What is the ugliest structure in Dublin?

leche solara

Walking through town today it occured to me that the railway bridge across the Liffey at Butt Bridge must be the greatest eyesore in Dublin. It completely obscures the view of the Custom House, which must be one of the finest buildings in Dublin (if not Ireland).
They recently removed the advertising hoardings from the side of the railway bridge, but I think this makes it look even worse - at least the ads provided a bit of colour!. Now its just a horrible ugly black fence like structure. Vile!

whiskeyman

I'm sure the Spire will be mentioned a few times here.

If I had to choose a building, it'd have to be the Dept of Health & Children on Hawkins St.
Terrible building... just as well it's kind of hidden away.



The Civic Offices on Wood Quay come close behind....

The_Minister

~Central bank.

europerson

whiskeyman wrote:

the Dept of Health & Children on Hawkins St.
Terrible building... just as well it's kind of hidden away.

Seconded

TapouT

whiskeyman wrote:

I'm sure the Spire will be mentioned a few times here.

If I had to choose a building, it'd have to be the Dept of Health & Children on Hawkins St.
Terrible building... just as well it's kind of hidden away.



The Civic Offices on Wood Quay come close behind....

Couldn't agree more.

When the spire was proposed I wasn't one of its critics. I said give it a chance. IMHO its butt ugly and serves no useful purpose.

BendiBus

I agree that it's the Dept of Health.

I like the spire a lot!

Irishpimpdude

TapouT wrote:

Couldn't agree more.

When the spire was proposed I wasn't one of its critics. I said give it a chance. IMHO its butt ugly and serves no useful purpose.

Hmm if you go into town dont you see hundereds of people standing around the spire/ taking pictures! lol does bring in some money haha all the forigners just say hey wanna go to dublin city to see a big pointy thing in the sky??!!! lol

FillSpectre

I am going to go with a not so popular view with The Subshine Chambers:D


In fairness Dublin is not very bad for ugly buildings. Most of the ones that would be called ugly are generally just in the wrong place more so than actually ugly.

Wood Quay is actually quite nice inside but is in the worst spot in the entire city. I like the central Bank but what was there was nicer.

I actully think Steven's Green Shopping centre is a terrible waste chance to do something more modern and complementry instead reproduction georgian

Dub13

IMO Busaras would be in the top 5.So thats the Dept of Health,the railway bridge and Busaras all within a few hundred yards of each other.

fly_agaric

Agree with the "Sick building" on Hawkins St.
Also the ESB headquarters and the pill-box/gun emplacement bits of the civic offices (other part is quite a nice building IMO).

Roar83

i think the custom house looks brilliant....however if you stand out side it, it looks unmaintained. All the dirt from the lorries, and paint peeling off the doors and windows. a shame really

deedee lepoopoo

The extension to Connolly Station is an eyesore. It looks like an air conditioning vent. There is no coorelation or respect for the original building also.

Táck

Busaras and Tax Office at the back of the four courts

i likes the spire

spurious

Hawkins House is truly hideous in a 'world's most hideous buildings' kind of way.

Mostly anything built in the 70s is definitely on the ugliest list.

I like the Spire.

Zhane

I like the Spire, But why was it built?

Oh and Fatima Mansion have to be the ugliest buildings in Ireland. I know they are going soon, but sooner the better.

Slippin Jimmy

whiskeyman wrote:

I'm sure the Spire will be mentioned a few times here.

Your right. I hate that thing. That was the biggest load of crap they ever built. The amount of money wasted on it. They reckon that if it leans over another bit that they will have to take it down altogether. They should have put a statue or something there, or maybe rebuild Nelson's Pillar.

senordingdong

DonnybrookGhost wrote:

Nelson's Pillar.

Get up out of that.

I'd agree with that yolk on Hawkins street but since that actually serves a purpose, I'm going to have to go with the Spire.

the_syco

whiskeyman wrote:

I'm sure the Spire will be mentioned a few times here.

The Spire. As for the railway bridge, its nice. What else do you want? A brickwork bridge?:rolleyes::eek::rolleyes:

matc66

You've got to be kidding, the railway bridge at Tara Station completely obscures the whole view of the liffey.

It probably couldn't be in a worse place.

senordingdong

matc66 wrote:

You've got to be kidding, the railway bridge at Tara Station completely obscures the whole view of the liffey.

It probably couldn't be in a worse place.

So what?
It's really frickin old, and it serves a very important purpose.

arbeitsscheuer

Milligan.

spurious

Whats with having to 'serve a purpose'?

Is it a necessary attribute for a building/structure to have to be worthwhile?

The Spire does 'serve a purpose' actually, but if you cannot recognise what it is, there's no point trying to enlighten you.

senordingdong

You can't see the signifigance of a railway bridge, or why a buildings purpose is relevant, so don't talk to me about enlightenment.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Luas Bridge in Dundrum....

spurious

This thread is about aesthetics, ('ugliest') not usefulness.
One does not imply nor rule out the other.

OK, so you hate the Spire - big deal - whether it 'serves a purpose' in your eyes is irrelevant.

lostexpectation

deedee lepoopoo wrote:

The extension to Connolly Station is an eyesore. It looks like an air conditioning vent. There is no coorelation or respect for the original building also.

well said, it took some effort to make it that ugly

DublinWriter

As Nelson's Column was a thing of its era, so is The Spire.

Being pointless, expensive, shiney and sharp, I think it sums up the New Ireland.

DublinWriter

I've two words for you, 'Sam Stephenson'. Chief among his crimes against humanity include:

- The Central Bank
- The Dublin Corporation Offices at Wood Quay
- ESB Headquarters in Fitzwilliam Street

One single man, responsible for all of the above. Shocking isn't it?

The ESB Headquarters entailed the destruction of the longest complete Georgian streetscape in Europe with 11 complete house being demolished creating a huge break in the flow of Fitzwilliam Street / Square and Merrion Square.

He received the RIAI Gold Medal in 1985.

monkeyfudge

Dept of Health & Children on Hawkins St was the first thing to pop into my head as well... I've seen photos of the Theatre Royal that was there before it and that was a beautiful building...

Kinetic^

Yore Ma!!!!

TapouT

DonnybrookGhost wrote:

They should have put a statue or something there, or maybe rebuild Nelson's Pillar.

Would a statue of Micheal Collins not be more appropriate?.

TapouT

spurious wrote:

Whats with having to 'serve a purpose'?

Is it a necessary attribute for a building/structure to have to be worthwhile?

The Spire does 'serve a purpose' actually, but if you cannot recognise what it is, there's no point trying to enlighten you.

In other words, you don't know either?.

I drive a taxi. I drive past it a hundred times a week, I get tourists laugh at it every day and I can't explain it to them!.

Wanna try?.

crushproof

The ESB Headquarters, don't fit into the streetscape at all. The building was up for sale a while back, alot of people thought the council or government would buy it and rebuild it with a mock Georgian facade, but no no, of course they wouldn't do that!!
And the Loop Line Bridge, to be honest I though it looked better with the advertising.....all those Jacob biscuits!! lol!
Actually, did you know that it was proposed in the 40's or 50's to extend the railway all along the quays down to Heuston with a steel bridge! Imagine that! And they planned to concrete over the Liffey to make way for a surface car park!

peter1892

Apart from the obvious (Hawkins House, Loop Line bridge etc) there's a building on Cuffe street - at the corner with Wexford st., it's a low rise (3 or 4 storeys) that's always looked pretty bad to me. It's just offices, I don't know who or what it is. and some of the 70's/80's style buildings around St. Stephen's Green aren't great either, they just look out of place amongst the older Georgian architecture (e.g. that one that looks like the Irish Life Centre, there's a similar one in Galway too).

Outside the city centre...I've always found much of UCD's Belfield Campus to be fairly ugly. 60's concrete jungle. Northside, Donaghmede & Stillorgan shopping centres are pretty awful looking too.

monkeyfudge

TapouT wrote:

In other words, you don't know either?.

I drive a taxi. I drive past it a hundred times a week, I get tourists laugh at it every day and I can't explain it to them!.

Wanna try?.

Well it's the tallest sculpture in the world, surely that counts for something? It's also an excellent landmark and makes it very easy for people unfamiliar with the city to orientate themselves.

funk-you

That bridge from Tara St to Connolly station has one of the best views in the city when you're travelling across it and look down towards the O' Connell St direction. The city looks great for that 10 seconds crossing the bridge.


EDIT: The Ilac centre is looks terrible.


-Funk

TapouT

monkeyfudge wrote:

Well it's the tallest sculpture in the world, surely that counts for something? It's also an excellent landmark and makes it very easy for people unfamiliar with the city to orientate themselves.

A prefabricated steel tube is hardly something I'd consider "sculpture". Its awful, and its filthy.

Have you seen how dirty its become?..

But I seriously think the ugliest has to be Phobsboro shopping centre!.

FillSpectre

I like Busarus

BendiBus

TapouT wrote:

In other words, you don't know either?.

I drive a taxi. I drive past it a hundred times a week, I get tourists laugh at it every day and I can't explain it to them!.

Wanna try?.

How about "It's a piece of public artwork"? What more is necessary to explain it?

Edit: I walked up O'Connell St after work. Can I add the following to the list of uglies:

The old Eircom offices opposite the Royal Dublin Hotel.
The Royal Dublin Hotel itself.
The Dublin Bus HQ building.

Can't believe people criticise the Spire and ignore these 3 examples.

Oh, and O'Connell Bridge House too!

Funkstard

The Berkely Library building in Trinity. Pre-cast plastic windowed bomb shelter gun-turretted disgraceful piece of shíte. The Busáras bulilding - I don't care if it was a great leap forward, it looks terrible now.

I quite like the Spire. It's like a vision of how Dublin should move forward, or should I say, upward.

raheny red

Northside Shopping Centre........................

Dub13

FillSpectre wrote:

I like Busarus

You sick sick person...:)

Lunar Junkie

Busaras is actually considered a design classic, and is incredibly progressive considering when it was built (the late 40s). It just needs a good cleanup and some tasteful re-fitting on the interior... it's been allowed to get shabby and that can make a big difference with these sorts of buildings.
As for what's really ugly, I wholeheartedly agree with Hawkins House, the Phisboro Shopping Centre (soon to be demolished, thankfully) and River House (the Motor Tax office).

Agent Smith

i'm shocked that neither the British nor american emmbassys in Ballsbridge were mentioned

lostexpectation

roisin ingle

constitutionus

glad to hear the ilac center mentioned, i always thougt it looked fugly. the spire actually doesnt bother me and it looks really nice on a bright summers day (which of course is socommon in this country ) but i have to admit to hating busaras. i worked in the kip for years and it too cold in winter and a fecking furnace in summer. definetly an example of "style" over function.

have to mention the abbey theatre though, ****ing grey monstrosity. just as well theyre going to demolish it

gamblitis

that dam waste of space in the middle of o connell street.hs to be.

arbeitsscheuer

agent smith wrote:

i'm shocked that neither the British nor american emmbassys in Ballsbridge were mentioned

Well, the British embassy was purely built for defensibility, so aesthetics really weren't important. Which, having had the previous one burned down, was probably smart. And indeed, it worked, holding out another mob in 1981. Plus it ain't that ugly.

I'll take your point about the US Embassy though. Really ugly building (altho a lot of the newer ones around that area are pretty repulsive tbh).

Hermione*

I walk past both embassies a lot .... the British one's quite nice in a modern kinda way. The US embassy's a bit of an eyesore, much worse than the British Embassy imo.

And as Seb said, the previous British embassy had been a beautiful red brick on Merrion Square, and look how far its beauty got them. You can hardly blame them for thinking of other things besides beauty when replacing it.

Biggest eyesore for me would have to be the ESB headquarters on Fitzwilliam St, completely out of place.

senordingdong

spurious wrote:

This thread is about aesthetics, ('ugliest') not usefulness.
One does not imply nor rule out the other.

OK, so you hate the Spire - big deal - whether it 'serves a purpose' in your eyes is irrelevant.

Yeah, yuo're right.
Though it has to be said that the best vie of the Customs House is from the Dart on a summers day.
Beautiful.

Just saw the Phibsboro SC last night.....hideous.

Victor

fly_agaric wrote:

Agree with the "Sick building" on Hawkins St.
Also the ESB headquarters and the pill-box/gun emplacement bits of the civic offices (other part is quite a nice building IMO).

The problem is they only built 2 of the 5 buildings. When completed is was meant to form a series of planted terraces.