GrahamH
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Yes stickiness is still a problem. A bit further up on the smooth stone of the Plaza it’s very apparent at times when something has been spilled, but on a broader level the pavements can be sticky at times – usually when it’s sunny and the heat seems to bake the mixture of dirt and dust together that’s been trampled down into the surface of the stone paving.
It’s not nearly as common as it used to be though – leaps and bounds have been made in the cleasing of the street recently; there’s a non-stop cleaning programme now which is most impressive. You can’t walk down the street without encountering some form of maintenance going on.Ann Summer’s restored windows have just been unveiled – a mixture of timber sash and steel frames. They all look great. Difficult to say if the steels have been restored or fully replaced:
Watching them desperately throwing the store together in time for St. Patrick’s Day was a drama worthy of the national theatre round the corner 😀
At least the sign is temporary, if that could be considered any consolation…
How disgusting – the shopfront that is 😉
Otherwise I haven’t a notion as to what all the whinging is about – the standards in shopfront design have soared in recent times in Dublin. One need only look at the cool and contemporary lines of Carroll’s Irish Gifts’ latest addition to the city’s ever-burgeoning repertoire of striking new entrance fronts, this time on Talbot Street; its uber-sheek profile generated by knocked-together planks of plywood smothered in glaring white paint and finished off with the most delightful of decorative flourishes: a pair of MDF roundels.
There was an hilarious report on Nationwide during the week about a tradesman father building a house for his son – I dearly hope most people here weren’t watching for fear of a wave of heart failure rippling across the country. What exactly the point of the report was I haven’t quite figured out as yet, but it was so funny as to almost come across as a send-up of the one-off phenomenon. The subjects were the most perfect caricatures.
The house they were building was sited half way up a lightly sloping field, utterly devoid of so much as a twig of foliage, two storeys in height and ‘traditional’ in character, replete with PVC windows featuring plastic arches as a ‘decorative motif’, and a plastic conservatory. Everything that wasn’t plastic was concrete – there was barely a splinter of timber in the edifice outside of the roof trusses. The walls were concrete, the foundations were concrete, the floors and ceilings were concrete – even the staircase was cast concrete.
They then give a tour of the soon-to-be ‘luxury’ interior, with “the underfloor heating” and “the walk-in wardrobe” and “the kitchen yonits along here”.
And cringe-inducingly rounded off with the (apparent farmer) father-in-law who donated the ‘site’ saying “we hope the rest of the family will need sites; we can give them the sites. I have the land to provide them with sites and I think it’s a good thing they stay around, besides paying the money of €60-€100,000 for a site and then build on it – costly job building a house, to have to buy the site like”.Indeed.
Here it is below. Viewers should note this report contains distressing images from the very start:
These routes cannot rip up O’Connell Street, they just can’t 🙁
*puts fingers in ears* lalalalalala….Yes, all of that sums up the state of affairs on O’Connell Street rather well a boyle. The Council are relying on the knock-on effect of the public domain works to stimulate commerical activity, force undesirable uses off the street and encourage aesthetic improvements to properties – which is acceptable up to a point. But the lack of even basic maintenance on some of the most prominent buildings on the thoroughfare eight years after the IAP was published simply is not – this basic area more than anything requires immediate attention.
Regarding signage and uses, the extent to which the CC can enforce retrospective planning I’m not quite sure – perhaps others can enlighten us. Certainly the highly comprehensive Special Planning Control Scheme legislation appears to give the CC a lot of clout: “Where non-desirable uses continue to operate in a manner and form that detract from the quality and character of the street, the planning authority may seek to enter into negotiations with the relevant owner/occupier. In this regard and depending on the specific circumstances of each case, the planning authority may require the owners/occupiers to either implement a programme of works to eliminate the problems associated with such a use – or to cease operating the use.”
“may”? “may seek”?
Regarding the potential on O’Connell Street for lots of new retail, there is a problem. The units on the street are for the most part miniscule in size, arguably even smaller than other areas of the city thanks to the almost system-built post-1916/1922 reconstruction. Even Clerys cannot expand on the site they have without considerable difficulty. Only Fingal and Findlater offer any real potential in this respect, with the possibility perhaps for a unit amalgamation within Hammam Buildings also. It’d be great of more properties would make use of their first and second floors for retail – most are just dingy offices, storage or small service providers.
Agreed about the basements of Upper west – they’re in a bad way but are certainly worthy of retention. The problem with them is the manky concrete surround that most of them have, left exposed alongside the crisp new paving. If this can be dealt with, and the glass and iron? frames restored, a valauble part of the history of the Upper street can be retained. All of these basement panels are fascinating remnants of Gardiner’s fashionable housing that lined the Mall along here – exposed Georgian townhouse basements long filled in as the street gradually became more and more commercial; basements that still sit beneath what are often merely superficially altered original houses. No other part of the street has these lightwells save the odd one on Upper east, notably the magnificent Gresham concrete set edged in luxurious marble.
As late as 1900 you can still see most of the basements and railings still intact at street level:
The bare minimum of security personnel deployed for one of the most contentious events to happen in Dublin in recent times, and then 1,000 members of the force to contain the rampage of middle class parents and toddlers :rolleyes:. The reinforcements put in place for the parade are quite extraordinary: the Upper street has been completely cleared of materials and equipment – not a shred of building works left. All of the railings up there are also doubly reinforced for the day, with supporting ranks of rails linking the outer railings together in the middle every 5/6 metres:
Regarding the woeful JWT/Joe Walsh Tours corner hopefully some wheels are getting in motion as these men were surveying the corner just two weeks ago:
Have some more info on the corner buildings to post soon. But even above you can see the disgraceful state of the place, including the heritage shopfront just installed by Griffins who have taken over nearly every convenience store in the city centre. At least it’s marginally better than most of the rubbish we see nowadays.
Similarly the Come in and Visit sign is still alive and well (which surprising seems to date from the 1950s), as well as all the attendant crap of the JWT property. And of course the banned banner signs as popular as ever, and by no means confined to the Upper end.This is what Ulster Bank currently have to offer, concealing one of the thoroughfare’s finest and most prominent buildings just as international attention is brought to the street, and knowing full well it will have served its purpose by the time the authorities cop on to it and offer further time for its removal; receiving nothing but a slap on the wrist for their troubles.
Forget seats – the entrance lobby is the hottest place in town on Sunday morning.
Preferably near the 1930s raditator that makes strange gurgling sounds. Or maybe that’s all the stomachs from the night before.I wouldn’t be a fan of the two clunky pavilion wings either, but the main bow facade works exceedingly well and still looks very fresh I think.
Agreed that Bus
How interesting. Anyone know of any modern examples – older forms can be rather basic, such as these:
http://www.plumsite.com/fredgurner/pissoir.jpg
There was yet another little brick building further up on Eden Quay outside Liberty Hall. Perhaps an early public convenience:
And here is the shelter-style building in colour, clearly red brick with a pitched roof and what look like urns on the corners, and a slightly sharper view of the neighbouring little kiosk thingy and bank of telf
Indeed, though at least it isn’t as bad as it was a few years ago – the entire red brick facade was smothered in blue paint until about 1990! Unfortunately while they gave with one hand by stripping the paint, they also took with the other in choosing to insert aluminum windows in the upper floors 🙁
Kept meaning to post about the vacant plinth here – there used to be a clock as aj says, that was restored after 1916 in spite of nearly being smashed to pieces. I suspect many people over the years have wondered what used to be there waiting at the lights on the bridge :). Was particularly interested to read recently that this building used to be the premises of the famous clock and watch makers Chancellor and Son, which explains a lot!
You can see their clock here c1900:
Looking worse for wear in 1916:
And still in place, fully restored in the 1950s:
It was probably removed in the 1970s when the blue paint went up and when the very top aluminium windows went in. White aluminum or early PVC was then installed around the time the paint was stripped off :rolleyes:
The metal plates or coloured render now there are probably covering clock support holes in the brickwork.This is an historically important building on a number of levels, and stands on one of the most prominent sites in the city; it deserves better than its current decrepit condition. As can be seen below, the facade is stapled with a crude rusting steel, the windows are in an appalling state including the comparitively rare surviving two-over-two upper sashes on the second floor, there’s general clutter tacked all over the place, inappropriate metal and plastic windows, and of course a vacant plinth.
The fact that it used to be a clock factory is fascinating enough in itself, but the fact that the facade is peppered with bullet holes makes it all the more interesting (pot-shots being at the clock from the river?), as is the possibility that some of the brickwork may be the only exposed brick of the Wide Streets Commission left on the entire street. The building also retains the character of the WSC development, as well as stands as one of very few Victorians to have survived 1916, 1922 and the 1970s and 1980s.
It is also an iconic building – who doesn’t know that distinctive gable, and weather vane and wind compass?
Not sure either of them work any more either 🙁
It’s time to get things rolling on that entire crucial Lower O’Connell Street-Bachelors Walk corner.
To get a new clock made would be an important part of that; you can never have enough accurate clocks in a city, especially on a site with such a vast captive audience.This is an interesting topic. I too often look at everything going up at the minute and wonder about mainly retail buildings such as shopping centres and out-of-town ‘retail parks’ and how long all of that synthetic cladding they use is going to last. There’s a great variety of cladding on these buildings, but generally it’s a metal composite of one sort of another, with huge panels of it attached onto concrete walls.
More architectural forms of it are also used in a more design-led fashion, such as the recently completed Ilac Centre facade. Will any of those joints last more than 20 years?
Good question about the lifespan of exposed reinforced concrete…Ah yes – here they are in the late 1930s.
I remember reading somewhere that the Ladies were located underground for whatever reason (to the extreme left), with the Mens safely in view above ground in that 30s-looking building (indeed looking at the pic you can just make out the Ladies sign on the railing there).Why not build both above ground – very strange that they were separated to that degree :confused:
The design of the Ladies is also weird – surrounded by intimidating rusticated granite blocks by the looks of it, topped with railings and globed lamp standards presumably to heighten security. All overly complicated, they make for fascinating pieces of urban history 🙂😀
@Paul Clerkin wrote:
A headsup…
http://www.irish-architecture.com/events/data/1139202212.html
Alas this tour has been cancelled. However a day long tour of the Louth area by the IGS takes place on Saturday the 29th of April. Members of the public pay an additional charge.
When were these toilets built does anyone know – they seem to have 80s tiling but surely they’re earlier than that? Were College Street and Upper and Lower O’Connell Street the only underground ones to be built?
Strange this is brought up as only today I was observing the Lower mushrooms still in place behind O’Connell Monument – it would appear the toilets are still down there…How would reopening College Street this time round avoid the eh, ‘issues’ of the past?
The little weather station on the site is fun 🙂That black and white frieze photo Bago is just one I happened upon on the internet; it depicts the building of a state capitol building in the US in 1907. Just thought it was humourously similar – well, at the time anyway…
It appears to be the Royal Standard alright in the tympanum – here it is in April 1916:
It seems to have been removed in the 1924-29 rebuilding.
It could be argued that it was revisionist even to remove it in the first place in the late 1920s. I wouldn’t suggest that something ‘reactionarily’ be put in its place just for the sake of replacing a sculpture that was there before, and yes the removal of the Standard is indeed part of the building’s history. But equally so would be the reinsertion of a sculpture commissioned by a more confident nation, a nation very different to that of the dour 1920s, that would take into account the prominent nature of the building and everything it has now come to represent – essentially the symbolism of the State is now completely wrapped up in the place. I think it would be a nice gesture to more manifestly represent that with a newly commissioned piece.
Also it is not a case of crassly supplanting British symbolism with that of the Republic: the GPO has always been a people’s building since the day it opened its doors nearly 200 years ago, not a powerful remnant of British imperialism as was traditionally the case with other state buildings.
There was a more a stately quality to the building with the crest in place – though that could just be the fluffy rose-tint of sepia 🙂
Agreed about the building generally though – it’s not exactly the prettiest thing going, but then that heaviness was the style of the age. And the portico was built to be more of a feature of the street rather than of the building, so its sturdy character doesn’t fit that well with the rest of the rather austere wings. Perhaps that’s its biggest problem – there’s a number of elements that work very well on their own like the lovely incised clean cut upper windows, the texture of the lower rustication, the portico, the heavy cornice and balustrade – but all of which do not gel very well together, creating something of an awkward building.
Still, the almost hidden wall to the rear of the portico is still its finest feature I think. The marching arched windows and alternating pilasters look stunning at a raking angle, particularly evident on an overcast day when no shadows are being thrown about. There’s little else similar Regency-style architecture in the city 🙁
Also the overdoor bronze plaques:
And not forgetting those perched 50 feet above the street, all of the statues have received treatment too.
Fidelity:
Mercury:
And of course the grand old lady herself:
The gilded features are a nice touch, perhaps a 1920s innovation…
Top marks to An Post and contractors, a job exceedingly well done – detailed, thorough and sensitive – and in a fairly short space of time too. Coupled with the comprehensive interior works, it’s a timely project coinciding with the completion of the public domain outside. The icing on the cake would be a commitment to maintenance – keeping the external brassware in good an order as the interior brass detailing on the counter screens (which always looks great), repainting every few years where necessary, regular replacing of floodlighting bulbs when they eventually come on stream, and upkeep of the bases of the columns and bollards which can get very dirty.
If there is one thing that is perhaps still left to be dealt with, it is the vacant space in the pediment who’s barefaced blocks do not sit well with the decorous nature of the portico below. Maybe a new piece could be commissioned for 2016 in place for the former Royal Coat of Arms?
To have the building looking so good really does the Plaza justice, and vice versa. The mellowed stone adds a real warmth and texture to the space in the evenings too:
Finally having the GPO back again is wonderful; O’Connell Street felt so empty without it. It is such a strong building, holding a reassuring, almost protective presence in the heart of the city that is impossible to imagine Dublin without it.
The bone white Portland stone with patches of gold in places has a luxurious quality…
…especially sited next to the glittering rough granite of the flanking walls and lower rustication which features the odd beautiful rusty brick which wasn’t evident previously, and most of which is the original 1818 stone. It is now very easy to spot the 1924-29 replacement blocks, especially on Henry Street.
The ceiling of the portico looks stunning in fresh cream paint – all of the key scrolling is still very evident in spite of the absence of the former contrasting colours:
Ranks and ranks of outdoor electrical sockets have been installed all of the way along up there – presumably for Christmas decorations. There’s also other boxes perhaps intended for floodlighting. As yet there are no floods anywhere on the building. The big bronze lanterns over the central windows have also to be reinstalled, as well as the central clock.
Pity they weren’t painted cream too. You can also see discreet new brackets there to be used for suspending banners between the columns.
The strange plaques that possibly used to be clocks (displaying times in different parts of the country?) look great now that they’ve been cleaned and painted a vivid blue:
Every little detail of the building has received attention – the doors in particular look wonderful re-stained a deep brown and all of their brass hardware highly polished, from the magnificent handles to the tiny little rosettes to the flanking signs – all carefully treated:
