Oh.
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Michael Smith writes:
Clery’s, a robust nineteenth-century building, is being demolished behind facade, as is revealed by daylight coming through the front. All that embodied energy junked. Why?
Previously: Behind The Clock
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Is it possible that the old building is energy inefficient? I know a lot of older houses are. Who knows what problems they uncovered when they started pulling stuff out.
I know the Press Up group have done some good renovation jobs like the Stella and that pub on Aungier street but their hospitality is dire.
Who knows what problems they uncovered when they started pulling staff out!
As shown in the link, the building has been gutted before.
https://www.historyireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/brief-history-of-clerys.jpg
Its hard to see how they could change the use as profoundly as they are doing without gutting the interior, which was of 1920s steel & concrete anyway.
Retaining the facade will hopefully be faithfully done.
Its the Holiday Inn 100m down the street that’s the real mystery. You’d never suspect that An Bord Planeala lies behind, on the same block
THAT is the ugliest building in Dublin by a very long way- how DCC and an Bord Planeala let that go up I will never know- we will be looking at it for the next 40 years before the wrecking ball will finally swing.
To be fair, the building that was there before the Holiday Inn was knocking it out of the park in the ugly stakes:
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3523021,-6.2614426,3a,75y,98.76h,97.22t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4S2Nkc48cw1PJwNDZQ-9PQ!2e0!5s20140501T000000!7i13312!8i6656
Delighted that so many of those 60’s monstrosities are being demolished in recent years
looks like the same building – but a new façade. look at the pillars at the bottom and the corner windows.
I agree the old version was really awful!
It is the same building with a new facade. The new one being a lesser evil but it’s still pretty terrible
Ah hadn’t realized it was just an updated version of that same building, good spot!
The staircase in Clerys was a thing of beauty, is it being salvaged and reinstated I wonder?
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/ten-fascinating-facts-about-clerys-1.2247766
Is that building not listed- and if not, why not?
The facade is protected as it was the only original part. The rest had been rebuilt in the 30’s and had changes made in the 60’s or 70’s
Was it original? Surely William Martin Murphy’s Imperial Hotel and Clery’s shop was demolished by British artillery in 1916 during the Rising? Or did it survive, then?
How are people only noticing this now? Demolition began months ago and it has only been a façade since well before Christmas. It’s a shame to see the building more or less gone. At least the façade will stop it being another glass condiment set.
So long as they keep the clock…
Yes; I have a personal and immediate interest in the clock.
The pictures of the finished plan that are up around the site have the clock in them.
Nice Gertrude Stein reference in the title.