1964 – St. Stephen’s Green House, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin

Constructed on the site of the Magdalen Asylum on Lower Leeson Street after an architectural competition in 1960 – the assessors being Raymond McGrath, Alan Hope, and E.D. Buckley. The winning design was by Liam Boyle and Seamus Delaney, both housing architects at Dublin Corporation at the time. They set up in private practice on the strength of this commission for the Irish Sugar Company.

“The Assessors awarded first place to No. 41. This, in their opinion, is the best and simplest solution of a complex planning problem. The orientation of the single horizontal block, with its main frontages north and south, provides a very satisfactory link between Leeson-street and Earlsfort-terrace and would still be satisfactory if and when the excluded corner properties are redeveloped. This orientation would result in a minimum of street noise in the offices and the building takes full account of the prospects suggested in the conditions. Its brick gables are fitting terminations at the street frontages and general access is direct and uncomplicated.”

The building spans the corner between Lower Leeson Street and Earlsfort Terrace, looming over a couple of Georgian buildings on the corner to St. Stephen’s Green. During the early 1990s, two small office buildings were completed as part of a development to Earlsfort Terrace that masked the podium and reduced the building’s impact to the streetscape. The interior featured a lecture hall which has been refurbished as the Sugar Club.