A city of churches
Nowadays it can be quicker and cheaper
To take the plane to a more distant city in another country than the train to one close by.
I decided to go on a day trip to Cork, Ireland, as there are two return flights per day, on Saturdays, one early, one late. So let's walk down to Gate 51 in Terminal 3 for the short flight across the water. Cork, Irish name Corcaigh, population about 210,000, similar in size to Norwich, Lübeck or Birmingham Alabama
A city with attitude, said like Manchester to be the second city, but let's not use that word 'second', let's call it Ireland's southern capital. A cosmopolitan, European city: Welkom in de Volksrepubliek van Cork - Welcome to the People's Republic of Cork - someone wrote this in Dutch and another had a starker message: End Dublin rule in Cork. It had the tallest building in the Republic and may soon regain that title. The River Lee splits in two, giving many beautiful riverside vistas, more than in Dublin.
A city of churches - in the distance, St Finn Barre's Cathedral, and here's another and another and another - oh no it's not a church, it's Cork Courthouse. But in this channel, we focus mainly on the modern and on the way from the airport, from the bus you'll see this church of striking design by an architect who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright. We'll take a look at it later. A university city, full of young people, many from other countries. When I visited Cork as a small child I thought it was stuck in a time-warp, full of depressing old buildings, not like Manchester or London. Today that's all changed, and we're going to take a look at some of the new construction projects, as well as interesting examples of modern architecture in Cork. Our first example is Cork Airport old terminal, still there next to the impressive new terminal, which opened in 2006. Today, the old terminal looks dated and is now partially derelict, but in its day it was an icon of modernity.
It symbolised the excitement of air travel, the joy of no longer having to take the mailboat and being able to fly in a gleaming silver airliner to destinations across the sea. You can see that iconic modernist style control tower in old postcards after it appeared on the landscape of County Cork. It's like a smaller version of Manchester Airport old terminal building, built around the same time, a reminder of an earlier, pionieering age of aviation, a symbol of the emerging economic importance of the city of Cork in the 1960s. But there are plans to knock the old terminal down. I think that would be a mistake. Airport buildings are symbolic of changing times and prime examples of modern architecture. Dublin's 1939 terminal has been retained. Key parts of the old.
Cork Airport terminal could easily be incorporated into a new development. But in the near future this symbol of Cork's aviation heritage could be gone. I hope not. And so we walk back to the new terminal for the bus which takes us into the city centre. As in other cities, the docklands area is being redeveloped but Cork is at an earlier stage. It's like turning the clock back to how things were twenty years ago in Manchester. Hopefully here, they won't make the same mistakes. Horgan's Quay is an impressive new development with state of the art office buildings and apartments.
There's a hotel next to it and the main railway station is just next door. Architecturally significant older buildings are being retained in harmonious ways, for instance here, a new office structure sits on top of an older dockside building. That's Penrose Dock, designed by Wilson Architecture and next door is a protected structure.
I love the combination of old and new.
In the past an army of dock workers populated this area and it wasn't the first place you'd choose to visit. Today it is becoming a prime place to work, reside and spend leisure time. But cargo ships still come up the river and dock right here. One arrived just after I left.
The Dean Hotel is already completed and in use. It has an interesting wedge-shaped design, with balconies and roof gardens. It's also by Wilson Architects. The display boards proclaim: "Horgan's Quay, Cork. A new quayside location for working and living. Coming soon 302 new, modern apartments with riverfront views.". Some of the signs display literature rather than just sales info. Ireland is a cultured, literary place where, it's said, better English is spoken than in England.
I think I can vouch for that. Work on a new building with 325 apartments is about to begin. On the boards are aerial and ground-level visualisations. I think it's essential to give an impression of how a new development is going to look. The technology exists and on this project, they are doing it in style. I'm looking forward to seeing how Horgan's Quay looks when it's completed. So are these apartments and offices just a collection of bland, tacky boxes that add nothing to the city? I don't think so, but another question is: will these residential developments help to ease. Ireland's housing crisis, about which President Higgins gave a very outspoken speech in June 2022.
We're going to walk back across the river and on the south channel of the River Lee where there is this interesting contemprary building incorporating an older facade. The new building appears to hold and protect the older building, not to be the reason for its destruction, as in other places. And just next door on Albert Quay on the former Sextant site is the location of a planned 16 storey office tower which will be the tallest in Cork. It will incorporate a plaza and redeveloped former railway buildings. Just a short distance to the south is the Elysian, that's E-L-Y-S-I-A-N, the first tall building in Cork and for a few years, the tallest building in Ireland. It's an impressive tower with excellent design qualities. Look at those sharp corners with windows on both sides. The building is interesting and varied.
The tower has 17 floors and is 68 metres high, not quite the unofficial minimum skyscraper height of 100m but tall by Irish standards. It was designed by Wilson Architecture of Cork. Built in 2008, it dates from the 'Celtic Tiger' period which ended with the banking crash. For some time, it was mostly unlet, but eventually, recovery came and today it's fully occupied. In 2021, Ireland was the country with the highest growth rate in Europe (source Statista).
Inside there's a Japanese garden.
I'd love to see that and also
The view from the top of the tower.
It's been a trendsetter, but now more developments are in planning, including a controversial 34 storey 140 metre tower, which is set to be the tallest in Ireland.
We'll take a look at that later. The Elysian takes up a whole city block and like Manchester's Beetham tower, it's built on part of a former railway property, the Albert Quay terminus of the Cork, Bandon and South Coast railway, which closed in 1961. And next to the Elysian is the start of the Cork South Link road, the N27, which was built along that railway line and opened in 1985. We're going to walk to the west side of the city to visit a stunning art gallery completed in 2004. We'll look at some of the sights along the way. We pass Cork's venerable city hall built in 1931. Here's my sketch from my 2017 visit. There's a new extension to the rear sending a message that Cork is a city that's going places.
This 1960s office building looks unremarkable at first sight but it was the first modern office development in Cork. It was designed by. Frank Murphy. It's now being refurbished and so will continue to serve alongside newer buildings. Just across South Mall is this hotel. See how the new building is wrapped around the old one. This seems to be the Irish way of doing things. Retain the past as part of the new.
I like it. On the south bank of the south channel of the River Lee is the impressive MTU Cork School of Music. And facing it is this construction project. A new Premier Inn hotel will be combined with protected structures which are to be restored. Another example of the fusing of old and new. Next to the imposing Christ Church are the studios of RTÉ in Cork. They are housed in the art deco-style former Gas Company building. The studios moved here in 1995.
Cork is a city of bridges including the three hundred year old South. Gate Bridge. We'll look at a contemporary one in a while. We pass Saint Finn Barre's Cathedral. With its three spires it reminds me of the Sanctuary in. Lourdes, in France, though this cathedral is Church of Ireland not Roman Catholic. We are not far from the Glucksman Gallery and can admire some of the hillside views that give Cork its unique character. On the university campus, close to the river, set in trees and greenery is the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, an award-winning building designed by O'Donnell and Tuomey Architects and opened in 2004.
It's restrained but also exciting.
The floors are supported in the middle
By a central structure.
The underside cantilevers out above the greenery making it appear to hover above the gorund. There are impressive angles, shapes and textures to thes building. From every angle it's interesting, especially from below. Inside, it provides a unique space for art, with its curving walls and empty floors. The sequence of rooms follows naturally as you ascend, in an anti-clockwise direction through the building, which has seven floors. Inventively shaped windows connect with the trees, grass, shrubbery and city views outside.
It has received many awards including a UK Civic Trust award, an RIBA award and was shortlisted for the 2005 Stirling Prize. And I'm very please to give it the very coveted AidanEyewitness award too. The Glucksman Gallery is superb and I'd like to see it at different times of year including winter when there are no leaves on the trees. It was named after its benefactor, Wall St. financier Lewis Glucksman of the company widely known as Lehman Brothers. Just nearby I found this very interesting footbridge, also designed by O'Donnell and. Tuomey Architects and opened in 2008. It too nestles into its natural environment, including the south channel of the River Lee.
We are now heading back into the city centre. Welcome to Cork in Ukrainian and Irish. Now that's a play on words - Páirc Ui Chaoimh or 'keev' is Cork's Gaelic games stadium. Corkonians have their own brand of humour. Opposite this hotel on the south channel of the Lee, there's a new development of student residences. Cork is a city with a distinguished university and other third level institutions and of course, it's full of students. I love this Kino, German for cinema. It could be in Berlin.
This is the court building, which looks very much like St Mary's Dominican church not far away on the main River Lee. We pass two more churches, yes, that is a church and then we're on St Patrick's Street. A sign points to An. Margadh Sasanach, the English Market, where Queen Elizabeth visited on her official visit in 2011. St Patrick's Street looks classy and has echoes of Dublin's main street, O'Connell St, though this one is curved while the one in Dublin is straight. They like to do things differently here. Both have a statue in the middle. Turning 180 degrees, we can see the view up St Patrick's Hill.
Cork has lots of bike lanes but due to the terrain, an e-bike would be useful here. Now let's look at another future project. It's called The Prism - that's P-R-I-S-M, an innovative glass tower inspired by the Flatiron building in New York. It's definitely going to change the character of this area, just next to Cork bus station with the tent like-roof in the lower right. Architects are Reddy Architecture + Urbanism. The Prism is due to be completed in August 2023. It's 15 storeys high, and the project will provide nearly 6.000 square metres of office space on a site of just 300 square metres. But a much taller tower is planned and it's set to become Ireland's tallest building.
140 metres high with 34 storeys, conservation groups opposed it but the city council approved it with conditions. Will it become a prestigious new icon of Ireland and it's southern capital, or a white elephant like Pyongyang's Ryugyong Hotel? So it's time to head back to the airport and on the way, we'll stop off look at that very striking church we saw earlier. It's the Church of Christ the King, designed by Chicago-born architect Francis Barry Byrne, who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright at his Oak Park studios. Opened on the 25th of October 1931, it was the first church in Ireland to be built out of reinforced concrete. And it really does feel like concrete, with a rough, hard consistuency. I've never seen a church like this before, with a design that's so art deco influenced. You have to walk around it to understand its shape and form, another interesting aspect of the church. Inside it's big and wide, with no pillars as in more traditional churches.
There's space for over 1200 worshippers. Time to pause for a moment, light - or switch on candle - and give a donation for the upkeep of this remarkable place of worship. Ireland can be architecturally surprising, with groundbreaking examples of modern architecture where you least expect to find them. It's a pity that most tourists miss out on these gems but remember, AidanEyewitness takes you off the traditional tourist route to the parts of the city guides don't reach! We will hop on the next bus now to the airport now. It uses the southern link road, built interestingly along the former Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway, another example of the transition from old to new. We're back at Cork's impressive contemporary style airport terminal where to get through the security checkpoint I had to wait a total of two and a half minutes. No nightmarish queues here, as in Dublin. Cork, a city of beautiful river vistas, set in spectacular terrain, with superb buildings old and new, a lively, European-style regional capital with an independent spirit, a venerable past and and architectural future that looks to be interesting.