Ugliest Building in Dublin

mikemac

This hasn't been done in ages.

Post your choice for the building you cringe at and despise in Dublin.
Pics are welcome, if you don't have your own then google is fine

My choice is Hawkins House, Poolbeg St. Home to the Dept of Health.
It's horrendous, I tell ya

hawkins.gif 300×251 pixels.gif

Wishbone Ash

micmclo wrote: »

My choice is Hawkins House, Poolbeg St. Home to the Dept of Health

Good choice - as Mary Harney once said "half the windows won't close and the other half won't open"!

dub45

Surely the four yokes on Capel St Bridge deserve some sort of special award of their own?:rolleyes:

mikemac

dub45 wrote: »

Surely the four yokes on Capel St Bridge deserve some sort of special award of their own?:rolleyes:

Ah come on.
Don't post something like that without pics so we can judge for ourselves

abbie

liberty hall. it's a kip

johnnyrotten

Hawkins House is the winner here - no doubt

Agent Smith

British Embassy, In Ballsbridge.
Just sticks out like a sore thumb there.

Huggles

Yes liberty hall ftw, the fine example of bad planning a shockingly ugly building!

Time Magazine

Which is worse, Hawkins House or the An Post building next door? I might take a photo of it in a couple days when I go back to college.

Dirk Gently

Phibsborough shopping centre

Fratton Fred

surely anything north of Clerys on O'Connell sreet.

Have you seen the Eircom buildings in cathal Burgha street, real 1970's cocrete ****e

Fratton Fred

agent smith wrote: »

British Embassy, In Ballsbridge.
Just sticks out like a sore thumb there.

stands out like a "Proddy":D

mikemac

clown bag wrote: »

Phibsborough shopping centre

Good call, a close second to Hawkins House imo.
It's getting a badly needed facelift soon I think.

Dirk Gently

micmclo wrote: »

Good call, a close second to Hawkins House imo.
It's getting a badly needed facelift soon I think.

Yeah, I'm not up to date on the latest time frame but a face lift has been promised going back many years now.

Wishbone Ash

This one could be in with a shout! (apologies to anyone who may own it/live here).

Jay D

trying to thnk of it here, any building I can think of though atm isn't of any significance I have to say....

WoollyRedHat

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

This one could be in with a shout! (apologies to anyone who may own it/live here).

Hey, wait a second, that's my house!
Only joking lol

Do monuments count? If so, I nominate "Gateway" of Dun Laoghaire:


Yuck!

GBX

Hawkins House looks like it should be in a war torn city. Not Dublin.

Mrs. MacGyver

Ibid wrote: »

Which is worse, Hawkins House or the An Post building next door? I might take a photo of it in a couple days when I go back to college.

The An post Building is the worst of the 2.

The Social Welfare Office in North Cumberland St is dire.

http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/north_cumberland_street/images/social_welfare.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/north_cumberland_street/social_welfare.html&h=250&w=200&sz=31&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=9-M92o_3CJhOVM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2Bsocial%2Bwelfare%2Bdublin%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Wishbone Ash

Mrs. MacGyver wrote: »

The Social Welfare Office in North Cumberland St is dire

I think it has a nice retro look to it.

arybvtcw0eolkf

How about that new building on Dame St beside Dublin Castle. the glass yoke?.

Or the Statoil filling station on the quays, anyone seen that from the north quays.

Oh, agreed on Phibsboro S.C. and Hawkins house.

The C.I.E. building on O'Connell St is pretty dire too.

admiralofthefleet

has to be hawkins house, a dire building

delta_bravo

Liberty Hall and the frontage of Arnotts on Henry St. is rather dire imo

Kintarō Hattori

What about the office block that runs down George's Street on the side opposite Dunnes. It's not immediately obvious but crane your head up and ask how someone could build that on the same street as the building which houses Dunnes and the George's Street Arcade.

cast_iron

Mairt wrote: »

How about that new building on Dame St beside Dublin Castle. the glass yoke?.

Easily one of the biggest scandals of modern planning.

Kintarō Hattori

cast_iron wrote: »

Easily one of the biggest scandals of modern planning.

I completely agree with you here. How on earth it was granted planning permission I just can't imagine.

markpb

Is it a bit of a co-incidence that most of the buildings mentioned here have some tie to govenment bodies?

Hawkins house, An Post on Fleet/Townsend Street, DB HQ on O'Connell St, Revenue on Georges St, Telecom House on O'Connell St/Cathal Brugha St. Is that thing beside Dublin Castle a public building?

enda1

agent smith wrote: »

British Embassy, In Ballsbridge.
Just sticks out like a sore thumb there.

Do you mean the American embassy or is the British one there too?

But my vote would go to the arts block in Trinity. Hideous. Though seeing as its not the obvious to the general public perhaps the prize should go to Busaras. Yuck.

monkeyfudge

Mairt wrote:

How about that new building on Dame St beside Dublin Castle. the glass yoke?.

I hate that thing... and there used to be a lovely little park with statues in it there.

And this new building seems to have a crane installed in it as a permanent feature.

Kintarō Hattori

Funnily enough architects love Busaras, it's won a few prizes. I don't know why as I think it's pretty ugly myself, but there ya go.

Hagar

The Dublin Corporation "Bunker" on Wood Quay beside Christ Church takes the biscuit.

Not only is it ugly and out of place beside a beautiful Cathedral, the excavation of such a historical site was a crime against our national heritage.

dub45

markpb wrote: »

Is it a bit of a co-incidence that most of the buildings mentioned here have some tie to govenment bodies?

Hawkins house, An Post on Fleet/Townsend Street, DB HQ on O'Connell St, Revenue on Georges St, Telecom House on O'Connell St/Cathal Brugha St. Is that thing beside Dublin Castle a public building?

Its no coincidence - think of the times that were in it when those leases were entered into:rolleyes:

dub45

cast_iron wrote: »

Easily one of the biggest scandals of modern planning.

Wasn't it developed by the City Council?

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Central Bank so far not to mention the awful 'fencing' recently added presumably to stop the skateboarders having some fun?

boneless

The new Irish Times office on Tara/Townshend Street... it assaults my senses...

Kintarō Hattori

dub45 wrote: »

Wasn't it developed by the City Council?

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Central Bank so far not to mention the awful 'fencing' recently added presumably to stop the skateboarders having some fun?

I actually quite like the Central Bank. OK it could be better but it's far from the worst building I've seen in Dublin.

Punchbowl

Rathfarnham Credit Union.. without a doubt..

Love Busaras.

baztard

Mairt wrote: »

How about that new building on Dame St beside Dublin Castle. the glass yoke?.

Yeah as a few people have said now, its awful looking. It looks like it coming to the end of its shelf life rather than the start of it. The person who commissioned that design should be shot. It boils my blood to have something that bad right beside the graceful looking Dublin Castle and slap bang in the middle of the city.

cast_iron

markpb wrote: »

Is that thing beside Dublin Castle a public building?

Yes, Dublin City Council granted themselves permission for it.

cruibin

cast_iron wrote: »

Yes, Dublin City Council granted themselves permission for it.

And it was designed by a firm of architects in Spain..... they dont have to live with it. It looks dirty already and the coloured strip lights in the window frames make it look like a failed attempt at a yuppie bordello!

Rhyme

clown bag wrote: »

Phibsborough shopping centre

Aye, that and the Northside Shopping Centre (although it's growing on me now that i got to Dhulaigh )

Time Magazine

boneless wrote: »

The new Irish Times office on Tara/Townshend Street... it assaults my senses...

That's nowhere near as bad as Hawkins House!!

WoollyRedHat

I'll just say over 50% of Apartment complexes they're coming up with these days. I personally don't think this continuing influx of apartments is great, but at least make them look somewhat attrative, as most I see do anything but.

dub45

cruibin wrote: »

And it was designed by a firm of architects in Spain..... they dont have to live with it. It looks dirty already and the coloured strip lights in the window frames make it look like a failed attempt at a yuppie bordello!

I agree totally - its amazing already the concrete space around it is as filthy as if it had been there for a hundred years!! We never seem to wash the streets properly (if ever!!!) I have been in Spain a good few times in recent years in various cities and one of the things I am constantly impressed with is that all the City streets seem to be washed every night! Now their water problems must be worse than ours?............

By the way the wire barriers in front of that awful looking stair case hardly help either. I walked by it today and the morning was drearyish and there were a few people sitting o those awful seats and it looked like nothing more than a bad set for a Beckett play.

And what about the mess they made of Wolf Tone 'park'?:rolleyes:

cast_iron

dub45 wrote: »

I agree totally - its amazing already the concrete space around it is as filthy as if it had been there for a hundred years!! We never seem to wash the streets properly (if ever!!!) I have been in Spain a good few times in recent years in various cities and one of the things I am constantly impressed with is that all the City streets seem to be washed every night!

The concrete area is cleaned every few months, not half enough though; it gets absolutely filthy.

dub45 wrote: »

By the way the wire barriers in front of that awful looking stair case hardly help either. I walked by it today and the morning was drearyish and there were a few people sitting o those awful seats and it looked like nothing more than a bad set for a Beckett play.

That temporary fencing seems to be far from temporary. It's been there since the building work has stopped. God only knows why.

Dirk Gently

Rhyme wrote: »

Aye, that and the Northside Shopping Centre (although it's growing on me now that i got to Dhulaigh )

You in the Dhulaigh full of secondary scummers or the arts dhulaigh up the road?

stepbar

Has to be the building on Westmoreland St where EBS used to be. The illuminous sign on the side of it used to wreck my head :mad:

boneless

Ibid wrote: »

That's nowhere near as bad as Hawkins House!!

Agreed, but that at least is being pulled down!! What will they replace it with though?:eek:

darkman2

Hawkins house is surely the biggest crime inflicted on Dublin - Liberty hall - meh at least it has a certain 60's dated charm. Both due to be demolished - thank christ! But Hawkins house, ffs, surley the people who built it were high on something - id like some of it please.

Rhyme

clown bag wrote: »

You in the Dhulaigh full of secondary scummers or the arts dhulaigh up the road?

Coolock campus doing art & design, not a secondary scummer though, just a college drop out getting back 'in the system'.

/offtopic

Strolling through the Trinity College campus brings up some ugly buildings too, can't put a name to most of them (they're off the beaten track though, Luce Hall etc).

MooseJam

another vote for Hawkins House

diarmuidh

Hawkins st is horrible...

Dublin is VERY dirty!! Some streets are not cleaned on a monthly basis it seems let alone cleaned daily!!

We get the public services we pay for! ie sh**e ones in general!

D