The old Savoy cinema was class

NachoBusiness · 20-03-2015 12:51am

OU812 wrote: »

Superman (the original 1978 movie) was only shown in the Adelphi in Dublin. Back then each cinema had exclusive agreements with distributors to screen specific films before they became what was called "Second run" whereby the print used in Dublin (or other large city), would be moved out to the country, this would be months later, sometimes the following year. Movies didn't play in each cinema like they do now.

I think someone said that to me before but have always associated that night with the Savoy but I guess because Adelphi 1 and Savoy 1 where large screens, as a child I wouldn't make a distinction. I think the last film I seen in the Adelphi was Back to the Future II or maybe Malcom X. The original Lighthouse Cinema was right next door at that time. Remember seeing My Own Private Idaho there.

Another great cinema was The Ambassador. Remember seeing Return of the Jedi there on a school trip. You could sit upstairs in the front row of the balcony, one of the only cinemas I was ever in that had a balcony.

Is there anyway to check records online to see which cinemas screened which films?

FalconGirl · 20-03-2015 12:55am

bb1234567 wrote: »

As an architect I avoid any threads about Dublins beautiful old buildings because reading them has me close to tears sometimes..Dublin was quite literally one of the most beautiful cities in the world for a time but the planners saw to that Its still a fine looking city, but what could have been...

Agree, I think with our rapidly rising population we should try any preserve what we have left of Dublin to the best of our ability and maybe try regenerate the docklands with a New Dublin with high rise buildings consisting of a CBD and good quality apartments.

Therefore we would in effect have a new city with the modern business districts and accommodation and the old city with all the retail, night-life and preserved charm of old Ireland. These concrete monstrosities don't age well!

Unfortunately in our brown envelope culture I don't think any thinking goes into this kind of thing.

buried · 20-03-2015 1:00am

FalconGirl wrote: »

Awful decisions by Dublin city planners over the years. The decision to plonk the new monstrosity that was ESB HQ in the middle of Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin in 1965 was arguably the worst of them all.

Fitzwilliam Street was the longest row of beautiful Georgian Houses in the world at the time. Absolutely criminal behaviour.

http://archiseek.com/2010/1965-esb-headquarters-fitzwilliam-street-dublin/

Its actually crazy when you think about it. Where were these "architects" being trained or schooled at that time to make them come to these kind of plans and conclusions? Does anybody know?

DoYouEvenLift · 20-03-2015 1:00am

Threads like this are fuking depressing. Limerick's streets used to be beautiful too and I'd imagine Cork and Galway also had some great architecture that got "updated". Don't know why they felt like these buildings suited the areas better than the originals.

Lapin · 20-03-2015 1:06am

FalconGirl wrote: »

Awful decisions by Dublin city planners over the years. The decision to plonk the new monstrosity that was ESB HQ in the middle of Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin in 1965 was arguably the worst of them all.

Fitzwilliam Street was the longest row of beautiful Georgian Houses in the world at the time. Absolutely criminal behaviour.

http://archiseek.com/2010/1965-esb-headquarters-fitzwilliam-street-dublin/

The ESB hired an 'expert' from the UK to give his professional opinion on the houses. A Sir John Summerson. His verdict - "It is merely one damned house after another.....”

And with that the fate of Fitzwilliam St was sealed. Neil Blaney as minister for Local Government signed the planning permission for the place.

Anytime I pass it by now I can't help but observe on how neatly the building is enveloped between brown buildings at either end.

Very apt.

Rough Sleeper · 20-03-2015 1:13am

Lapin wrote: »

The Theatre a Royal, Dublin c1910-30

Once one of the grandest theatres in Europe.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/social/M_TheatreRoyal_HawkinsSt_eas1700.html

Demolished for this piece of 'progress'.

http://archiseek.com/wp-content/gallery/ireland-buildings-dublin-south-t/screen_lge.jpg

Woah, that second thing there existed in post-millennial Dublin? It would have looked drab in 1960s Bucharest.

Eutow · 20-03-2015 1:14am

buried wrote: »

Its actually crazy when you think about it. Where were these "architects" being trained or schooled at that time to make them come to these kind of plans and conclusions? Does anybody know?

A lot of the Georgian houses became derelict slums housing tenements. Those in power, such as Fianna Failure, viewed them as a British thing and something to be got rid of, despite been built by Irishmen.

What makes the ESB thing even more annoying is the fact that they say their headquarters are too small and now have to move. The pointless destruction of the Georgian mile could have been avoided.

They could have been saved because a new law was passed not long after their destruction.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/esb-to-tear-down-dublin-block-that-ruined-georgian-mile-1.1558103

zom · 20-03-2015 1:20am

bb1234567 wrote: »

.Dublin was quite literally one of the most beautiful cities in the world

Pity we don't have that spiky mountain sourroundings like Hallstatt:
http://cdn.tourismontheedge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Hallstatt-Austria.jpg

medicine12345 · 20-03-2015 1:20am

Rough Sleeper wrote: »

Woah, that second thing there existed in post-millennial Dublin? It would have looked drab in 1960s Bucharest.

Its still in use now!

ROAAAR · 20-03-2015 1:23am

Lapin wrote: »

The Theatre a Royal, Dublin c1910-30

Once one of the grandest theatres in Europe.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/social/M_TheatreRoyal_HawkinsSt_eas1700.html

Demolished for this piece of 'progress'.

http://archiseek.com/wp-content/gallery/ireland-buildings-dublin-south-t/screen_lge.jpg

That is absolutely shocking. It's such a shame most new buildings are such an eyesore.

buried · 20-03-2015 1:25am

Eutow wrote: »

A lot of the Georgian houses became derelict slums housing tenements. Those in power, such as Fianna Failure, viewed them as a British thing and something to be got rid of, despite been built by Irishmen

I know all that Eutow , but where were these architects that designed these monstrosities being schooled at that time? They obviously believed that what they were designing at the time had some sort of societal benefit, where in actual reality there was none. But who taught them this?
That ESB den looks like the highrise flats that were built in Ballymun that did society no favours either. Where were these particular architects trained in the post war period that has resulted in these grim $hitholes? I'd love to know, because there was a lot of them. Not only in Ireland, but all over post war Europe, in general.

Wacker The Attacker · 20-03-2015 1:26am

jungleman wrote: »

Felt compelled to share these pictures, they are of the Savoy cinema on O' Connell St before they decided to make the cinema decidedly more bland. Has anyone here ever been to the Savoy when it was like this?

image hosting 12mb

img host

hosting image

I'd say those seats made the hand jobs feel better. Not much room for ATM though.

Filmer Paradise · 20-03-2015 1:30am

buried wrote: »

Its actually crazy when you think about it. Where were these "architects" being trained or schooled at that time to make them come to these kind of plans and conclusions? Does anybody know?

Fashions of the time. Planners with no vision of the future...etc.

Look at it like this. The '69 to '79 Ford Escort was a car that was everywhere back in the day. The world & his wife had one.

In the '90's they could be picked up for nothing.

Now. Get a 2-door one & it's worth thousands!

Fashions & what people want are the order of the day.

Littlekittylou · 20-03-2015 1:32am

NO THE CLASSIC!

Eutow · 20-03-2015 1:34am

buried wrote: »

I know all that Eutow , but where were these architects that designed these monstrosities being schooled at that time? They obviously believed that what they were designing at the time had some sort of societal benefit, where in actual reality there was none. But who taught them this?
That ESB den looks like the highrise flats that were built in Ballymun that did society no favours either. Where were these particular architects trained in the post war period that has resulted in these grim $hitholes? I'd love to know, because there was a lot of them.

Would love to know too. They should all be lynched. I like to see old photos of Dublin and the fine old buildings that used to stand. Hate seeing the ugly inferior buildings that replaced them.

Rothmans · 20-03-2015 2:24am

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Would it have made a difference? Did the old buildings have heroin repelling properties?

Maybe they did. But now we'll never know.

Yamanoto · 20-03-2015 11:19am

jungleman wrote: »

Agreed. This monstrosity is quite possibly the worst offender of all.

Quite fond of the Central Bank building as a piece of architecture.

I take far greater exception to this mind-numbingly uninspired crud opposite the Olympia / backing onto Dublin Castle.

It's actually quite depressing that mistakes like this are still being made along the main thoroughfares of Dublin city centre.

conorhal · 20-03-2015 11:36am

FalconGirl wrote: »

Awful decisions by Dublin city planners over the years. The decision to plonk the new monstrosity that was ESB HQ in the middle of Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin in 1965 was arguably the worst of them all.

Fitzwilliam Street was the longest row of beautiful Georgian Houses in the world at the time. Absolutely criminal behaviour.

http://archiseek.com/2010/1965-esb-headquarters-fitzwilliam-street-dublin/

And they're still at it. Until this year the ESB's redevelopment of a HQ that is now no longer fit for purpose (great planning by the architects there, I was standing outside Heuston Station this morning, 170yrs after it was built, still fit for purpose) was that the Georgian facade should be reinstated. DCC have quietly dropped this requirement as of now.

NachoBusiness · 20-03-2015 2:32pm

The first cinema to show a film with sound was on Prince's St (the cul de sac at the side of the GPO) called La Scala / The Capital.

The Metropole on O'Connell Street (next to where Easons is now) looked class also. Was built after The Easter Rising and was there until 1972.

Another built just after The Rising was The Grand Central on O'Connell St.

Wish I had a time machine to go back and visit some of these old cinemas in their hey day.

franer1970 · 20-03-2015 2:53pm

Supermacs on Dublin's O'Connell St used to be the home of Elverys. The plinth the elephant stood on is somehow still there.
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

Some places don't change so much - at Harold's Cross Bridge.
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

The gas thing is that Rudge cycles had been out of production for years even in 1967 when the photo was taken.

jungleman · 20-03-2015 3:00pm

The Penneys on Mary St used to be the Volta Cinema, owned and opened by Dublin's own James Joyce.

franer1970 · 20-03-2015 3:01pm

Some more from the Dublin City Council archive.

jungleman · 20-03-2015 3:04pm

Yamanoto wrote: »

Quite fond of the Central Bank building as a piece of architecture.

I take far greater exception to this mind-numbingly uninspired crud opposite the Olympia / backing onto Dublin Castle.

It's actually quite depressing that mistakes like this are still being made along the main thoroughfares of Dublin city centre.

It just irks me that these buildings are even being commissioned. The same goes for the ESB HQ and that god awful Department of Children building. Did the architects really think that people would look back in 100 years time and be like "wow. what a beautiful building"?

It's not that I'm stuck in the past or anything (I'm 26 for gods sake), but it just kills me to see square, cold buildings made of a mish-mash of metal, glass and stone being thrown in with ornate and historical buildings. Dame St is a perfect example of this. The Brits knew how to build fantastic structures, I'll give them that.

eoin1981 · 20-03-2015 3:23pm

Yamanoto wrote: »

Quite fond of the Central Bank building as a piece of architecture.

I take far greater exception to this mind-numbingly uninspired crud opposite the Olympia / backing onto Dublin Castle.

It's actually quite depressing that mistakes like this are still being made along the main thoroughfares of Dublin city centre.

Was just thinking of this. Nothing wrong with the building but it is in completely the wrong place - especially with an old (early 20th?) bank on one side and city hall on the other.

great thread

Tombo2001 · 20-03-2015 3:27pm

jungleman wrote: »

This is the old Metropole building, also O' Connell Street. Ya know, the one with the old Metropole on it.....

This was taken in 1923. It was knocked and replaced with that crappy Penneys. It's amazing the difference O' Connell St has been through. In it's hey-day it was opulent and had a bit of class about it. Now it's the go-to place for heroin.

That's a glorious building. What a pity it was knocked.

eoin1981 · 20-03-2015 3:29pm

franer1970 wrote: »

Some more from the Dublin City Council archive.

Franer - is the last one correct? Peats used to be on the road going west (towards Capel St). The modern picture is going east (towards O'Connell street).
Or did Peats move buildings over the years?

Tombo2001 · 20-03-2015 3:32pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Would it have made a difference? Did the old buildings have heroin repelling properties?

Well you would have to say that O'Connell St is a mess, and Grafton St isn't. And the junkies are on O'Connell St, not on Grafton St.

O'Connell St was once the best street in the city. I wouldn't quite say its gone to ruin, but I would very definitely say that the shops there are out of kilter with the grandness of the old buildings that remain.

If today it was a street where Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton and Chanel were happy to locate shops, rather than McDonalds, Burgerking and Supermacs, you can be sure there would be far less crime on the street also.

eoin1981 · 20-03-2015 3:36pm

O'Connell street is probably actually a nicer street now (design wise) but the shops are a let down. Too many "temporary signs" and burger joints. That stretch with the Gresham, Savoy and Clery's gives an idea of what it could be like.

Dyr · 20-03-2015 3:37pm

AllGunsBlazing wrote: »

Some of the buildings that were erected in this country in the second half of the twentieth century are absolute monstrosities. Grim, concrete boxes that would put you in mind of cold war eastern europe.

Mind you, some of the generic, pre-fab shi te that was thrown up during the tiger years isn't much better - and will probably age just as badly.

Bear in mind that a lot of the cold war stuff in eastern europe was actually really impressive, it's more the tearing down of classic buildings to pile up muck that gets me

topper75 · 20-03-2015 3:42pm

Lapin wrote: »

But The Savoy was on Eglinton Street.

Ye are all losing the plot. I've never even heard of Eglinton Street.

The Savoy was on the corner of Bedford Row and Henry St.

BTW There were never any cinemas on O'Connell Street.

NyOmnishambles · 20-03-2015 3:43pm

eoin1981 wrote: »

Franer - is the last one correct? Peats used to be on the road going west (towards Capel St). The modern picture is going east (towards O'Connell street).
Or did Peats move buildings over the years?

Peats moved

The photos show the location of their original premisies and what is there now

They moved into a modern building attached to Pennys on the other side of the road which you mention, which is the one they closed down in

jungleman · 20-03-2015 3:47pm

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Well you would have to say that O'Connell St is a mess, and Grafton St isn't. And the junkies are on O'Connell St, not on Grafton St.

O'Connell St was once the best street in the city. I wouldn't quite say its gone to ruin, but I would very definitely say that the shops there are out of kilter with the grandness of the old buildings that remain.

If today it was a street where Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton and Chanel were happy to locate shops, rather than McDonalds, Burgerking and Supermacs, you can be sure there would be far less crime on the street also.

The council did a great job with the paving, roads and footpaths on O' Connell Street over the last 10 years or so. But yeah, the area has become a place for fast-food and tat. That Dr. Quirkey's place is absolutely awful. If enough money was pumped into O' Connell St, with a clear vision and plan for how it should look and what it should represent, there might be a chance it could recover. It's just gradually decaying away in front of everyones eyes, which is sad.

Wacker The Attacker · 20-03-2015 4:10pm

jungleman wrote: »

The council did a great job with the paving, roads and footpaths on O' Connell Street over the last 10 years or so. But yeah, the area has become a place for fast-food and tat. That Dr. Quirkey's place is absolutely awful. If enough money was pumped into O' Connell St, with a clear vision and plan for how it should look and what it should represent, there might be a chance it could recover. It's just gradually decaying away in front of everyones eyes, which is sad.

It's the fast food joints that ruin it. There's till the like of the gresham but other than that it's not what it used to be.

Tombo2001 · 20-03-2015 4:51pm

jungleman wrote: »

The council did a great job with the paving, roads and footpaths on O' Connell Street over the last 10 years or so. But yeah, the area has become a place for fast-food and tat. That Dr. Quirkey's place is absolutely awful. If enough money was pumped into O' Connell St, with a clear vision and plan for how it should look and what it should represent, there might be a chance it could recover. It's just gradually decaying away in front of everyones eyes, which is sad.

I suppose the question is:

Why don't high quality places move there?

And the answer must be: because high end shoppers don't go to O'Connell St.

So then the question is: Why would high end shoppers go there?

Hans Bricks · 20-03-2015 5:02pm

Deleted User wrote: »

The one with the Savoy cinema on it.

"This isn't the Dublin forum ya know" :rolleyes:

franer1970 · 20-03-2015 6:25pm

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

Peats moved

The photos show the location of their original premisies and what is there now

They moved into a modern building attached to Pennys on the other side of the road which you mention, which is the one they closed down in

Hold everything - my then-and-now comparison photo is wrong! :eek:
The Peats in the old photo is in fact on the south side of Parnell St, on the corner with the now disappeared Denmark St, approximately where Aldi is now.
I say this because:
1) The top of the dome on Pennys (Todd Burns back then??) can be seen.
2) The buildings on the north side are numbered in the hundreds, while the remaining original buildings on south side start at 1 on the corner with Capel St, hence 31-30-29 is logical.

The location in the Streetview photo, on the corner with Kings Inns St, is where they were from 1980's to sometime post-2000 - I made an incorrect assumption there.

NachoBusiness · 20-03-2015 7:28pm

Whenever I think of the old Peats, I think of Walkmans.
They had a huge display of Walkmans.
Aiwa ones with Graphic Equalizers on the cassette door, oh yes.
When index marking was invented I thought it was the second coming of Christ.

TheLastMohican · 20-03-2015 7:57pm

Watched either 55 Days In Peking or Lawrence Of Arabia there in the middle 60s. And then spent an ecstatic few hours up and down the escalator at Cleary's the following afternoon. God be with the old times.:)

Strumms · 20-03-2015 8:17pm

I was too young to ever go there to see a film as it was in the OP's photos but wow it looks like a thing of beauty. It reminds me of a a theatre in Paris called Le Grand Rex which if you google image search might find it something similar. The only main difference being that thankfully the French lovingly cared and restored it, an amazing theatre.

I'm sad for us as a society at how much we have bulldozed over some great heritage. Decisions made by people who obvious attainted power and influence over planning decisions made not with the thoughts of the greater good in mind but with other less wholesome influences.... Sad that those sort of people always make it to the top in this country.

Ginny · 20-03-2015 10:41pm

Yamanoto wrote: »

Quite fond of the Central Bank building as a piece of architecture.

I take far greater exception to this mind-numbingly uninspired crud opposite the Olympia / backing onto Dublin Castle.

It's actually quite depressing that mistakes like this are still being made along the main thoroughfares of Dublin city centre.

Getting rid of that little park and statues was criminal.

jungleman · 20-03-2015 10:49pm

Ginny wrote: »

Getting rid of that little park and statues was criminal.

There used to be a little park there??

Cienciano · 20-03-2015 11:37pm

Would be great to go back in time about 200 years and have a walk around dublin

hfallada · 20-03-2015 11:46pm

At least most of Dublin is still the same. There was so unreal buildings demolished in NYC for 'modern office buildings', that make Hume House look acceptable.

Penn Station
http://www.nypap.org/sites/default/files/penn_station.jpg

Van der Bilt Mansion
http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54171936eab8ea36480c3930-480/cornelius-vanderbilt-house.jpg

Faith+1 · 20-03-2015 11:47pm

Cienciano wrote: »

Would be great to go back in time about 200 years and have a walk around dublin

I'd say if you went back 50 years you wouldn't recognise the place.

NachoBusiness · 21-03-2015 5:02pm

Faith+1 wrote: »

I'd say if you went back 50 years you wouldn't recognise the place.

Ah it hasn't changed that much.

Photo here of a convertible going past Zaytoon's where a guy in the back seat stands up and asks the driver to go back so he can get a kebab..

Could have been taken today: pic

Faith+1 · 21-03-2015 6:51pm

^^lol

Nate--IRL-- · 21-03-2015 7:47pm

franer1970 wrote: »

Some more from the Dublin City Council archive.

I did a good chunk of the drawings for that new building in the peats location.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

Nate

franer1970 · 23-03-2015 1:09pm

Cienciano wrote: »

Would be great to go back in time about 200 years and have a walk around dublin

I'm totally jealous of future generations who will, in a way, be able to do just that, thanks to Google Streetview.

They'll probably all just be laughing at us mind you, what with our ground-based cars and apparent lack of hoverboards.

Outlaw Pete · 24-12-2017 2:45pm

The new Star Wars film will apparently be the last film to be shown in Savoy 1 before they commit the sacrilegious act of breaking it up into a few different screens.

How the hell is it not considered a protected structure?

A ‘Protected Structure’ is a structure that a planning authority considers to be of special interest from an architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social, or technical point of view and is included in its Record of Protected Structures (RPS). It may be a building or part of a building which is of significance because of its architectural or artistic quality, or its setting, or because of its association with commercial, cultural, economic, industrial, military, political, social or religious history.

Screen 2 was broken up into a few screens recently enough also and the screens are abysmal. Soulless echo chambers with uncomfortable seats.

I know it's all been done for financial reasons but there has to be another way. These people have to be stopped.

tl;dr

THEY'RE GOING TO KILL SAVOY 1!!

wakka12 · 24-12-2017 3:30pm

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

The new Star Wars film will apparently be the last film to be shown in Savoy 1 before they commit the sacrilegious act of breaking it up into a few different screens.

How the hell is it not considered a protected structure?

Screen 2 was broken up into a few screens recently enough also and the screens are abysmal. Soulless echo chambers with uncomfortable seats.

I know it's all been done for financial reasons but there has to be another way. These people have to be stopped.

tl;dr

THEY'RE GOING TO KILL SAVOY 1!!

Probably just the facade is protected. As the interior was gutted, as seen in OP, I'm sure the council don't really care what the business does to the interior really

And yeh its not great but its better than the savoy alternatively closing down

The old Savoy cinema was class

Comments