St. Kevin's Hospital is on fire

Ciano35

Just seen on Redfm on facebook now.

boardsuser1

I was there, the fire is spreading rapidly through the building.

Ciano35

KC161 wrote: »

I was there, the fire is spreading rapidly through the building.

does it look like the place will be ruined?

boardsuser1

Ciano35 wrote: »

does it look like the place will be ruined?

Same as the good shepherd I reckon sadly, the fire is still spreading.

boardsuser1

Earlier

Junkyard Tom

Drone footage.

https://m.facebook.com/corksafetyalerts/posts/1072062186257907

Milly33

what a surprise

Surreptitious

It's very sad. People with no respect for the building destroying it.

Avatar MIA

Drone footage very good. Not the first fire there. Deliberate or accidental by squatters?

Walked around the inside a couple of years back. Very creepy

boardsuser1

The entire building is going to be gutted. I'm looking out my back door now and she's still burning heavily.

Roger Hassenforder

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Drone footage very good. Not the first fire there. Deliberate or accidental by squatters?

Walked around the inside a couple of years back. Very creepy

Heard from the wife's friend above it near mile stream kids spotted running away from it before flames noticed.

What a shame. Fire fighters risking their lives to try and save a beautiful derelict old building that has been idle years. It's a pity it want turned into something (hotel) before now. Now it's fcuked.

Xenji

It's always terrible to see old buildings like that go and putting emergency services at risk, but it did have a very sinister history.

Junkyard Tom

Looks like the firefighters are staying away from the front-middle of the building as a precaution against collapse.

gctest50

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

....

Fire fighters risking their lives to try ......

They're standing there watching it burn ( well as soon as the realised they were pissing against the wind )

Roger Hassenforder

Xenji wrote: »

It's always terrible to see old buildings like that go and putting emergency services at risk, but it did have a very sinister history.

Just reading up on it there. Maybe you're right, better off the cursed place gone

Spooky place:
http://www.abandonedireland.com/skv.html

Roger Hassenforder

gctest50 wrote: »

They're standing there watching it burn ( well as soon as the realised they were pissing against the wind )

They were earlier!

Good riddance to a glorified prison that ruined so many lives.
Hopefully none of the firefighters had to venture inside.

leeside11

It's a really interesting and creepy set of buildings. They basically packed it with severely mentally ill people and threw away the key. There are some horrible stories around about the conditions there.

whisky_galore

If we had to raze every old building that bad sh*t went on in there wouldn't be a whole lot of them left.

Can't do a Taliban job, destroying old buildings and pretending it didn't happen.

It could potentially have been a useful building, could have actually housed people.
Now it's fcuk all use, a smouldering shell.

mastershake

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

Xenji wrote: »

It's always terrible to see old buildings like that go and putting emergency services at risk, but it did have a very sinister history.

Just reading up on it there. Maybe you're right, better off the cursed place gone

Spooky place:
http://www.abandonedireland.com/skv.html

You do realise that your equating a building to a living thing there.The building didn't make a conscious decision to lock people up.
Unfortunately Ireland's indifference to its built heritage continues.

boardsuser1

whisky_galore wrote: »

If we had to raze every old building that bad sh*t went on in there wouldn't be a whole lot of them left.

Can't do a Taliban job, destroying old buildings and pretending it didn't happen.

It could potentially have been a useful building, could have actually housed people.
Now it's fcuk all use, a smouldering shell.

Let's hope it's structurally sound, so that it may get redeveloped.

Can't find any photos taken since first light today.

whisky_galore

KC161 wrote: »

Let's hope it's structurally sound, so that it may get redeveloped.

Can't find any photos taken since first light today.

I wouldn't hold out too much hope for an old, tall red brick building that's been roasted like that, all the floors burnt away.

We can't even be bothered rebuilding the shabby buildings, let alone an incinerated one.

pwurple

KC161 wrote: »

Let's hope it's structurally sound, so that it may get redeveloped.

Can't find any photos taken since first light today.

Everything structural in that building is made of wood, look at the age of it.

Every rafter and board in the place will be burnt. This is a demolition notice. Which will cost us more by the way, and mean less services, less playgrounds, worse road conditions because the budget got eaten by this waste.

This absolutely disgusts me. For all the hand-wringing about govt not doing something, it's still some little scrote who went up there and lit that fire. I'd dangle him by his tiny balls off the side of it.

This, Vernon mount... why don't people have any civic pride in our iconic city buildings? These are Cork's pyramids, our empire state building.

whisky_galore

pwurple wrote: »

This, Vernon mount... why don't people have any civic pride in our iconic city buildings? These are Cork's pyramids, our empire state building.

Vernon Mount was a massive loss, but I'll wager it'll never be rebuilt.

The city is full of rotting, boarded up, rat infested buildings like a mini Detroit.

People in this country, high up or low down, simply don't care.

gctest50

pwurple wrote: »

............

This is a demolition notice. Which will cost us more by the way, and mean less services, less playgrounds, worse road conditions because the budget got eaten by this waste.

........

It has cost plenty, should have flattened it years ago :

The hospital has recently been the focus of some media attention due to the revelation by Health Minister Mary Harney that between 2002 and 2007, Euro 1,590,975 had been spent on security at the site amounting to more than Euro 300,000 a year, or nearly Euro 6,000 a week.

pwurple wrote: »

...Everything structural in that building is made of wood, look at the age of it.This is a demolition notice. ...

Probably as well off, could be too costly/difficult to make it fire safe

Anyway if they flatten it and rebuild something nice, in a hundred years they'll be saying "look at that fine building they built back in 2018"

whisky_galore

gctest50 wrote: »

Anyway if they flatten it and rebuild something nice, in a hundred years they'll be saying "look at that fine building they built back in 2018"

LOL!

There's precious few things built now that look nice.

The ubiquitous glass box or something with a really expensive price tag that manages to look cheap. One thing is for sure, it'll never be a Mount Vernon.

leeside11

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

Just reading up on it there. Maybe you're right, better off the cursed place gone

Spooky place:
http://www.abandonedireland.com/skv.html

My dad used to deliver food up there in 1950s , he used to see the patients out in the field pulling turnips out of the ground and eating them. They were wretched conditions up there.

Sephiroth_dude

Could you actually get into the building? or was there security on site 24/7?

leeside11

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Could you actually get into the building? or was there security on site 24/7?

You could find a way in around the back somewhere.
Loads of videos on YouTube

Belle E. Flops

Drone footage of it today.

What is wrong with these people!?

Roger Hassenforder

mastershake wrote: »

You do realise that your equating a building to a living thing there.The building didn't make a conscious decision to lock people up.
Unfortunately Ireland's indifference to its built heritage continues.

Thanks for the schooling! I hadnt realised calling a building spooky would equate it to a living thing, There was I thinking the building drove around collecting the mentally unwell of cork and transporting them there, and keeping then there.

It was of such cultural heritage it was left fall apart and rot. That was Irelands indifference to its built heritage. More indifference was (from what I've read up on it overnight) the fact it was a moniment to suffering, misery, neglect, torture and degradation of human beings abandoned by society.
Maybe your cultural outrage might be more appropriately directed towards people, seeing as you're the expert on living things!

boardsuser1

According to Gerry Myers of Cork city fire brigade, one gable wall either collapsed or partially collapsed last night, i'm not too upto date on building design etc, but this is worse than the good shepherd fire in 2012 i've been told. That building is being redeveloped though.

pwurple

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

Thanks for the schooling! I hadnt realised calling a building spooky would equate it to a living thing, There was I thinking the building drove around collecting the mentally unwell of cork and transporting them there, and keeping then there.

It was of such cultural heritage it was left fall apart and rot. That was Irelands indifference to its built heritage. More indifference was (from what I've read up on it overnight) the fact it was a moniment to suffering, misery, neglect, torture and degradation of human beings abandoned by society.
Maybe your cultural outrage might be more appropriately directed towards people, seeing as you're the expert on living things!

Every single piece of built heritage in this country is subject to indifference, or worse, blocking of development. Vernon Mount house put through numerous planning submissions which were all rejected, until the owner gave up. Look at George Boole's house. The thing f-ing collapsed, and they only refurbed when there was international coverage with Boole 200.

It's our history, our heritage, erasing it does nothing except appease those who want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend it never happened. Repeating exactly what was done at the time.

Hide it, cover it up, pretend it didn't happen.

Sound familiar?

It's a revolting attitude.

whisky_galore

At the risk of invoking Godwin's, by that logic, maybe they should have bulldozed the likes of Dachau, Auschwitz, redeveloped the Killing Fields etc. because they offended so much?

Or keep it local, pull down the Cork Gaol or the buildings on Spike Island because bad stuff happened there too?

Yeah sure keep the happy clappy bits of Irish culture as we still can't face up to the parts of our history that make us squirm.

HSE should have flogged it during the boom. Muppets.

zilog_jones

whisky_galore wrote: »

At the risk of invoking Godwin's, by that logic, maybe they should have bulldozed the likes of Dachau, Auschwitz, redeveloped the Killing Fields etc. because they offended so much?

Or keep it local, pull down the Cork Gaol or the buildings on Spike Island because bad stuff happened there too?

Yeah sure keep the happy clappy bits of Irish culture as we still can't face up to the parts of our history that make us squirm.

You can't save them all.

What's now called Atkins Hall is going to be kept at least - that's a significant building for many reasons (moreso than St. Kevin's) - unfortunately even that is half derelict with significant fire damage, despite some of it (the west end) being redeveloped and occupied. I'm not sure there's really a precedent to keep St. Kevin's, and all the other related buildings in that area - it's a crazy amount of valuable land that's going to waste.

I lived in Atkins Hall for about a year around 2010 - security was pretty poor, with frequent suspicious traffic to/from St. Kevin's. Security consisted of some sporadic/broken temporary fencing, and a man in a car who was asleep half the time. There were many points of entry to the grounds around the place. Was not a nice place to live in (the apartments were built to a very poor standard as well).

I think they would have been better off cleaning up the place and leaving the grounds open to the public and somewhat maintained. The half-assed attempts at blocking it off probably just made it more attractive to anti-social behaviour. Too late now, anyway!

whisky_galore

zilog_jones wrote: »

You can't save them all.

What you mean is we can hardly save anything.

The situ in Atkins Hall is just symptomatic of the many half arsed ways things get done in this country.
Most everything is slapped-together, bargain bucket standard 'shur it'll do'.

the_syco

In fairness, St Columba’s Lunatic Asylum (Sligo) closed in 1992, and was only developed as the Clarion Hotel in 2005 by an American business. And that was nice before they started work on it.

the_syco

Augeo wrote: »

HSE should have flogged it during the boom. Muppets.

After it had just been shut? Can't see anyone wanting the place at the time.

the_syco

the_syco wrote: »

After it had just been shut? Can't see anyone wanting the place at the time.

Well if no one wanted it during a building boom ...................

Hopefully the scum are caught. Was a fine building to look up at. Modern apartments could have been built there while retaining the look of the building but now it will have to be flattened.

Apparently there is some squatting there by homeless people also so lucky no one was killed.

boardsuser1

Iker Easy Indigo wrote: »

Hopefully the scum are caught. Was a fine building to look up at. Modern apartments could have been built there while retaining the look of the building but now it will have to be flattened.

Apparently there is some squatting there by homeless people also so lucky no one was killed.

Have engineers confirmed demolition?

Junkyard Tom

pwurple wrote: »

These are Cork's pyramids, our empire state building.

Sorry, but I had a bit of a chuckle to myself at the comparisons. Our passage graves would be Ireland's equivalent to the Pyramids and our Castles would be far more iconic than the Empire state.

I've mixed feelings about the building. On the one hand it has historic significance but on the other I could imagine a lot of tortured souls being released to the heavens as it went up in flames.

BlinkingLights

The building does have a horrible history, as do many others, but architecturally speaking it was and still is an important piece of Cork's 19th century heritage.

At the very least, whoever is redeveloping this should have to keep it looking like it does from the front.

There's a big issue with some of these institutional buildings as there is no commercial interest in refurbishing them and making them into something useful and the sheer scale of this one would make that even more difficult.

The costs involved in a full refurbishment are likely to be astronomical. So I would imagine the best case scenario now is probably keeping the facade.

That being said, I think the long, earlier stone building, the old Eglinton Asylum actually is probably far more architecturally significant and is a really stunning piece.

The philosophy behind those early institutions was quite progressive. They believed (correctly) that if you created a restful, pleasant environment that you would encourage people with mental illnesses to recuperate. That's why the very old building is located in a pleasant place, with an amazing view, nice landscaping and very good architecture.

In the later part of the 19th century there was a swing towards extremely negative ideas about the mentally ill and the early days of psychiatry took some very brutal, unscientific and physical approaches to dealing with mental illness. Couple that with abusive laws that were often designed to get people out of the way and the genuine problems causing a huge amount of mental illness - grinding poverty issues, families being split up and emigration under very bad circumstances and the all with the famine in the background and you can see why Ireland had a vast mental health issue in that period.

That's when you started to see those vast institutions warehousing people.

I think if you could work with the old Eglantine Asylum's original positive history and appreciate it for what the architects intended, not what the 19th century owners used it for, we might be able to at least see it for what it should have been. It was designed and built to be a place of healing, even if its later history was rather different.

It's also an extremely important example of Cork and Irish design, architecture and craftsmanship.

boardsuser1

Thomas Gould's summing up of this is disturbing me.

Tony Fitzgerald is just someone who loves the camera.

http://www.tv3.ie/news_sub_page.php?video_id=128529&locID=1.2.883

BlinkingLights

Given that the building is currently owned by a state agency, I would have my doubts that anyone was concerned about getting around preservation orders. Act of vandalism / someone lighting a fire inside and unintentionally causing it seems most likely.

I would worry though that they will still not find a developer as the scale of the building is so large and the interior (at least from what I've seen online) seems to be very unsuited to any modern use.

The only thing I could think it could perhaps be redeveloped into is a hotel.

shamrock55

That building has a shocking past that you wouldn't see in a horror movie,it should have been knocked 50yrs ago

Spanish Eyes

I'm not from Cork. Is it the red bricked building in this map?

What a fab location. Is the grey building redeveloped now?

Such a waste of a building and a site. Why was it left for so long.

Thanks for the info Corkies!

https://www.google.ie/maps/@51.8933339,-8.5109198,3a,75y,7.19h,97.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sK0i6fhPjorjnjUBHoj9fGA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

refusetolose

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

I'm not from Cork. Is it the red bricked building in this map?

yes thats it, the grey one is apartments now

Spanish Eyes

refusetolose wrote: »

yes thats it, the grey one is apartments now

Thanks,

It is in a wonderful location isn't it. I am baffled as to why it was left to rot for so long. Or why it wasn't sold on or levelled and redeveloped.

The grey building looks like a hospital or institution too, what was it do you know? Lovely building too, so big!, And looks great from the opposite side of the river. Good to see it has been preserved, it looks fab.

boardsuser1

refusetolose wrote: »

yes thats it, the grey one is apartments now

And even that isn't fully renovated due to arson in 2010.