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The old Savoy cinema was class

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    #62
    buried
    Registered Users Posts: 9,687 ✭✭✭buried


    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.

    "You have disgraced yourselves again" - W. B. Yeats



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    #63
    Wacker The Attacker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,473 ✭✭✭Wacker The Attacker


    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?

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


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    #64
    Filmer Paradise
    Registered Users Posts: 1,339 ✭✭✭Filmer Paradise


    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.


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    #65
    Littlekittylou
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,357 ✭✭✭Littlekittylou


    NO THE CLASSIC!


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    #66
    Eutow
    Registered Users Posts: 1,197 ✭✭✭Eutow


    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.


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    #67
    Rothmans
    Registered Users Posts: 1,805 ✭✭✭Rothmans


    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.


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    #68
    Yamanoto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,489 ✭✭✭Yamanoto


    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.


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    #69
    conorhal
    Registered Users Posts: 6,986 ✭✭✭conorhal


    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.


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    #70
    NachoBusiness
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,389 ✭✭✭NachoBusiness


    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.


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    #71
    franer1970
    Registered Users Posts: 336 ✭✭franer1970


    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.


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    #72
    jungleman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 803 ✭✭✭jungleman


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


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    #73
    franer1970
    Registered Users Posts: 336 ✭✭franer1970


    Some more from the Dublin City Council archive.


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    #74
    jungleman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 803 ✭✭✭jungleman


    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.


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    #75
    eoin1981
    Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭eoin1981


    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


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    #76
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,494 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    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.


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    #77
    eoin1981
    Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭eoin1981


    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?


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    #78
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,494 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    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.


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    #79
    eoin1981
    Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭eoin1981


    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.


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    #80
    Dyr
    Registered Users Posts: 23,246 ✭✭✭✭Dyr


    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


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    #81
    topper75
    Registered Users Posts: 5,942 ✭✭✭topper75


    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.


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    #82
    NyOmnishambles
    Registered Users Posts: 894 ✭✭✭NyOmnishambles


    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


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    #83
    jungleman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 803 ✭✭✭jungleman


    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.


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    #84
    Wacker The Attacker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,473 ✭✭✭Wacker The Attacker


    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.


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    #85
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,494 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    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?


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    #86
    Hans Bricks
    Registered Users Posts: 850 ✭✭✭Hans Bricks


    Deleted User wrote: »
    The one with the Savoy cinema on it.

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


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    #87
    franer1970
    Registered Users Posts: 336 ✭✭franer1970


    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.


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    #88
    NachoBusiness
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,389 ✭✭✭NachoBusiness


    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.


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    #89
    TheLastMohican
    Registered Users Posts: 1,837 ✭✭✭TheLastMohican


    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.:)


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    #90
    Strumms
    Registered Users Posts: 24,841 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    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.


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    #91
    Ginny
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 13,425 ✭✭✭✭Ginny


    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.


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