Built in the historic Temple Bar district
Ireland, a country with a proud architectural Heritage
and thank goodness, that heritage has always been nurtured, cherished and protected by the powers that be.
Actually, it hasn't, as we'll see in this article focusing on Dublin's modern architectural highlights and horrors! Dublin often exudes a strong sense of the past as here on O'Connell Bridge, overlooked by three historic buildings but ah, but ah, what's this? This is O'Connell Bridge House, an office block built in 1965 on the site of the.
Carlisle building. This modernist-style tower was designed by Desmond Fitzgerald, brother of former taoiseach or Prime Minister Garret Fitzgerald. It's completely out of scale with its two neighbours
Why was it built? That's complicated - A horror? Many people think so, but others quite like it. I have mixed feelings, but maybe this will be seen as historic and worth saving in years to come? What about the other two? In the middle, late 19th century neo-Gothic, also out of character, but at least the one on the right is an original. No, it's not, it was built in 1983.
There was a plan to build a mirror image of O'Connell Bridge House - a horrific proposal - but it was rejected by An Bord Pleanála - the Irish planning board. The old building had been demolished and then had to be rebuilt, but it's just a pastiche. How could all this have happened? Well, keep watching for more planning shenanigans. Just down the river, for me, a modern highlight of Dublin - Liberty Hall, by architect Desmond Rea O'Kelly, 1965 Ireland's first skyscraper 59 metres, 16 storeys high. As a small child, I saw it as a beacon of modernity in a dull grey city weighed down by the past. But this building has not been cherished. Following a 1972 car bomb, it wasn't restored properly. Now with reflective glass, it lost its original translucent look.
Owners, trade union SIPTU wanted to demolish it and build a much taller tower, but that too was rejected by An Bord Pleanála. Today it looks uncherished. For me, it's as significant as the Seagram Building in New York. Horror? Some people think so but for me it's a highlight. I wish it could be restored to how I first saw it and I'd love to go to the top. Let's move on to Tara Street and Apollo House a horror from 1969, now demolished. This is what is going up on the site, a massive new development named College. Square with a 10 storey residential tower on top of an 11-storey office block, reaching 78.95m, 20 metres taller than poor old Liberty Hall.
All this is happening on the doorstep of the legendary Mulligan's, Poolbeg St, where James Joyce once drank. How things have changed since his day. At the other end of the site, Hawkins House, completed in 1964, designed by Sir Thomas Bennett, voted Dublin's worst building in 1998 on the Archiseek website and demolished 10 years later. This sick building, that's not a compliment, was once home to the Department of Health. On the other corner, I have fond memories of The. Screen Cinema from my time at nearby Trinity College. And now we move round the corner to Westmoreland Street and a building that was partly the inspiration for this article. One commenter on my Cork article described it as "an unclean and unnatural union surely 'sanctified' by Lucifer himself!".
I really do get some fantastic comments on my channel and I felt I need to feature that building. It's the former EBS building, now a training college, an amalgam of old and new, a narrow older building with modern glass facades on both sides. It's said the architects couldn't bear to demolish the middle bit, so they decided to keep it.
Symmetrical but not symmetrical.
The glass used to be mirrored. The old building housed a photographic studio, and a student, I once took a photo of myself in the glass with my old film camera. Is this really a horror? Was it better before, or should they have just sacrificed the old bit and made it into a pure glass box? The jury's out on that one, so please post a comment. There's another glass-skinned building across the river on Abbey Street, but with a much more interesting design.
I noticed it when it was under construction in 2017. It entirely encloses part of an old church. Within the building, there is a building, now protected forever from the elements. For me, a highlight. Now let's go on a tour of other prominent modern buildings, using photos I took for a previous feature I never published. Four interesting modern buildings lie within my alma mater, Trinity College Dublin. The Berkeley Library is a significant modern building that celebrated its 50th birthday in 2017. It was designed by the late Paul.
Koralek and opened in 1967. Definitely a highlight of Irish modern architecture. When I was at TCD studying Modern Languages, I used the library in the brutalist Arts Block, opened in 1977. This is where I hung out with my fellow students and remember hanging around here after their lunchtime concert, an up-and-coming new band named Oh yes, U2. Since I left, new buildings have appeared, including The Longroom Hub and a theatre named after the writer Samuel Beckett, who studied Modern Languages at Trinity from 1923 to 1927. It has a wooden exterior. The sloping roof makes it look medieval or even a fairytale house in the woods. It fits into the historic campus very well.
Definitely, a highlight and I must see the interior. Back out into the city now and on to the corner of Fenian St and Sandwith Street near Merrion Square is Archer's Garage. The original was built in 1946 and listed, but in 1999 it was illegally demolished. To avoid imprisonment and a fine, the developer built a facsimile. Not quite the same, but at least planning laws were being enforced. With its well-preserved rows of elegant Georgian terraced houses Merrion Square is magnificent, an Irish architectural highlight. At its eastern end, a street extends to the southeast with views towards the. Dublin mountains.
A succession of Georgian houses was built along its full length. And by the way, Georgian refers to the era of the four British kings of. German origin named George, that's the period from 1714 to the 1830s. That street, part of it named Fitzwilliam Street, is as significant as the terraces in Bath or Bath in southwest England. But what did they do in Dublin? They demolished some of them.
That happened in 1965.
In their place, a modern office block
Was built for ireland's.
Electricity Supply Board.
It was the work of controversial Dublin architect Sam Stephenson. This horror stood for five decades until The ESB needed new offices, but instead of recreating the original facades and correcting an architectural crime, they built quote 'interpretation' of the Georgian terraces. To me, this new construction just doesn't look right. They've tried to echo the originals, but, for instance, have not respected the design principle of diminishing window sizes. In my opinion, the original facades should have been rebuilt. It was an opportunity lost. Highlight or horror? I'd say neither. Now let's take a look at some round buildings - the Aviva Stadium, like a gigantic jellyfish-like alien spacecraft that flopped down into south Dublin, definitely a highlight.
It dwarfs the elegant single-storey houses on Havelock Square. Once considered modest family homes today you'd need a small fortune to buy one. Conveniently located a few steps from Google's offices, a structure once used to store poisonous, inflammable coal gas is now occupied high-value apartments. Another famous round building is the American Embassy, 42 Elgin Road Ballsbridge, opened in 1964, the year after President John F. Kennedy's final visit to Ireland. Over in the west of Dublin near the Phoenix Park, not far from Áras an Uachtaráin, that's the official residence of the Irish present, is another round building and it's a highlight, it's the Criminal Courts of Justice or Na Cúirteanna Breithiúnais Coiriúla - a superb windowless structure made of concrete, glass and wood.
Architect Peter McGovern, opened in 2010. Though not accessible to tourists, it has good Tripadvisor reviews, definitely the most stylish court in the land in which to get sent down! If you're walking along the river by the Guinness Brewery, you'll see a church steeple with a glass top lit up in sublime blue after dark.
This is the old St James Church, now the Pearse Lyons Distillery. This building next to Charlemont stop on the Luas tram network looks almost new, but it was built in 1964, formerly the offices of Carrolls cigarettes, then Irish Nationwide. Right now it's under renovation and will re-open as Two Grand Parade. Just nearby is the Zendesk building, very impressive when lit up at night with its beacon at the top. And now we come to Busáras, that's bus and áras, same word as before - means house or building, that's the central bus station, designed by Michael Scott, begun 1945, completed 1953, one of the first modernist-style transport facilities in Europe, and influenced by Le Corbusier. It has a beautiful concourse, like an airport, combines art and architecture and once contained a theatre. It was renovated around 2007 but like its neighbour Liberty Hall, it is not looking pristine. As a child, I loved this building and my dad was very enthusiastic about it too.
It's an architectural highlight and needs to be fully refurbished. And now we return to another creation of that controversial architect Sam Stephenson, who lived from 1933 to 2006. His Central Bank was controversial for many reasons. Built in the historic Temple Bar district - when it was still a quiet district - it required the demolition of some 18th century buildings. Also it was out of scale with its surroundings, it was built in a Brutalist architectural style and on top of all that, it turned out to be 30 feet or ten metres higher than was originally approved by Dublin Corporation, leading to many legal shenanigans. It opened in 1978. Seen from many angles it juts above the roofline. It remained controversial for its design, combining the aesthetics of a multi-storey car park with a nuclear power station.
When the Central Bank decided to move to the Docklands into a building featured on my Dublin Docklands article, the opportunity came up to renovate it.
With the passage of time, it has
Come to be regarded as a valuable structure than needs to be protected.
In my opinion, the refurbishment has brought out the best in the building. In front is the sculpture Crann an Oir - Tree of Gold by Éamonn O'Doherty. Once fully open, people will be able to go into the base to access restaurants and shops. The shape is iconic. If I straighten the verticals, we can see its true geometrical outline. Horror or highlight? In my estimation what started out as a horror has now become a highlight.
And so it's time to take the bus out to the airport. We can catch the 16 from the stop over on the right. On the way into the airport once stood this attractive country house but it had to make way for Terminal 2, which opened in 2010 another impressive piece of modern architecture. A bit further on is the old terminal building, now used for offices. It was constructed back in 1940 - during what's called in Ireland 'The Emergency'. Art deco, inspired by an ocean liner, designed by Desmond Fitzgerald, brother of Garret and it's without doubt a national architectural highlight. You'll see it from the skylink as you arrive or depart to destinations all over Europe and beyond. I hope you found this article interesting, maybe inspiring.