Blackrock baths to be demolished

TheVoodoo

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0903/breaking2.html


Will be very strange to see that area without the baths there!

neris

The council should have looked after it in the good times but then theyd have to maintain it and look after it as a public facility if it could be used. bit like hard work and councils and hard work dont get along to well

CatFromHue

There's a small bit on it in the abandoned Ireland website:

http://www.abandonedireland.com/Blackrockbaths.html

It'll be sad to see it go to be honest, I can't help feel that a potentially good facility has been wasted.

Run_to_da_hills

The Baths acted as a wave / wind breaker for Blackrock station. If it is removed that monstrosity of a foot bridge will soon turn into a rusty heap.

zagmund

Booterstown & Seapoint stations handle storms just fine. Or at least they have so far.

I took a photo of a big pool of water sitting in the base of the lift shaft in Booterstown recently, mind you. I'm not convinced it was designed to operate in these conditions. There was what looked like a domestic power socket just a little above the water level. Not entirely safe.

z

Seaswimmer

zagmund wrote: »

Booterstown & Seapoint stations handle storms just fine. Or at least they have so far.

I took a photo of a big pool of water sitting in the base of the lift shaft in Booterstown recently, mind you. I'm not convinced it was designed to operate in these conditions. There was what looked like a domestic power socket just a little above the water level. Not entirely safe.

z

I think Booterstown and Seapoint both have fairly decent walls at the back of the platform on the sea side. From memory the wall in Blackrock does not run the whole length of the southbound platform. High tide and easterly gale together generally has the potential for flooding from Sandymount to Dun Laoghaire..

Back on topic.. i spent almost my entire childhood summers in Blackrock baths. Water was always cold and full of various floating objects but there was no heated pool in the vicinity. In the evenings in the summer after the baths closed we would fish from the wall of the baths for bass..
i have happy memories of us wading out in our clothes holding our rods and gear over our heads until we could clamber up onto the sea facing wall to fish into the night..

Chinasea

There is no reason why these baths could not be solar powered as with Dun Laoghiare.

I am so tired of reading articles in the dubious 'Southside' about the plans for the baths and then 360 on those plans and so on and so forth.

Hey Bono, can't ye throw a lifeline to the Baths with a few million and keep us all happy. Once they have been refubished they could be powered by the free natural green resources we have.

Grid.

Happy to see them go!

TheVoodoo

Grid. wrote: »

Happy to see them go!

Any particular reason?

Cookie_Monster

TheVoodoo wrote: »

Any particular reason?

They're nothing but a broken down eyesore that attracts vandalism and layabouts. Better the coast be restored somewhat towards it's natural state then have the hulk rotting away there.

ted1

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

They're nothing but a broken down eyesore that attracts vandalism and layabouts. Better the coast be restored somewhat towards it's natural state then have the hulk rotting away there.

But if they were repairable they'd be a lot more.

EricPraline

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

They're nothing but a broken down eyesore that attracts vandalism and layabouts. Better the coast be restored somewhat towards it's natural state then have the hulk rotting away there.

Unfortunately that mindset is the reason that Dublin has lost so many buildings of architectural value post WW2. I'm thinking of both Georgian buildings in the city centre and former country houses in the South Dublin suburbs.

The same pattern always seems to repeat.... Owner or responsible party neglects the property and leaves it open to vandalism, until it is beyond repair, at which point they can claim that it's better to demolish the eyesore. :mad:

stevedublin

EricPraline wrote: »

Unfortunately that mindset is the reason that Dublin has lost so many buildings of architectural value post WW2. I'm thinking of both Georgian buildings in the city centre and former country houses in the South Dublin suburbs.

The same pattern always seems to repeat.... Owner or responsible party neglects the property and leaves it open to vandalism, until it is beyond repair, at which point they can claim that it's better to demolish the eyesore. :mad:

Frascati House, a short distance from the baths, comes to mind.

Cookie_Monster

ted1 wrote: »

But if they were repairable they'd be a lot more.

they'd see little use, sure that's why they were closed in the first place. who'd use a cold, smelly outdoor pool when there are plenty of heated ones in the area.

ted1

Plenty of people. Look at the numbers that use the 40foot, or particpate in sea swims. The water is warmer than the sea as it is trapped and warmed by the sun.

Also the water is much cleaner now than when they were closed.

They should now focus on restoring the sandymount pool.

imthegaffer!

It's an eyesore, something needed to be done about it, whether it be renovated or demolished.

Happy enough to see it go although I don't have a particular attachment to them as they have been closed as long as I can remember

dublinman1990

I had seen a third or about a quarter of this got demolished already in Blackrock since Tuesday.

The builders have caterpillar cranes at the site; But I don't know how they've done that.

Can anyone here tell how they demolish it that way?

zagmund

Natural state, eh ?

Goodbye to Blackrock Park, Booterstown Park, the bird sanctuary, oh and the entire railway line too. And the offices up by Merrion Gates. All of these are built on what was 'beach' until the railway came along in the 1830s.

z

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

TheVoodoo wrote: »

Any particular reason?

They're nothing but a broken down eyesore that attracts vandalism and layabouts. Better the coast be restored somewhat towards it's natural state then have the hulk rotting away there.

Cookie_Monster

zagmund wrote: »

Natural state, eh ?

Goodbye to Blackrock Park, Booterstown Park, the bird sanctuary, oh and the entire railway line too. And the offices up by Merrion Gates. All of these are built on what was 'beach' until the railway came along in the 1830s.

z

somewhat towards it's natural state as I've already said. Restore the beach to along what it is either side would be the obvious goal

Plumpynutt

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The Baths acted as a wave / wind breaker for Blackrock station. If it is removed that monstrosity of a foot bridge will soon turn into a rusty heap.

Do you reckon? Killiney's bridge is fairly exposed and it's not a rusty heap. Ditto Booterstown

AndyP

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I had seen a third or about a quarter of this got demolished already in Blackrock since Tuesday.

The builders have caterpillar cranes at the site; But I don't know how they've done that.

Can anyone here tell how they demolish it that way?

The machinery comes onto the beach at Merrion Gates. A track has been laid out across the beach, marked by poles.

zagmund

I heard somewhere that the removal work is scheduled for Saturday AM. Tides will play a big part in this effort. I can see the headlines now . . .

z