GrahamH
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Yes, just left of centre at the top of the image there. You can catch a glimpse of them when walking between the Old Library and the Arts Block.
The Wide Streets Commission was a body of influential and ‘enlightened’ 🙂 individuals which had great power in dictating the shape of 18th century Dublin, and to a lesser degree the 19th century city – spanning from 1757 through till about 1849-51 or so (always forget the latter date).
Ah the North Star – probably the most damaged-by-replacement facade in the city, they are ghastly!
Here it is before they went in, with more lovely two-over-twos 🙁
Yes – almost like a rolling country estate 🙂
Often wanted to have a wander around the Provost’s tranquil gardens – must be the most desirable (and expensive) back yard in the country!Interesting to see the rear of the screen walls of the BoI – one of the most well-worn shams in the book I know, but never fails to fascinate all the same.
And look at how fine the BoI-to-Fleet stretch of buildings on Westmoreland St is without those trees – looks like they’re lining a street in Belfast!Your link LOB sums it up perfectly. This is a disgrace, not only because of the impact on the architecture of the building, but the symbolic and working importance that this entrance has. From victims making statements beneath the great portico, to families and friends gathering in the magnificent demilune space Gandon carved out behind, to citizens declaring victory or defeat in testing the Constitution, this space is often centre-stage in the workings of this building and the Irish judicial system.
The very idea of putting railings across here, let alone sealing off the entrance completely is a criminal offence in itself.
This entrance and this space, with people milling around the great columns is central to how the Four Courts operates. and is almost as iconic as the building itself.
Had Gandon’s plans been properly realised with a projecting temple-like portico it would hold even greater importance.Far too often our older buildings are being closed off and set in amber for tourists to snap at but not to touch. There is nothing sadder than structures railed up or entrances sealed off, especially a central, dominant entrance like the Four Courts.
This will, as mentioned in the link, become nothing more than dead space stuffed with crisp packets, cans and genrral litter, that regardless of homeless people will have to be regularly cleared out.I have great admiration for the OPW’s work, as most of us do, but how dare they even consider this.
It shows a blatent disregard for the building and the people who use it.…awkward silence…
😀
The St Stephen’s Green Centre has held up very well – it is often forgotton that it was the largest shopping centre in Ireland when completed 😮
(till the Square opened in 1990(?))The Green Centre has a high-spec interior and interest is injected into its layout with the ‘conservatory’ stores filling the ground floor, and the store type refreshingly changes as you move up the floors. But as pointed out before, the floor access arrangements never worked – often wondered if this was deliberate to force the customer to walk long distances to get to the stairs, window shopping in the process.
In terms of the stores, never been an attraction for me – dominated by female fashion and over-priced ‘niche’ stores on the lower levels.
Agreed the new Kylemore space is very fine – and the seating that has always overlooked the Green looks amazing (though I’ve never gone over).
I’d hate to see the Green Centre ‘updated’ and recieve the straight line treatment. It is what it is, of its time, so just leave it alone.
Agreed the air-con needs updating, the Regency green panels would do with a facelift (bet it’ll be beige!), and the exterior steelwork needs repainting too – but that’s all.To be fair to t.scott too, he didn’t ask for people to take pics, rather just said it was useful when they were put up…
Yes the last time I saw the fountain working was at least two years ago with kids having fun running through it.
A shame – was there a problem with the gradients of something? Either way, it ought to have been sorted long ago.Just on the pavement cleaning issue, the Gaiety have a most impressive approach to cleaning: the whole pavement underneath the canopy, including the granite benches, is pressure washed down every single morning, usually between 8.30 and 9.00.
You can easily see the difference between ‘their’ area of pavement and the City Council’s!Yes it has great potential – it’s crucial that it loses its motorway-like status and is turned into a proper city street where pedestrians hold sway.
What a shame – especially as two-over-twos are quite rare in such quantities and are more elegant (I think) than one-over-ones. Look how awful those upper hinged-out parts are 🙁
Also a pity in light of the earlier repointing – what an excellent job.
A landmark Victorian building in Dundalk here – underwent a decent restoration in recent times, including brick conservation and the removal of a billboard to the side (shadow still evident), but these PVCs went in:
@StephenC wrote:
I can feel the arthritis in my neck as I strain to look up at them
Don’t even go there – don’t want to even think about it! 🙂
I’m still in complete awe of O’Connell Monument – I pass like a grinning eejit every time! 😮
The change is simply spectacular. Of course it’s simply not sustainable to be constantly cleaning these structures, which only makes even more significant just how lucky we are to see them all at their very best in this not even once-in-a-lifetime conservation job.And there is of course an equal charm of having lichen or verdigris stained monuments that show their age etc, which no doubt will emerge again over time, so we of this generation get the best of both worlds 🙂
It is prohibitively expensive compared with the vast quanities of stone (especially granite and slate) being extracted and exported from China, India and lower-paid European economies.
So much so that Irish stone, particularly marble from the west, now has to be marketed as something as a ‘niche’ product which is a shame.
Well here is the new building – as well as holding a similarity to the elegant London building Phil describes, it is also strikingly reminiscent of the Carroll’s building on Grand Parade from the western end of the street.
Ironically the most striking feature of the building is another building – the extordinary reflection of St Andrew’s in the facade, it’s HUGE in real life!
Looks very well from St Andrew’s (private :o) car park:
I don’t think it works very well from Grafton St though – rather bland, cold and lifeless; does little for the streetscape.
But from the top of Church Lane it looks great where it is given depth and life with the crisp stone or white concrete side elevation.The green tinted glass also perfectly matches the lovely 30s building’s windows next door 🙂 – ought to be kept this colour.
The stark contrast in materials and architecture between the two is also very effective.As Phil pointed out, not sure what the gap between the Ulster Bank and the new building is either…
That’s not very fair t.scott – there was extensive discussion and lots of images this time last year here:
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=3134&highlight=gaiety+centre
and more here too:
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=3338&highlight=gaiety+centre
There’s an effective search tool above.
Any more?! 🙂 At least this stretch can handle them.
Yes, as a route this new bridge is very welcome, esp if crossing from Connolly to Pearse. Crucially you also avoid the very pedestrian-unfriendly environment of the Matt Talbot/Custom House area – the route is nice and direct now.
Next on the list for improvements is Lombard St itself – what a distaster zone.
Ah those infamous lights 🙂
Well at least not all big trees are bad, look at what the trusty old quay planes are conspiring to do, heheheh…
Oy ctesiphon, leave Trinity alone! Those chimneys are a design classic 🙂
Agreed about the architecture, but this is what makes it so charming, unlike its pretentious colleagues who shall remain nameless…
You can’t remotely appreciate the whole West Front anywhere except from outside the HoL portico and then only barely, as a result of those trees. Even when you’re on College Green itself you barely even realise this is a large urban space because the trees just cloak everything – just a cluttered mess to wade your way through as safely as possible (though that is another issue).Certainly trees have a strong role to play in urban environments, esp in negating carbon damage, and sometimes large clumps are just nice for their shady comforting properties rather than just having marching architectural sticks everywhere, like the Moore trees – still in two minds about these cause I like them for the shady leafy reason (and their Christmas lights :)), but hate them for what they do to the BoI.
On the issue of pavement surfaces, the Dublinspirations report highlights very well the problem MT points out – the fact that unlike the robust rough Wicklow and Dalkey granite used to pave the capital’s streets in the past, this new white Portuguese and Chinese granite being put down everywhere needs to be constantly cleaned or else it quickly assumes a dull concrete appearance.
Notable particularly around the Green after a long spell of neglect – it looks awful, made more so by the levels of water running off the overhanging trees combining with city dust, or the huge amount of leaves in autumn that stain the surface.
O’Connell St is being regularly pressure washed at least, one night I passed it was being done at about 11.30!
As to the impact of all this washing on the stone I don’t know…Contrast this paving with the rust-tinged antique paving and kerbstones about the city centre – they never need cleaning save some litter clearing, and always look fantastic.
We need a hardline approach to littering in this country – community service should be doled out much more often as punishments. We also need more wardens; I’ve often seen litter wardens in regional towns, but never ever in Dublin!
Are they undercover or something?!WestMorland St 🙂 is part of the IAP area, but was given little attention as one might expect really in the O’Connell St IAP.
What little that was drawn up envisages D’Olier St lined with an avenue of trees along the edges of the existing/widened pavements, while Westmoreland St is more up in the air because of the Luas proposal. Presumably until this is sorted, little will happen on this street.
What was drawn up shows Luas using the eastern side of the thoroughfare with no trees here as a result, a large platform outside the Westin, and the western (Bewley’s) pavement widened with trees running along its edge, along with suggestions for coordinated street furniture etc.
Personally I’d like to see Westmoreland St maintaining its existing layout, but made into a grand avenue with a rigid planting of trees along widened pavements.
Assuming the Luas does not come this way, it could be one of the most successful avenues in Europe with its impressive dimensions, absolutely no clutter in the centre, and only the single break of Fleet St to disrupt things a little.Hi Kevin, agreed there is a certain biased view, but that tends to arise out of a lack of supporters on ‘the other side’ rather than a deliberate attempt to misrepresent things.
There is no doubting the low maintenance appeal of PVC – it can’t be denied how convenient it is. Likewise the 5-point locking systems are impressive security devices, I’ve seen quite a few in operation and there’s no doubting their effectiveness.
And as was pointed out the material is improving in aesthethic profile and finish, albeit slowly.But PVC is simply not appropriate in older buildings, not just ‘some’ but all older structures. It looks and feels wrong.
You make a good point about many of the issues being design problems, rather than PVC-specific problems, but PVC is by and large the main problem, accounting for the vast vast majority of the replacement market.I passed yet another delightful Victorian red brick only yesterday, in an Architectural Conservation Area or soon-to-be such, that has newly fitted PVC sashes that look utterly awful – not a design issue here, but a material one – PVC.
Even if it can be moulded to perfection, it is still not acceptable in any older building as a replacement material.
Timber is the established, traditional, vernacular material of these buildings in this country and ought to be respected and maintained as such.@J. Seerski wrote:
At the other end of Hardwicke Street, a terrace of three houses by Thomas Sherrard remain, with unsual doorcases and in generally poor condition – one to the right being rebuilt inappropriately. While the vista to St. George is amazing, this vista looking the other way should not be ignored, and given the unusual design, especially doorcases and granite string courses should be a priority in conservation of the area.
Is it this granite string course on the houses terminating the Hardwicke vista on Frederick St?
(attachment below)Yes some white floodlighting of the spire would be really magnificent, as you say from O’Connell St/Westmoreland St the view would be marvellous, but the real gem would be from Drumcondra as mentioned before where the whole spire rises perfectly centred between the avenue of trees of the main road – what an entrance to the city!
Improved lighting is badly needed across the north inner city – countless police surveys in the UK and elsewhere show how crime rates also fall in such conditions.
