive in all its glory – I think we had another view of that premises here before. Extraordinary that such expense is lavished on the ground floor, while the upper facade left as a sea of mediocrity, with plastic windows, typical yellow paint and surface-mounted drainage.
Nice, well proportioned, probably original teak shopfront in pic one too 🙂
QUICK! Someone’s using a camera in the IFSC!!! 😮
Cool moves there – impressive stuff at the very end in particular.While walking along recently, I thought of you (can’t think why, ctesiphon ;)) when I saw this (almost outside the door of Sam Stephenson’s former abode):
Interestingly this was mid morning, so none of the rush hour cyclists had seen fit to remove the bin for their fellow lane users either.
oooh – so close to a hole in one. Alas A is Pearse Station.:D 😉
Do the granite blocks in the National Gallery columns ever remind anyone of firelighters?
No?
Okay… 😮
Four more below – took them so long ago even I barely know where they are.
F
G
H
I
Certainly more unity is required, though to be honest I’m surprised they even bothered to go with white granite kerbs of the same broad width – they’re not particularly common in the city on that scale, so at least they went to the effort.
But if they’re aware that they need kerbs of that width on the street, they they also know damn well that it’s antique granite that should be used along here, and that’s just presuming it wasn’t the latter they were replacing!At least the white granite looks well, but it’s absolutely no excuse for a disjoined paving scheme, nor the replacement of priceless rust-tinged Irish kerbstones.
As an aside, I was looking at those very concrete lampposts on Leeson St the other day, wondering how long they’ll last. Will we give them a year to be replaced with silver repro muck?
Indeed the original sketches, and some watercolours too I think, of this proposal and that for the Gallery of Modern Art in St. Stephen’s Green are on display in the Hugh Lane itself. They’re in the first right-hand ante-room of the central gallery axis.
Anyone have any idea as to the capacity of the redeveloped Point?
Presumably the stage is only placed at the entrance end in the drawing for ease of interpretation…
The shock horror ‘revelationary’ nature of this story is amusing – this has been going on since day one of the Eden Quay Boardwalk opening, and to a lesser extent Bachelor’s Walk previously. I’ve seen everything from dealing, to injecting, to drinking (constantly), to urinating (including group-huddling around a woman so she could do her business whilst shielding her from passers-by – bless, the consideration for public morality was touching) – all a day in the life of Eden Quay. And that’s not accounting for persistent nagging for cash from people sitting along Bachelor’s Walk over the past five years.
Since the Garda crackdown along Eden Quay earlier this year, exactly as Phil has said, the usual unfortunates have simply been forced to relocate to the Custom House area on a more permanent basis, rather than their circumstance actually being addressed. The intimidation they cause, and the extraordinary amounts of waste they leave at every scene, has simply been moved further east out of the city centre. Clearly others have moved in to take their place as demonstrated by the Indo, so it’s a complex matter. Garda
While I haven’t exactly sat down to watch the rank in operation, I certainly agree regarding patrons accessing the front seat by the only exceedingly dangerous means possible, i.e. to walk out onto the busy road. It’s a major design flaw which is much more pronounced on this very busy dual carriageway laden with buses and fast moving cars bolting up from the Spire to beat the lights at the taxi junction, than other roadside ranks in the city. Another reason why this rank simply shouldn’t be here.
A little further down on Upper west, National Irish Bank have erected a new sign on their imposing 1860s Bryce-designed branch, in line with their recent rebranding, This is probably their only branch in the country where they had to depart with brand colouring and go for brass 😉
And how elegant it looks too, if perhaps a bit too bright? Maybe a brushed finish would have been better.
It appears to be backlit. A nice job.
Only the downside is, given they’ve just completed these works, it would suggest they’ve no intention of tackling that lower facade for a long time to come 🙁
What a shame, as it’s a fairly decent shopfront (if not original), but requires the stripping away of that hideous not-mentionable coloured paint, as well as the rather crude double glazed sash windows and other additions. The upper elevation could look spectacular if cleaned too, though if that unique colouring has developed over the years via the sandstone ‘rusting’ upon exposure, then it’s best to leave it alone.
A spectacular concealed floodlighting job could be done up there too.Was there no way DCC could enforce other improvements along with the sign development, given it’s a protected structure and the related nature of shopfront works?
26/8/2006
Well the latest addition to the Green’s varied stock is just nearing completion: Number 75 St. Stephen’s Green, otherwise known as the former Department of Justice – though goodness knows it did anything but justice to its prominent location on the historic south Green with its hideous black panelling and aluminium frames.
The basic concrete structure of that building has been retained by architects Burke Kennedy Doyle, but was completely gutted, reclad to the front, extended to the rear, and needless to say on top too:
It makes quite the shimmering statement amongst the cardigans of this lovely rambling side of the Green!
The set back storey is alas intrusive and ugly; setbacks never live up to the well proportioned ideal spouted in renderings:
I imagine you’d pay a lot more for a speculatively assembled site though, so it really can’t be used as an excuse, especially in such a prime area. Were it not for the brownfield or ‘contaminated’ factor, no doubt it’d have cost a heck of a lot more!
That is most interesting about the Boland wall having been entirely rebuilt – it didn’t look anything like the original wall depicted in the pictures but I couldn’t for the life of me imagine why! The pointing and orangey brick used is completely different to the orginal; lacking in character and interest 🙁
Some fancy pictures of the new look Royal Dublin Hotel by Ashlin Coleman Architects, which received planning permission two years ago:
Also the new convent building by MCO Architects on the Mater site, as linked above:
It’s largely an attractive and restful building, especially up close where you get to appreciate the fine grain of the timber and white brick, but as the Times article mentions, it does create something of a brick valley along the NCR with the ghastly prison wall opposite – at least it is due to disappear in the medium term. Also though, if you’re not up close to the convent to observe the detail, at a glance it does look like an ugly 70s medical extension – the kind you expect to be demolished at any moment.
However it is so striking that you’d have to be blind not to quickly realise it is so much more than that. Elegant detailing, a striking juxtapositioning with the brooding bulk of the Mater behind, and the soft leafy setting make it a pleasure to observe amongst the hidoous buildings of the rest of the Mater complex.
New-build convent faithful to ideal of sustainability
17/6/2006A convent building near the Mater Hospital in Dublin 7 shows how its owners, the Sisters of Mercy, have taken sustainable architecture to heart, writes Emma Cullinan
There’s a lot happening at the corner of Berkeley Road and North Circular Road, on Dublin’s northside, both in terms of construction and commotion.Traffic roars along the ring road and the pavements are busy with pedestrians. To one side is the vast neo-Classical Mater Hospital and on the other is the interminable orange wall that is Mountjoy Women’s Prison.
Sitting on this corner is a quiet building, simply shaped, with a flat roof, that is to house some of the Sisters of Mercy nuns who recently moved out of the Mater hospital building, which they founded.
The new convent is by MCO Architects, which was established by Laura Magahy and Eve-Anne Cullinan. They were already running MCO Projects (a development management company) and were previously directors of the Temple Bar urban renewal project. One guiding ethos of the practice, which is headed up by architect Phillip Crowe, is sustainability, says Magahy (as it is with many other Irish architects, not least because EU law will require it) and that is something that the Sisters of Mercy share. “We are very concerned with conservation and all aspects of energy efficiency,” says Sister Margherita, who worked with the architects on behalf of those who use the building.
The convent’s 30 bedrooms are all naturally ventilated. Air is sucked in through vents in specially designed windows, from Finland, and up out through pretty steel stacks on the roof.
This is covered in sedum plants which soak up water, helping to prevent run-off and excessive drainage, and which also provides a verdurous view down onto the building from the hospital next door.
The downpipes are positioned within the building giving the overall structure a neater look than that afforded by the plastic drainpipes descending the building next door.
The palette of materials in this neat convent is uncomplicated and pleasing: mainly timber, steel and white brickwork. The architects chose white bricks because their research found them in some subsidiary buildings in Victorian times. If the Mater Hospital is the classically dressed grandparent, this new building is the hand-crafted contemporary handbag that accessorises it.
There is a logic to the fact that the northside of the building, facing the North Circular Road, has few windows in it: design that takes account of the elements often hunkers down against the north while opening its heart out to the sunny south, which this convent has done.
But at the moment the plain wall does create a brick valley of the North Circular Road, with Mountjoy Women Prison’s tangy edifice across the road. The planners required some expression on this side of the building, hence the kink where the walls steps out. The right-angle is filled with a stained glass window by Peadar Lamb, grandson of the painter Charles Lamb and great-great grandson of Ford Maddox Brown.
Art is important to the Sisters of Mercy, too, says Sister Margherita.
This stained-glass window filters colourful light from the east into the prayer room. This contemplation space also has views out to the northern “woodland” side of the garden with newly planted trees. The aim is that these trees will gradually mature to cover the wall.
Mature trees already on the site were shown the respect of having the building bend around them. On the south side of the convent, and at the entrance on the east aspect, are hunky timber structures that provide a warmth and softness to the building. Timber was chosen for its tactile quality and ease of maintenance.
This cedar is untreated, although the timber doors that accommodate the ventilation system are treated as they were bought in specially and that’s how they come. The timber structure to the southside provides balconies and walkways out from the bedrooms and a view from which to contemplate the garden planted by Mary Reynolds – Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner – who opts for natural, flowing planting schemes. She persuaded the architects to go for a lawn: “Which architects don’t usually like,” says project architect Gavin Wheatley. But, as he agrees, it works here.
As we stand in the pouring rain watching the water bounce off the glistening black tiles on the terrace, I can see why the nuns like their new home but Sister Margherita says that she wishes I’d seen it the day before, in the sun: “It was scintillating,” she says.
She’s happy with her new home which, despite its simplicity, she says has a luxury that she is rather embarrassed about. Certainly the interior, with its diningroom and communal facilities on one side of the L-shape and bedrooms and prayer room on the other, has that comfort of newly built institutional buildings. Yet it’s the scintillating aspects: the narrow west-facing sunroom off the dining and sitting rooms; the wooden walkways overlooking the garden, and the combination of natural materials and natural ventilation, that shows how it really shouldn’t be a big deal to slot a new building sensitively into a tight site. Such structures can have a pleasing presence and make their inhabitants happy.
Ha!
A bit closer to the 21st century, here’s the Crowne Plaza Hotel going up behind Carroll’s (sorry about low-res):
Hard to believe that this:
…will soon be this:
Even though it is 14 storeys, I imagine it won’t really stand out in the national height stakes, given hotel accommodation ceiling heights are barely more than the domestic eight feet.
