Was It For This?

at

This afternoon.

Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2

The site of Boland’s Mill; future home of Google (boo, hiss) and former base of the 3rd battalion Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers during hostilities in 1916 (Mmmf).

Dublin City Council has a protected order notice on the the historic facade above.

But still.

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19 thoughts on “Was It For This?

  1. Ronan

    Great to see responsible corporate ownership of landmarks instead of local landlords letting sites succomb to the weather or mysterious fires.

    Preserve the facade and move on. Looks great. Lovely job being completed in Cork docklands presently too.

  2. Seamus

    One of the most oft repeated misconceptions about 1916. This is not the Bolands Mill that the rebels occupied. The rebels occupied Bolands Biscuits Mills which is where the Nama building now stands. There is a plaque on the Macken St side commemorating this fact.

    1. Cian

      Indeed. And Macken St was named after Peader Macken who was killed in Boland’s Bakery near that site.

      “The street was originally Great Clarence Street, named for William IV, the Sailor King, and immediate predecessor to his niece Queen Victoria. In 1923, Dublin Corporation renamed the street for Peader Macken, an ardent Gaelic revivalist and Labour alderman for the South Dock Ward. He attended the meeting at which the Easter Rising was planned but was killed by accident in the fighting at Boland’s”

  3. Joe Small

    I think you’ve got it wrong. Boland’s Bakery was the 1916 base, not Boland’s Mill. The Bakery site is now occupied by NAMA, which is a pity because it would’ve been good to preserve the building where Dev had his nervous breakdown in 1916 and left his men hanging high and dry.

    1. italia'90

      Is that where the saying, “better a live coward than a dead hero” comes from? ;)

  4. Reidman

    Pity such indignation was not evident when the place was abandoned to graffiti and vandalism.

  5. Dr.Fart MD

    can’t get over the comments, all along the lines of “so what?” .. look at the image of what its going to look like, heckin gross! .. there’s loads of these rubbish looking buildings flinging up around town. They take from the rustic charm of Dublin. We are fortunate to have a city with such culture and history, and it’s been replaced with buildings you can find in literally any city in the world.

    1. Cian

      So what do you suggest?
      That we don’t build anything new ever again?
      That any new building must look like old buildings?

      and have you actually looked at half the old buildings here – they are mank.

      1. Dr.Fart MD

        no. we could build well designed buildings.. not this endless throng of rubbish outdated celtic tiger days gross lark. also, if you read the article it says they were ordered to keep the facade. they arent. there are some examples of new buildings that kept the facade, and they look great. (eg. on stephens green, the side nearest baggot st.)

        the reason these new buildings all look like 90s throwbacks, is because after the recession we lost all our young architects, they’ve flourished abroad and not returned, any who have, or any who have come up, are still underneath the old gaurd of oul lads with outdated tastes. ireland belongs to old dudes who are keeping the cycle of what they know in continuity. we wont see change in any aspect of this country until the next gen.

  6. Baz

    devalera hid behind a box of biscuits and then surrendered without firing his weapon – amazing stuff

    demolish it please

  7. Duke de La Rochefoucauld

    Was it for this?

    Yes it was. Demolish. Build fabulous glass towers. To hell with the begrudgers, whingers, and moaners. Ireland’s past has little to celebrate, it’s one long miserable story of misery and mediocre achievements.

  8. Rob_G

    I guess they are building apartments, office buildings, or some mix of the two – good news, in other words.

    1. Peter Dempsey

      The Left won’t be happy because:
      1. Office buildings means an influx of middle class professionals wearing suits.
      2. Apartments means landlords and landlords are evil.
      3. Developers make profits. Bank lends money and makes a profit. Estate agent firms makes money re the marketing and the valuation.

      1. Dr.Fart MD

        “the left” .. do ya hear yourself. plank.

        now let’s go thru your terrible points;
        1. that entire area is already middle class professionals. go down there literally any stage of the day and see for yourself. and “the left” has never said anything about it.
        2. they aren’t apartments, they’re google offices. read the article. It’s literally about 3 lines long.
        3. yea, this is pretty run-of-the-mill basic “ooh you lefties dont like capitalism” nonsense.

        so i think what you’re massively missing here, is that the historic facade was ordered to be kept in place and new building was to go behind it. But they’re ignoring it and ploughing on ahead with a pretty ugly building anyway. So even if you and people like you don’t care about aesthetics, or preserving historic buildings, a rule was put in place and it’s been broken. so go take your battle with “the left” somewhere else.

  9. rvs

    Historic or not, it’s a nice looking building.

    I don’t think it’s being demolished, but repaired and put to a good use.
    Or would you rather it fall down without maintenance?

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