john white
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Does it look more impressive in reality than the photo suggests to me?
It looks pretty crap to my eyes.
John
I agree Paul. Shopfronts are probably the most endangered of all structures. Remember the Black & Chrome draper’s in Monaghan town?
There was a nice Black & Chrome place opposite Blackrock Clinic – was: It’s been destroyed.
Anybody here ever seen ‘Hick’ Butcher Shop in DunLaoghaire? Marvellous! From the terrazzo style conglomerate wall tiles to the great logo over the window. I hope they don’t wreck it in favour of the ‘Plywood and MDF old style’.
Yep, I suppose I should plug my nostrils, go in and compliment them on a fine looking shop [ignoring all the dead things in the window] and tell them to look after it.
Just in case they don’t know themselves.
Like a local shop? Go in and tell them.
John
Further to this conversation and my other posting about ‘Decoration’ and the lack of.
I love that ornate Venetian/byzantine style building in Dublin.
Which one? Try looking on Westmoreland Street. Where you wouldn’t expect and some wouldn’t even notice. The Amusement Arcade in the bottom of it is quite a distraction.
I wonder when they’ll demolish that?
John
A giant pair of green copper spectacles sticking, slightly buried up out of the ground.
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O‘Just hit me. I have no idea what it means.
JohnWell, actually in Dublin there are only one or two real traditional Irish pubs left. The Long Hall etc. They’re eclectic in style. With a natural incorporation of elements from different eras, Victorian, 50’s and 60’s etc. They haven’t been interfered with by people with ‘taste’. A great record of it’s voyage through the century.
We also have on the other hand – ironically, Irish Theme Pubs of our own. How ridiculous!
Totally artificial and twee.
Can we just keep the real ones please. We don’t need to retain the filth though!
Is there a preservation order on the filth and horrid smell in places like The International Bar and JJ Smyth’s?
“This ‘jacks’ contains traces of Brendan Behan’s Vomit. Do NOT clean. By order Dublin Corporation. Fine £500 and forcible admission to ‘Zanzibar’ pub.”
About time. Bravo!
I had expected it to be demolished for years.
Aaahh, brings me back to Florence every time I see it. Those ‘Della Robbia’ inspired Ceramic reliefs are gorgeous. If you like them too – you can see more like it in the National Museum around the doorways AND there’s a a huge reproduction of a Della Robbia [only in painted plaster I think] upstairs at one end near the Egypt exhibit. How they got THAT back from Italy? Who knows!ALSO: In Collins Barracks there a florentine Bust of a young girl which is very Della Robbia in style [not ceramic though]. Funnily enough it’s dated very late. There’s 2 similar/replicas in The V&A in London dated earlier as I suspected,nearer mid 1500’s.
John
Busarus is about as perfect as you can find. It’s staggeringly beautiful.
I reminds me of something in movement – rather than being a corpulent heap just planted there.
I think you all know what nearby building I mean… But not the IFSC.
John
Well, actually a lot of those skilled workers didn’t do too badly in the old days.
A major problem these days is that everything has to be belted out as quickly as possible to make maximum profit for the people at the top. Quality suffers. The craftspeople suffer and lose interest.
I’m sure most of us know of the “I want it yesterday” crap.During the industrial revolution there was a revival of fanciful ornament – it was mass produced, cast in iron. They took it a bit far admittedly – factories in the mock style of the parthenon etc.
Sadly, hand created work is not feasible anymore for the mass market because capitalism has killed it.
As for masonry cleaning etc. Is it not possible to apply a protectice coating to buildings these days? One which will allow the stone to ventilate etc but be easy to clean without damage?
John
Perhaps modernism is a continuing experiment which thankfully leaves some beautiful, some academically interesting and some boringly sterile works behind it.
I don’t think it can be distilled much further can it? Perhaps when somebody places a white box about the size of a coffin in the centre of a site and says – “we’ve finally finished”. We can get back to using beautiful and interesting materials and designs.
Perhaps the time is right for Art Nouveau II.
John
Thanks Hugh. Hmmm… I wonder why the one in Venice was huge?
Read your article in The Times. Was you wasn’t it? About the Pevsner-ish guide to Churches? I enjoyed it. I think we need something similar here. At least.
Cheerio
JohnI think a major problem with Irish Architechture – or the lack of a style thereof is, superficial as it may sound, the lack of any decorative element in the designs.
Honestly, think about it – I have seriously considered it lately and may bore you with an essay on it soon – most of the work in this country is cheap, boring and lacking in decoration/ornamentation.
One of Busarus’ plusses is it’s coloured tiles, bizarre sea-shell/lasagne roofing [also on Liberty hall]. That’s a good start as far as I can see it toward creating a ‘national style’.
I don’t think ornanmentation need necessarily be superficial, just ‘stuck-on’. It also springs from basic architechtural engineering needs. Look at the wild ornamentation on Gothic cathedrals. For one thing the flying butresses become ornamental in themselves and also smaller details on the butresses such as those secondary pyramid/cone/steeples atop them. They are there as weights to stop the butresses themselves from collapsing and exploding outward. What did the architects do? Put a great cube lump of stone there? Nowadays they would – instead it evolved into a beautiful component of the structure in itself.
On the other hand, look at some of the steel frame buildings in the states. In these cases, ornamentation WAS stuck on without any structural need but it did follow an aesthetic idea/style. Does the style of the Chrysler building look merely ‘superficial’?
Also consider, Gaudi, the Art Nouveau house on Rue Rapp in Paris, Venetian Byzantine-Gothic Palaces….
Surely we can create our own National architectural style can’t we?
Is it simply a matter of expense and time constraints rather than lack of imagination and laziness? In a way, I hope so.
john – rambling again.
Nah, I reckon it’s revolting. All I can say in it’s favour is that I like he green tiles and pillars a la Liberty Hall and Busarus – big deal, and that the roof line has an interesting shape. But I’d still like to see it demolished.
It’s really horrible.
John
Hi Paul C
Any chance you could put all this info into a graph? It’d be interesting to see.
ie: O’Connell Bridge house
Nominated: #
Defended: #Maybe it wouldn’t give a fair impression though. What d’you think?
John
Good man Rory!
I had a good laugh reading that. Wish I’d been on it. Unfortunately I’m entombed in the basement of the IFSC all day.
Well, actually just til the end of today as I’m leaving for a new job.
I’ll miss Busaras but on a positive note – I won’t have to suffer the Ulster Bank Pile anymore.
Whoo-hoo!John
Hi there
I stopped in at lunchtime. Are thoses 2 crude stainless steel vents on either side of the door new?
I was confused by the automatic doors at first and then realised they’d kept the originals.
As for inside: have they done it up recently? I didn’t notice but then, I’m not very familiar with the interior.
The staircase and columns are gorgeous. Walnut and maple? Haven’t they always been like that too?
I walked to it form the IFSC where I unfortuntely work [but not for long] and went from the back through the Elizabethan/Tudor style Leinster Market alleyway. Wonderful!
Returning I went past such horrors as:Hawkins House
Apollo House & Tara House [Tara Street]
The Ulster Bank buildingAmazing how standards have plummetted.
John
Would they really be classed as Art Nouveau?
I suppose there is an element of it. I’d say it probably spans the bridge between safe Victorian and shocking Art Nouveau then.
Yes, DunLaoghaire. Look at the tops of the main street buildings. Very unusual. They had extremely strict planning regulations in the town. Unfortunately some of it is lost.
Th shopping centre in the late 60’s was a terrible mistake. Check out the terracotta YMCA towards Walters Pub. Apparently the railings which curve downwards accross the road were adapted by a photographer who liked to have a good view of it. The Carnegie library [not sure of the style] is a perfect little gem. The fire Station is harder to find. Behind ‘Iceland’ Supermarket.
Yep, DunLaoghaire could be a real jewel with a bit of effort.
Instead they’re building more shopping centres.
John
