GrahamH
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An excellent report – though it doesn’t take into account that the newer PVC product coming on the market now seems to be much more durable than that of even five years ago – seemingly having a life far beyond the average of 20 years stated.
And didn’t you youself Monty say that 60 years is now not an unrealistic lifespan for PVC – the very same life as stated for timber in the report?!One shiver-inducing point made though is particularly pertinent to Ireland – one can only imagine the waste mountain of PVC we’re going to be facing in 20 years+. Literally every single one of the 80% of homes being fitted with PVC in the past goodness knows how many years, and at present, plus 90% all the tens of thousands of houses ‘getting the windows done’ as we speak are going to need their windows replacing at roughly the same time…:eek:
What the heck are we going to do with it all?!Will regulations have come into effect by then?
😀
Are you sure Peter that just mountain ash are planned for the Upper stretch and no birch? It is because of this that I thought the birch might be going on the Lower end, and the fact that they weren’t planted behind O’Connell Monument either – why was this?!
Also, not so long after the birches were planted, I passed by contractors with a new birch in a sack ready to be planted as if one of the new birches put in was to be replaced…There’s just something rather fishy about them overall, and I think they’re completely inappropriate for the median, especially mixed with the mountain ash where they look a complete mess when flowering.
Agreed they’re beautiful trees, always been a fan too (to the extent that they’re much nicer than the ash), but not of the use they’ve been put to.
Even if they were used lining the side pavements, but not chucked in amongst others on the median.Second that 😀
I nominate the two above posters as a duo for best thread destroyers
Hey! I gingerly linked it back to the thread topic didn’t I?
Anyway he started it.
Or a couple of tins of Sadolin 🙂
I think the contrast between the marble and limestone is very striking.The one detail that surprises me most is the copper detailing that looks like a blanket
Yes, the fact that Parnell had a blanky will be quite a revelation to most people 😀
There must be so many traffic planners just itching to move the Parnell Monument – it has to be one of the biggest obstructions in the city.
But from a non-traffic perspective it is also one of the most perfectly sited monuments, standing at the confluence of a number of major arteries, as well as perfectly tying in with the O’Connell St median of statues.
I like the way it is in a world of its own up there – standing proud in the midst of everything going on around.As Devin pointed out before, the seemingly original cobbles and swirls of granite are a lovely feature:
…with circles too:
And here they are in 1911 seemingly being laid!
It is perhaps the iconic nature of the monument which is most impressive; this classic 1916 image being most memorable:
And 1911 with the planes a nice size :), and Gilbeys evident…
Don’t you point that thing at me 🙂
Media Intervention
Perhaps not the biggest of all time ;), but thanks must go to Sue for her shocking weekend exposé.
Perhaps when he says London plane, he means Oriential plane.
Why the heck were those birches planted on the Lower median – is it intended to remove them?
Often wondered about this post below at the top of Parnell Square – there’s another what I think is an identical post at the junction outside the Bleeding Horse pub and Camden Court Hotel.
Anyone know if they’re original – being somewhat American in design, with vague influences of Art Nouveau…
Great link – at least we don’t have a disease battle to contend with, just keeping them pruned is trouble enough over here!
What American city is used at the top and close of the film ‘American Beauty’ with those distinctive avenues of grand trees?
Most certainly – they ‘make sense’ in their current context, but when that building goes up the whole atmosphere of the square will change from that of a market town to a city-to-be.
It is extraordinary that a town that is calling for city status has two-storey and single-storey buildings framing its central square (the single storeys on the proposed building’s site), and has a sprawling two-storey 1940s residential estate across the road! (in the background of above pic).
Il’l have to take a closer look at the highlighted buildings before making any judgement on them…
It’s important to acknowledge the strong Georgian and Victorian character behind the camera in the above pic:
…even if much is destroyed with PVC.
@Lotts wrote:
the good news is that the concrete paving is to be replaced with Irish granite.
You’d have to ask why bother – who’s going to be around to appreciate it? Ironically there won’t even be homeless people left to enjoy it, let alone court users.
Haven’t been able to get to Dublin in the past week to inspect the file, but surely AT with their planning expertise are down on this scheme like none other?
Lots of those gems about :rolleyes:
For those who don’t know the town well, the Court House is behind the camera, while the main street of the town, Clanbrassil St leads off to the right.
The Ulster Bank frames the entrance to this street and the right hand side of the square also:
…while the 70s? Arts Office/Tourist Information fills the side to the left in the above image – and not very well at that.
It was on this site that it was/is proposed to rebuild a substantial 19th century building from scratch – I’d say it’s dead in the water at this stage though.I blame you for this thread sw – you and your Pfortifying (geddit?) influences.
d_d_dallas wrote:Worst abuse of emoticons ]Not to mention best abuse of same 🙂
A rather dodgy scan here from the local paper ‘The Argus’ – had to delve through the recycling bin for this and now I’ve tinned bean sauce all over my hands, so appreciate it!
It shows the wider context of the building, including the neighbouring 19th century buildings clamped between it and the other less pleasing corner building that was reclad about six years ago.
The contrast between the new building and the little Victorian next door is cruel – not sure what can be done though.The corner is a bit busy to the far left as seen in Paul’s pic below – in another view I have of it it looks rather cluttered.
But overall I like it a lot, and it will have quite an impact on Market Square, no doubt about it – an area that is defined in the most part by 18th and 19th century buildings, and a not-so-old familar face in the glass reflection of the new building there 🙂The height is much more appropriate to the area than the appalling two-storey development that went up facing it a few years ago (also in reflection). Particularly like the corner grills, though the expansive lower glazing seems a bit much and may offer an either faceless corporate front to the square like the rendering, or look tatty with everything going on inside visible from the exterior.
A decent building overall though – and here’s hoping it will spur on the demolition of the terrible 70s rubbish to the rear just visible in the picture.
Interesting to note the vast difference between O’Donovan Rossa and Queen Maeve, considering they’d appeal to the same people by and large.
Agreed about James Joyce Eugen C. – and as was pointed out by ctesiphon on another thread, is as dangerous as hell when wet – nearly split myself to on it too, much to the delight of motorists sitting at the lights 😮
Enough to make me despise it even more so, only now for life.Here’s the base of the monument where you can perhaps best appreciate the newly cleaned polished granite. The bronze detailing is exceptional:
…especially evident here, look at that fringed cloth! :). The classical capital has always been a favourite for me:
This used to be illuminated by a white spotlight on the last 1988 heritage lamppost on the median – now I think an entire floodlighting is in order somehow…
Finally Father Matthew – wasn’t possible to get direct comparisions because of the building site in front, but the difference is stark all the same:
It was a complete revelation to most people (myself included) that the statue was of marble rather than the limestone of the base – a remarkable transformation! He was the grubbiest of all the statues on the street I think.
Here’s a (slightly over-exposed) wide of him, including the now-attractive blue-tinged plinth:
The facades behind look very fine too 🙂
But Rory the sun always shines in the happy world of Photoshop 🙂
Yes it’s that image that appealed greatly to me too – the grass flowing up to the river is a delightful notion, especially on a quay with one of the finest building stocks.
It’s extraordinary how the pedestrian in Dublin almost completely rules out the quays as a means of getting through the city – they are totally traffic dominated. Merchant’s Quay in particular has alwyas appealed to me as a quay to be closed off or restricted for traffic- it has a lovely old world charm that really comes though when the lights hold up the traffic way back at Grattan Bridge – there’s a hushed silence that hangs over the quay, that combined with the Four Courts view and the overhanging trees feels like a different city for a moment or two. And then the lights turn green…Some comparative pics here of the Parnell Monument – difficult to note the change objectively because the light is different. First up is a wide:
The major difference is the colour of the granite – it has turned from the original attractive rust colour to a dusty pink. I preferred the former have to say… Saying that, the highly polished surface wasn’t noticable before the cleaning, whereas now it is like glass.
A tighter shot here showing the ontrast in condition of Parnell himself; similar to O’Connell the statue is now jet black as opposed to a seaweed colour previously :). Ironically the lettering is now more difficult to read:
The upper part of the monument – from certain angles like this one it can appear paper thin due to the triangular shaft. Great chimneys on Parnell Square too:
The newly cleaned ox skulls:
…and the wonderfully crisp and elaborate classical swags:
I agree with you 100% on that count – the Christmas lights were a personal favourite too.
Emerging in the car from Nth Frederick St to the top of Parnell Square in the darkening evening light and seeing the O’Connell St lights stretching seemingly for miles into the distance is a memory I’ll never ever forget.
It was magical 🙂And on that issue, is the Upper stretch going to be hardwired for Christmas lights, especially after the silly blunder of the central Plaza trees?
It is more the flippancy with which this topic is often treated amongst to the pro-chainsaw side that inflates tensions about the trees more than anything else I think.
They are valid concerns that people have about mature trees being chopped down – trees that have taken 60-100 years to establish, that have become part of the streetscape, that help carve out an identity for a street like O’Connell Street’s trees, and have an architectural quality in themselves.But when one considers the list of ‘all the trees’ in Dublin city centre on Jimg’s thread that have been put forward for the chop, one must also consider that these are literally the only trees on the city’s main streets!
There’s a handful of them, and all are by and large inappropriate, either in scale, species or location.
It is not so much that ‘all trees must be chopped’, rather the exceptionally few that are there are all inapproriate and ought to be removed and/or replaced, in some cases renewed with a great many more such as on Westmoreland St.It was a sad day from an historical perspective to see the O’Connell Street planes go, most having stood on the median since c1903. And not only this, they were also the last explicitly tangible remnant of the straggling influences of Gardiner’s Mall’s existance, and the strange division that for so long divided Upper and Lower O’Connell St up until the 1960s & 70s.
It was also these trees that influenced the planting of the rest of the street in the 1960s (for good or evil :))As long as an ordered coherent scheme emerges in the upper works, I am all for the removal of these trees.
The planting scheme to the side pavements at least ought to be most impressive.
