GrahamH
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Yes, indeed might I respectfully ask in the earlier context of improving on LATSOCL if it is possible to post better resolution images here that those often going up. Considering it is such an image-rich thread, and effort and time is already put into scanning images, it’s not much more difficult to get a better res. Or invest in a better scanner, they’re only 50 quid in Aldi you know!
More often than not it is more irritating to have a poor quality image than no image at all. It’d improve the thread no end to have higher quality images.
Thanks.Oh go on then, here’s a smilie 🙂
Whereas I’d agree about decrepit environments attracting dirt and littering, this ought not to be offered as any sort of excuse for such behaviour.
Only yesterday I passed a young man walking along with an empty water bottle, and he went to the effort of bending down and making it stand upright on the ground against a wall and then walk off! Couldn’t even got to the lesser effort of putting it in one of the ample number of bins about (let alone recycling it at home).Also yesterday, in the sun lots of people were taking their lunch on the steps of the various monuments on O’Connell St – you should have seen the pile of plastic salad containers and paper and general crap left behind on Sir John Grey and no doubt on others during the day. I mean, how can anyone have such a mindset? Do they think it magically disappears when they walk away?
This is a year round problem in this location in particular – it irritates me so much at times that I gather up the stuff myself and find a bin, which only makes you feel worse for ‘giving in’ to picking up after other ignorant sods.It is a mindset, a pathetic culture, in this country that is at fault. Even if there isn’t a bin in sight there is still no excuse for such filthy practices. Until there is a culture shift here, albeit amongst a minority of people, we’re not going to see any real difference with littering.
I wouldn’t regard Dublin as having a particularly dirty centre, though you can come across some ‘off’ days when it does look pretty grimey. Summer seems to be the worse for such conditions, with so many people about, and so many eating and drinking outside. It can also be unpleasantly hot and dusty on such days, making the litter seem worse than it really is.
I was disappointed about the state of the Plaza on O’Cll St the other day, covered in cigarette butts and ‘juice’ stains – not it’s usual pristine self. A one-off hopefully.How many times has that image been dragged up? 🙂
Yes the taxis must go, but that is all. Interesting how everyone likes in here – the only place in the city centre with absolutely no service or retail attractions whatever, bar the Arts Centre – may be something implied in that…
The fact that people always say they like it and that it doesn’t feel like Dublin in the same sentence is also intriguing 😉Some seating in here would be lovely. Noted the other day in the sun how the bone white sheen is really beginning to wear off the Foster Place screen wall of the BoI now, a lot if it seemingly being dirt thrown up by the constant traffic going by.
Yes this is a good document – though Yvonne Wheelan’s is more extensive and offers a better context. Both works though could do with a little more detail about the structures themselves.
Sob – I can’t believe what you’ve just said emf, so they’re finally gone :(. Has to be welcomed in the context of the street as a whole of course, but it’s still a sad day.
Still a bit shell-shocked though, cause the images below were only taken yesterday with no knowledge of their impending demise! Spookily probably the last photographs ever taken of O’Connell Street’s London Plane Trees……….A view from the south:
From Parnell:
A view mid-way down the line:
And poignantly the straggling remains of the Christmas lights that so much delight to children and adults alike :(:
http://www.fantasyjackpalance.com
EDIT: Just seen weehamster’s pics on the Trees thread! 😮
I wonder were they chopped overnight/early morning?That latter image is so typical of Irish towns – decaying Georgian buildings fronting the main streets, with surface car-parking to the rears, sited on cleared gardens or back yards with mews buildings demolished – the only traces left being rubble stone walls flanking the sites featuring filled-in brick arches and remnants of internal walls protruding to the sides.
Interesting that the slates prevail even to the rear in Cork – they seem to have been ripped off the other/s 😡
Yes they are quite bizzare arches, what would they have been used for: carriage storage with accommodation above?
Agreed Shadow, apologies – though when you say ‘like so many other threads’, I’d argue that in fact exceptionally few decend into any frivolility.
Considering the apparently reasonable cost of architects, it is surprising more people don’t avail of their services, especially with one-off houses where the land acquisition and building costs usually fall far short of the value of the finished property – and even more especially in light of such buildings’ impact on the landscape.
The few Local Authorities that now publish guidelines is a start at least.Thanks for that Sue – good news that the developer seems to have a good track record.
Couple more images of the scaffolding:
…including some loosened stonework:
Yes, that’s what I get from the Boardwalk concept too. Were the images printed from An Taisce’s ‘Dublinspirations’ Jimg? As fanciful as some of them are, it still looks as natural as anything to have grass covering up the roadways and running right up to the quay walls!
Indeed :rolleyes:
The ludicrous state of affairs on Westmoreland Street in high summer.
And College Green today:
Fully agreed about Foster Place – funny how everyone has an affection for this place. It ought not to be touched with a bargepole.
Most impressive of all perhaps is the level detail originally sculpted, and how intact it still is today. It’s in pristine condition. Here’s some wonderful up-close details from the drum – this little fella’s my favourite 🙂
A rather pompous-looking man here:
And either a bishop representing the Church, or St Patrick 😀
The drum has always been my favourite feature, a lovely classical feature. It must have been painstaking cleaning all of the frieze figures, nearly 30 of them up there:
Just below is the Vitruvian scroll in all its crisp bronze glory – I always thought this was part of the stonework it was so dirty!
Here’s the magnificent level of detailing on Patriotism – the folds and pleating are so lifelike, and the finish is so rich and glossy as to border on indecency 😀
Finally to finish off, here’s what is really a trademark feature of the Monument, an olive wreath-adorned head of one of the Victories – this pic is of Fidelity. It perfectly reflects the Monument as a whole, the beauty of Foley’s design, the quality of execution, and one of the most splendid and worthy conservation projects in the city in recent times.
Congratulations Dublin City Council and Contractors!
Some of the dates are taken from Yvonne Wheelan’s insightful ‘The Iconography of Sackville Street/O’ Connell Street’
Now for the big one :). The work executed on O’Connell Monument is as magnificent as was the scale of the task in hand. It has been transformed beyond recognition, no exaggeration. If you weren’t overly familiar with its condition prior to the works, you can still see here how splendid it now is.
The limestone plinth now has a much warmer buttery glow, whilst every element of bronze now has a scandalously luscious silky black finish :D. Perhaps a little too much, but looks great all the same.Here’s a before and after of the winged Victory Fidelity and the drum in the background:
What a difference! The same can be said of the limestone – look at the change in its appearance!:
And a comparison of the Monument as a whole:
…followed by O’Connell himself – got some detritus running down his head already :(:
Not to treat the bridge issue as ‘covered’ or ‘cleared up’by changing topic, but I’ve some images here to get rid of :). It can be hard to avoid agenda setting due to the nature of the board, so just to say on my part at least – any change in topic isn’t an indication of something seemingly being ‘finished’ as it were!
Anyway, I finally got round to making up ‘before and after’ images of O’Connell Street’s monuments. The finished articles are quite simply sublime.
I held off saying anything about them till I got some pics, which in turn was dependent on my getting a new camera, with a ridiculously large 12x optical zoom. I was quite surprised how nobody but Greg in the interim commented on their finish – it is truly outstanding, especially O’Connell Monument, one of the best conservation jobs I have ever seen. But we’ll save that best part till last :).Just to say at the start, all ‘before’ images were taken on film in March of this year, whilst the ‘afters’ were taken, well, today, on digital so they have slightly crisper advantage. Some more later of Parnell and Fr Matthew and the Upper Street, but somehow I think these’ll do for now… 😮
So to begin with, here’s Sir John Gray before and after:
This image doesn’t do the change justice; the marble is bone white now, compared to a very dirty grey appearance beforehand. Arguably the most elegant statue on the street, it was unveiled in 1879.
A closer shot of the very fine detailing:
William Smith O’Brien next; the change more noticeable in this pic. I was never a fan of the tea-like stains on the granite plinth, unlike those of antique paving where they’re more suited 🙂 – so now I think it looks much better. Again the marble is now gleaming in the sun, an extraordinary change:
As we know, he was originally erected at the entrance to D’Olier St in 1870, but moved to O’Connell Street in 1929 to facilitate increasing volumes of traffic.
Here’s some detail:
Finally some views of them at their best at a raking angle:
Overall a magnificent job, especially Sir John Gray – he really has to be seen to be believed!
It could only happen in Ireland that the work of the IGS has in no small way contributed to the architectural travesties about the place…
A wing is an interesting concept sw101, though it’d have to be balanced out with another opposite – I’m thinking sunroom…conservatory…fairy cake…I’ll leave it up to youself the expert to decide, with your notions and gobbledegook.
However the frilly fascias must be replicated to the last detail; they’re specially imported from foreign I’ll have you know – Wrexham Industrial Estate’s finest.All the same there are surprisingly few trees on Dublin city centre streets, but agreed that what few there are are for the most part inappropriate. Often wondered as to to the logic or mindset of those who planted the Westmoreland St or Lower O’Cll St trees – they’re quite literally just plonked there because ‘there’s a bit of pavement free’ to stick em in!
Obviously they were planted as small young plants, but they were just left to their own devices thereafter, completely forgotton about.Agreed about Baggot Street – a very special place. This is a area people can bring their kids in 20 years time and say ‘this is what O’Connell Street used to be like’ :). Always reminds me of a mini version of the street.
They’re wonderfully architectural and define the space quite unlike any other street in the city.Another place trees work well for the most part is along the quays – bizarrely even in front of the Four Courts! You’d never in a million years plonk them outside the Custom House, but they suit the FCs down to the ground I think.
One of Dublin’s eternal anomalies…The key is to plan well, but also to follow through on the other side of things too, i.e. maintain them in the fashion intended.
I’m quite happy with my personally designed home – I’m not sure there’s a single thing to be done to improve on it.
Thanks all the same though.
It’s a broad question to ask, but roughly how much would an architect charge for designing an ‘average’ 4-bed 2000 sq ft house?
Is €45-50,000 about standard?Dave – when you open the image fully, right click it and go to Properties and copy that address. That way you are using the address of the large image rather than the small one.
Well here’s a rather sultry view of this stretch at dusk (sorry best I have):
The Ha’penny-Grattan stretch is longer, though admittedly not by very much. I don’t have an OS map with the Millenium Bridge on it so can’t compare!
Just personally I’ve always like the O’Connell-Butt stretch: it feels like a big pool of water trapped between the two bridges, with that nice curve into the distance – wouldn’t like to see it disrupted, especially considering the Boardwalk already makes quite a, eh – ‘statement’….There always seem to be a desire in cities to ‘conquer’ their rivers – within reason I think they ought to be left alone.
The Ha-penny to O’Connell stretch is perhaps the best example of a river ‘preserved’; it has never been tamed and nor should it.
Indeed probably the only reason it hasn’t is that there aren’t any major streets terminating at the river along this stretch…Seeing the location, the Marlborough stretch is probably capable of accommodating a bridge, but I for one wouldn’t like it, and the impact on O’Connell Bridge from the east is difficult to make out.
