GrahamH
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Aha – The Residence Question rears its contentious head again.
The huge amounts of money spent on upgrading Bertie’s home (and the T
Got this the other day if it’s of any help – from the Roches smoking area balcony on the fourth floor. Great views of the city from up there – pity it’s wasted on manky smokers:
That’s the 1960s part in question Maskhadov.
Great stuff J. Seerski – yes they’ve been pursuing a rigourous acquistion programme for some time now; every so often in the Property pages you’d read of another unit on Henry St being snapped up by them. It seems they own pretty much every building along Henry St at this stage.
I don’t really see the point of punching through to create a new street though – sure Liffey St is only about 5/6 units further up! And it will involve a demolition of a large part of their flagship 1990s extension, only finished 6 years ago! Also building a new street merely consumes what would otherwise be valuable floorspace :confused:
But the opportunities are great – that British high street rubbish on the corner of Henry/Liffey St can be demolished (ever notice how crappy UK High St heritage architecture seeps in over here via UK stores like H. Samuel and Pamela Scott and Clarks on Grafton St?), as well as make Liffey St into an actual street for once, and hopefully spur on the improvement of M&S across the way.
Also, if a street is to be built through, without a doubt it affords the best opportunity ever to reinstate the last two bays and end tower that were demolished from the original building, forming the perfect corner for a new street, while restoring the Victorian composition as originally built.
The Henry St area is already the best shopping location in Dublin – Grafton St/St. Stephen’s Green just cannot compete at this stage. Were Hodges Figgis and other good stores not on the southside, the place would have little at all to offer on the retail front.
A vastly upscaled Arnotts coupled with the new Roches, Penneys, Ilac, Jervis and potential Carlton development pulls one heck of a punch for the Northside.28/12/2005
Not to ‘compete’ with the other current Arnotts thread, but as it reminded me, it’s only logical I post here to in some way bring closure to this long-running saga 🙂
I can now confirm for definite, as was suggested earlier by some, that this is what what built at the turn of the last century:
A central tower flanked by two smaller terminating pavillions.
The IAA has a picture of Henry St prior to 1916 clearly showing the building above in all its glory, with the now-demolished right-hand tower standing in the distance.
The vast building as depicted on the bag, as everyone knew, never existed.It also explains why there are still interior decorative cast iron columns continuing into the 1960s part – as far a I can make out they run precisely to the depth that the terminating tower and extra bays would have extended to. Clearly they were demolished to make way for what is a mere curtain wall 🙁
Didn’t have time to check out the original ‘bag plans’ for the building – work for another day.
Only then will the Arnotts Mystery be truly solved…….Indeed – no surprises there.
What’s the purple material of the main front – painted render?
The multitude of materials and different design concepts clashes quite badly on that first gable viewpoint – looks like three different buildings tacked together, with the bricked elevation a gesture to the seemingly residential road to the rear, almost completely cancelling out any innovation or eccentric qualities the purple part has.Bit of a mess I think – and dull.
Though I’d have to say I thought exactly the opposite walking down there the other day under the Ilac canopy – what a monument to human failure that whole stretch is, built with such hope an optimism in the early 80s but now nothing but a decaying pile of grim concrete and grotty brickwork, the traders’ storage units a crude and unkempt backdrop to what could be a lively and pleasant market street. It’s only in hindsight you see that the workability of the Ilac in relation to Moore St depended almost entirely on the usual ‘blinding newness’ ploy – most of which wore away inside 5 minutes.
But yes, the marketing babble aside on the Arnotts proposals, it sounds like a very exciting scheme from an urban improvement perspective; it sounds like a great opportunity to finally address the hole in the bucket that is Liffey St Upper, and the deadness of Middle Abbey St – what could be two fine spaces, Abbey St in particular.
You’d wonder if Arnotts wanted Penneys too – what a foothold that would give them in the north city centre.
Indeed it’s possible they did, as a revamp of the whole BHS store as per Mary St was apparently planned two years ago now, but seems to have been put on hold…….Interesting about the acquisition of the Chapters building. It would be a shame to see it disappear – a decent shop where for once the staff know what they’re about 🙁
coooill!
What a clever idea! (if somewhat unorthodox :))
Very spooky, esp Stephen’s Green – creepy or what 😮
I’ve often wondered what the city would be like deserted, and if there was any time that you could actually experience it besides closures for parades etc – so clearly Christmas morning is it!
Might just wander in one year so: with all the shops closed too it must be like a ghost town…….
Dundalk in fact.
<— says it here 🙂
Good point – not to get into it, but I’m not living there because I’ve been ‘driven’ from Dublin, or a desire to live in a rural area.
I’d like to move back soon.How does it impact on the side elevation?
Whereas it’s no great shakes as a piece of civic architecture, it is a stand-alone building, with multiple elevations, a riverside positioning, and of a severe design suited to such isolation.A great pity it is to be invaded on like that. The corner park there proves especially pleasant with the side elevation as backdrop – especially as you come over the bridge or along the approaching quay.
Depressing indeed. You’d have to wonder if Dublin will eventually consume even the current commuter towns of Leinster, in the way it devoured the ancient villages and communities surrounding the city in the 19th century. What’s to stop it? Or rather who is going to stop it?
Whereas it’s unlikely to happen on anything like that scale, certainly a form of it is possible with one-offs and small isolated housing estates bridging the gaps between towns.The growth in the population of ‘inner Leinster’ in the stats there from 287,000 to 413,000 compared with a substantial decline in Dublin City is shocking, even if improving painfully in recent times. What a mess.
It’s bad enough getting through the streets without a tripod to carry, so no stand; rather I used equipment kindly supplied by DCC, namely bollards, lampposts, litter bins that really have to be smelled to be believed, and the odd 18th century wall 🙂
Curved Street’s lights are up all year round and can look good, but they could do with a bit of work at this stage….
On a few negatives, the lovely clear lights on the trees on College St were removed two years ago when the branches were ‘trimmed’, and have not been replaced – they used to look great. The College Green trees could do with some too, give them a purpose for once, as well as those on what is an exceptionally dark Westmoreland St.
Also the simple strings of lights on South Anne Street are missing this year, and a few other side streets don’t seem to have been bothered with either.
As for the three main trees bought by the CC for Grafton St and O’Connell St – again disappointingly poor.
The southern Grafton St tree at the Green end is the worst public Christmas tree I have ever seen – it is nothing but a giant weed. The notion that the CC actually paid someone for this is nothing short of embarrassing:
…and they know it, as it was dumped down at the southern end, while the more important College Green entrance got a decent tall slender specimen:
…though as can be seen, a large chunck of its (poorly strung) lights aren’t working.
The O’Connell St tree, in spite of being very large, looked half dead from the moment it went up. Last year’s was much nicer.
And as for those panto cast-offs of base hoardings they’ve been using since the 70s :rolleyes:I’d love to know how New York gets its lights like this – indeed even London’s lighting is as crappy as here, our trees bound in strings of lights like a roast joint.
Still, in spite of these faults (not forgetting the clumsy absence of lights on the centre limes on O’Cll St too), the amount of effort that goes into this every year on the part of DCC and traders has to be acknowledged. Every single one of the 30-40 lighting units on Henry St has to be mounted and connected by hand, every one of the c.20 Grafton St suspensions is erected, repaired in situ, and wired by specialist contractors, and every package of multiple sets of lights in each of the O’Connell St lime trees have to be put in and taken out every year – what a headache.
Not to mention the countless other streets.Likewise the Christmas trees, seemingly the sole responsibility of the City Council, take a heck of a lot of effort to get up and running (!):
Maintenance is also superb; you’ll note there isn’t a single non-operational bulb or unit on Henry Street, every one of the Plaza limes is operational, all streets have working units, and when a section fails it’s usually fixed within 2 days, often hours, having experienced these crews at work so many times over the years.
It seems the CC take over maintenance once the lights are erected – indeed their crew was even doing the rounds when some pics were taken, no doubt heading for the blown Grafton St unit in one image.
All effort that goes without praise or even notice by most people, and ought to be acknowledged.Still, the old favourites die hard, and as of last summer Christmas in Dublin will never quite be the same again. There’s over fifty empty chairs at the dinner table this year…
http://www.fantasyjackpalance.comThey were magic 🙁
Johnson’s Court. These are new this year and look stunning.
Brown Thomas, Grafton Street. The ever-decadent Christmas windows.
Georgian House, St. Stephen’s Green North. A well-known balcony.
Ardilaun Centre, St. Stephen’s Green West. Eircom do this every year now.
Wiers, Grafton Street. Very disappointing this year – the traditional line of bright white lights running around the shopfront and magnificent display of trees and lights mounted round the building have been ditched this year. Nothing but a few pathetic gels on what are permanent uplighters : (
Bank of Scotland, St. Stephen’s Green West.
Finally an icy Fusilier’s Arch, St. Stephen’s Green. If only it was snowing…
…and a more modest attempt on Moore Street 😀
The Westbury Hotel, Harry Street. True to form in the vulgarity stakes.
Plaza Lime Trees, O’Connell Street.
They look much better this year as the lights have just been roughly passed through the branches this time. Still rather faint though, and double the amount of lights is needed for a spectacular display.
Dublin City Christmas Tree, O’Connell Street.
It is a 20m Norway Spruce grown in Athy Co. Kildare, and is c.56 years old.
North Earl Street. Some of the last remaining aul ones: good to see they’re still with us. Nice and simple.
Clerys Department Store, O’Connell Street. The trees are very disappointing this year, in number, scale and lighting – and turn off those floods!
The Burlington Hotel, Upper Leeson Street.
Henry Street. The new lights look great, a worthy investment. Little blue lights flicker in them the odd time, really bringing them to life.
Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street.
Christmas Village, Wolfe Tone Park.
Royal College of Surgeons, St. Stephen’s Green West.
RT
York Street Flats, York Street 🙂
GPO Arcade, Henry Street/Princes Street.
Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, City Quay. A Dublin Christmas favourite.
Saloon Window, Provost’s House, Grafton Street.
Candles have been lit in all the upstairs windows – a lovely touch.
Grafton Street: the finest Christmas decorations in Ireland:
Yes, there’s comparitively few ‘pure glass’ facades in Dublin when one considers all development taking place out there. If anything, I would think the stone tile to be the definer of turn-of-the-century Dublin architecture.
Very few commercial buildings do not use thin stone cladding in one form or another, and many use it on a large scale. It being by no means confined to the capital, you see it right around the country too, and has gone surprisingly uncommented upon.The traditional cladding material has of course been brick, shrouding concrete structures, and by the nature of the material it’s generally accepted to be a facade, a cloaking surface, when used on a large scale.
By contrast, the modern-day use of stone tiles attempts to give the impression the stonework is the structure itself, and is not a mere cladding material. The use of deep-modelled walls, window reveals in particular, try to give the impression that it is the core superstructure on view in a way that brick never quite attempted so boldly.I find it an increasing boring, cheap and often lazy practice – build a concrete frame, and stick tiles all over it, like children applying squares of fancy paper with Pritstick to an ugly core of kitchen roll.
If done well it can be successful, but not when no attempt is evenmade to even disguise thin and poorly formed corners.Saying that, the new look former Dept of Justice on Stephen’s Green south is all glass:
Two parking bays as shown in the plans released last year are being installed – outside the Gresham Hotel and the Royal Dublin Hotel.
It is a shame that these will impact on the otherwise straight run of pavement and trees along the entire length of Upper O’Cll St west, and for most of Upper east.RDH
Gresham
It remains to be seen just what effect they will have.
Frank and James were promoting the book with Pat on the radio this morning – as predictable as clockwork 🙂
19 minutes long, it can be heard here if you scroll to 24.06:http://www.rte.ie/rams/radio/latest/Tue/rte-todaywithpatkenny.smil
(RealPlayer needed)Indeed, which highlights even more the need for less clutter in this hugely significant area. College Green over the next 10 years is going to be transformed beyond recognition in a fashion similar to O’Connell Street, which 1. makes it all the more disappointing that cables and poles are going to pass through this space, and 2. will make these additions so much more intrusive than they would be in the current haphazard streetscape.
As for ‘admitting’ to public transport having to pass through College Green eventually – what would I know about the transport needs of the city? By all accounts there may be a relative need to pass through College Green – all I’m saying is that the cable element simply hasn’t entered the radar of public disussion on Luas.
It reflects for me Irish people’s typical disregard for the built environment – the fact that a powered rail system doesn’t seem to have been given adequate consideration for use on the exceedingly short, not to mention virtually flat stretch of Dublin’s principal streets and arguably its finest public space in the form of College Green.In Bordeaux the French went out of their way to develop their system, not just copy it from elsewhere.
Similarly a no-wires policy has operated for the best part of a century in Washington, Manhattan Island, and even London originally, purely for environmental reasons; with some of the systems as with Bordeaux adopting cables once outside principal areas.And it’s a cop-out to say that Dublin is not an historic gem as other European cities, or that trying to eliminate cables is attempting to ‘preserve’ the city as a ‘museum’. For basic modern-day environmental/aesthetic reasons it ought to be seriously looked at. If nothing else, large floats will now have to be banned full stop from the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.
We could be leaders in developing alternative energy sources for LRT if the will was there, but it isn’t.
Which is no surprise.This is what’s being holding it back all this time isn’t it – a lack of funds for what is a fairly substantial capital project.
That’s a pity about the interior notjim – haven’t been in the gallery proper for a while now, but yes the scruffy front door is acceptably poor. This has been like this almost since day one. If it needs contant maintenance then so be it; first impressions mean everything.
