Would you like to live in a place called "The Orphanage?"

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

The former ‘Bird’s Nest’ orphanage in Dun Laoghaire has been turned into a “luxury co-living” residence – and is being called ‘The Orphanage’.

With an address at 19-20 York Road, the property was used as an orphanage up until its closure in 1975 and housed about 180 children at any one time. Irish football legend Paul McGrath also lived there for a short period.

DublinGazette


Sounds delightful! O_o

Imagine coming home from a long day at work with a headache to The Orphanage?

It even has a nice nickname all ready "The Birds Nest" Why not name it that instead or something similarly homely, lol



https://dublingazette.com/news/former-dun-laoghaire-orphanage-turned-into-luxury-co-living-residence-41028/

I'd live in "The Asbestos Parlour" if it were affordable.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd live in "The Asbestos Parlour" if it were affordable.

Touché!

:pac:

Woke Hogan

Think for a moment about the thousands of poor children who actually had to grow up in orphanages. They didn't have the luxury to be afraid of just the place's name but the reality of living in a grim, loveless hole.

Deebles McBeebles

Woke Hogan wrote: »

a grim, loveless hole.

My ex had one of those.

Riskymove

Deebles McBeebles wrote: »

My ex had one of those.

until she dumped you is it?

Ipso

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd live in "The Asbestos Parlour" if it were affordable.

Or Fritzel’s basement.

Ipso

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd live in "The Asbestos Parlour" if it were affordable.

Or Fritzel’s basement.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Woke Hogan wrote: »

Think for a moment about the thousands of poor children who actually had to grow up in orphanages. They didn't have the luxury to be afraid of just the place's name but the reality of living in a grim, loveless hole.

Yeah, for sure!

Whataboutery aside, still doesn't negate the fact it's a it's a ****ty name for apartments. It's a product to be sold on to new people with zero attachment or relation to orphanages and what may or may not have been terrible about them. It's people just looking for a place to put a roof over their head.

Bit like calling a new estate Potato Blight or something. Yeah, must have been terrible for people that suffered. Doesnt mean I think it's a good idea to name an estate built over an old village affected by potato famine/genocide.

Deebles McBeebles

My address is 12 E-Voting Machine Lane.

Muahahaha

Some of the names of new developments are ridiculous, I passed an apartment development the other day in Rathgar which is being named St. Pancras, developers are now just lifting names directly from London.

riffmongous

“When you are there, it will become your adopted home,” the spokesperson added.

Eugh, shocking name and idea imo.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Ipso wrote: »

Or Fritzel’s basement.

I would name it "Fritzel Palace" as it kind of has a nicer ring to it, like Crystal Palace only more sordid and rapier.

Dr. Bre

Fritzl Palace

Lux23

I work in a former asylum, can you imagine they turned it into housing and called it the Asylum - you have to be mad to live here!!!

DEFTLEFTHAND

Guaranteed to be haunted. :eek:

beejee

"co-living" aka the return of tenements.

A vomit flower by any other name would smell just as nice

hatrickpatrick

A friend of mine is about to lose her apartment in Dun Laoghaire for which she was paying €1,200 per month (owner needs it back for a family member) - that's a kitchen, living room, bathroom and double bedroom. This place is asking for the same price and you don't even get your own living space. This is exactly what's wrong with the idea that we should regard housing as a mere commodity and allow market forces to dictate it, without thinking about how much it's f*cking up peoples' lives.

Samuel T. Cogley

As longs as it's not Somewhere Villas I'm sure it'll be grand :pac:

is_that_so

beejee wrote: »

"co-living" aka the return of tenements.

A vomit flower by any other name would smell just as nice

Not such a terrible thing actually and suits people of a certain age and inclination. This one is aimed at business market.

branie2

no

TeaBagMania

Turquoise Hexagon Sun wrote: »

Would you like to live in a place called "The Orphanage?"

Yep, and id start adopting girls between the ages of 18 and 19

Lillyfae

There was a squat in The Hague in the 90s FULL of Irish people that was known as "The Orphanage"

Read all about it: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin//showthread.php?t=2057394284

hatrickpatrick

They've decided to rename it and apologised for the insensitivity - IMO it was a mistake to focus the outrage on the naming of it, because the real issue here is the price that's being asked for such a sh!te living experience. You're essentially renting a room in a shared house for €1,200 per month, this is not something we should be allowing to happen as a society. I have nothing against house sharing or co-living per se - if, as the people running this are saying, it's designed for a company to book all four rooms for four co-workers to live together I can imagine it being good craic with the right mix of people, just like a house or flat share during college can be - but €1,200 was, just one year ago, the average asking price to have a whole flat to yourself.

Asking four people to share a kitchen and living room and pay €1,200 each is monstrous, and the problem is that if we allow the precedent to be set that this is the standard of living one should expect for such a rent, it is guaranteed that once a few of these have been built in the area, the cost of renting an actual flat will skyrocket to even more unacceptable levels than it already has.

I obviously have a declared vested interest in being pissed off about this, as the woman I mentioned a few posts ago is being evicted from her €1,200 per month rental apartment which she only rented exactly one year ago, and is now faced with accepting a far, far lower quality of life for far, far more money than she was already paying. It's heartbreaking enough when it's happening to someone you know, but even beyond that, the wider and longer term societal implications of what we're allowing to happen are absolutely appalling.

Edgware

I'd be more offended by being ripped off at 1200 a month

hatrickpatrick

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

A friend of mine is about to lose her apartment in Dun Laoghaire for which she was paying €1,200 per month (owner needs it back for a family member) - that's a kitchen, living room, bathroom and double bedroom. This place is asking for the same price and you don't even get your own living space. This is exactly what's wrong with the idea that we should regard housing as a mere commodity and allow market forces to dictate it, without thinking about how much it's f*cking up peoples' lives.

Market forces are turning down planning for multi unit developments every day now are they?

It's the State's planning process that is restricting supply yet the market gets the blame so that the likes of you can further your ideology.

Maybe if more high rise was allowed by the Council and ABP, housing would become more affordable.

hatrickpatrick

salonfire wrote: »

Market forces are turning down planning for multi unit developments every day now are they?

It's the State's planning process that is restricting supply yet the market gets the blame so that the likes of you can further your ideology.

Maybe if more high rise was allowed by the Council and ABP, housing would become more affordable.

I absolutely agree that we should allow more high rise, but more direct action is needed in the meantime. RPZ's should include limits on pricing based on the type of housing being rented out, etc. As a democratic society, we set laws around pricing and selling of various things all the time, to do the same with housing shouldn't be seen as such a massively radical step. The basis of Irish independence literally started off as a protest against landlords price gouging their tenants FFS.

There are various ways we could achieve this, various mechanisms we could calculate what should be regarded as an acceptable rent for people to pay (base it on average take home pay, base it on the CPI, base it on a maximum rent per square metre, etc) but the current paradigm in which "housing is nothing but a cash cow so people are free to charge however much they can get away with, despite the consequences for individual quality of life for people trying to rent" is absolutely appalling.

There are simply some things which society should regard as fundamentally important for its own wellbeing and functioning, and not allow to be treated as just a way of milking actual human beings for as much as one can get away with. Those who are renting out this development at such a ridiculous price per room are doing something which is fundamentally morally wrong, and as a democratic society we have a right to talk about what we will and will not allow to happen. We do it all the time. We did it before, in the history of this island.

ILoveYourVibes

Turquoise Hexagon Sun wrote: »

DublinGazette


Sounds delightful! O_o

Imagine coming home from a long day at work with a headache to The Orphanage?

It even has a nice nickname all ready "The Birds Nest" Why not name it that instead or something similarly homely, lol



https://dublingazette.com/news/former-dun-laoghaire-orphanage-turned-into-luxury-co-living-residence-41028/

At least it shows respect for what it formerly was though so people don't forget.

I wouldn't mind living there.

Muahahaha

Muahahaha wrote: »

Some of the names of new developments are ridiculous, I passed an apartment development the other day in Rathgar which is being named St. Pancras, developers are now just lifting names directly from London.

As far as I'm aware it's national policy that new developments be given names that reflect local history. Certainly for DCC any new name needs to be approved by a Heritage officer. In this case there was a St. Pancras house on the site previously, as well as a St. Pancras works, hence the name. That said, I'm sure the developer here appreciated the link.

tabby aspreme

Muahahaha wrote: »

Some of the names of new developments are ridiculous, I passed an apartment development the other day in Rathgar which is being named St. Pancras, developers are now just lifting names directly from London.

That development is in Terenure, you don't want to be upsetting the humble people of Rathgar, by getting addresses mixed up.

whisky_galore

beejee wrote: »

"co-living" aka the return of tenements.

A vomit flower by any other name would smell just as nice

"Family hub" sounds like a cosy name for a crowded hell hole.

Instead of building stuff, the govt and their developer buddies give inoffensive names to half arsed measures.

ILoveYourVibes

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Guaranteed to be haunted. :eek:

By good ghosts.

whisky_galore

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

By good ghosts.

The ghosts there are nice.

They just recite nursery rhymes slowly as you try to get some sleep, isn't that cute?

SeanW

Turquoise Hexagon Sun wrote: »

DublinGazette


Sounds delightful! O_o

Imagine coming home from a long day at work with a headache to The Orphanage?

It even has a nice nickname all ready "The Birds Nest" Why not name it that instead or something similarly homely, lol



https://dublingazette.com/news/former-dun-laoghaire-orphanage-turned-into-luxury-co-living-residence-41028/

Forget the name - what in the name of Sam Hill is "luxury co-living?" Because that sounds like an oxymoron.

Like the skinny fatso. Or the broke millionaire, or a sober drunk, a contradiction in terms.

ILoveYourVibes

whisky_galore wrote: »

The ghosts there are nice.

They just recite nursery rhymes slowly as you try to get some sleep, isn't that cute?

Sad and cute.

But true. I wouldn't be afraid of the ghosts there at all.

Unless its the people who ran it. They are bad ghosts.

Spanish Eyes

Reported in IT today that developers have apologised for the name "The Orphanage" and will change it.

To what I don't know, but possibly the "Birds Nest". We shall see.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/orphanage-owners-apologise-for-tone-deaf-naming-decision-1.3946687

Spanish Eyes

SeanW wrote: »

Forget the name - what in the name of Sam Hill is "luxury co-living?" Because that sounds like an oxymoron.

Like the skinny fatso. Or the broke millionaire, or a sober drunk, a contradiction in terms.

Introvert hell. Most people just want to close their door at night and live whatever way they want without having to interract with many others while waiting for the cooker to be free. Who monitors the Fridge, and all that jazz.

But it suits some, however it is pricey for what you get.

ILoveYourVibes

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Reported in IT today that developers have apologised for the name "The Orphanage" and will change it.

To what I don't know, but possibly the "Birds Nest". We shall see.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/orphanage-owners-apologise-for-tone-deaf-naming-decision-1.3946687

I don't think I would want to live there then. Feels like brushing it under the carpet.

Strumms

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd live in "The Asbestos Parlour" if it were affordable.

Takes your breath away

Whoever decided to retain ‘the orphanage’ for a residential set of apartments is a total bonkers fûckwit.

Mrs OBumble

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

A friend of mine is about to lose her apartment in Dun Laoghaire for which she was paying €1,200 per month (owner needs it back for a family member) - that's a kitchen, living room, bathroom and double bedroom. This place is asking for the same price and you don't even get your own living space. This is exactly what's wrong with the idea that we should regard housing as a mere commodity and allow market forces to dictate it, without thinking about how much it's f*cking up peoples' lives.

Does that 1200 include electricity, heating, broadband, bins, a weekly professional clean?


For single, working adults, individual apartments are a great waste of resources. the kitchen's used for maybe an hour a day (less if they have a decent canteen at work) and the living area only a bit longer. One person pays the whole daily charge for utilities. And if they die or get sick, they might not be found for weeks or months. Co-living isn't for everyone, but it's good for some.


If the building is locally known as The Orphanage anyways, I cannot see the problem

hatrickpatrick

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Does that 1200 include electricity, heating, broadband, bins, a weekly professional clean?

Not sure about the bins and electricity, I'll ask her. I know she has her own subscription to Virgin Media and that covers both broadband and TV.

For single, working adults, individual apartments are a great waste of resources. the kitchen's used for maybe an hour a day (less if they have a decent canteen at work) and the living area only a bit longer. One person pays the whole daily charge for utilities. And if they die or get sick, they might not be found for weeks or months. Co-living isn't for everyone, but it's good for some.

To clarify, it's a one-bedroom apartment with its own bathroom, kitchenette and living room which doubles as a study (sofa, dinner table and TV on one side, writing desk on the other).

It's not wasted on her, as she works from home as a writer for various publications and digital marketing companies (I can tell you from experience that trying to work in any creative field in a cramped space is nigh impossible, as, for most people, is trying to work creatively with company), and is a very social person so has regular social events for her friends and family in the apartment (everything from cards and movie nights to birthdays etc - something which would be extremely difficult to manage if the living room and eating areas are shared with four other individuals with their own social lives. For someone like her who spends her days working and most of her evenings hosting guests socially, this living arrangement would be hell on Earth.

That's not the main issue, as well - the real point here is that this was the standard one could expect for that kind of price just one year ago, and certainly two years ago. Most two-bedroom apartments with their own living space in the area are currently going for somewhere around the €1,600-€1,900 mark. The fact that that €1,200 rent (which last year and the year before would have easily paid for a one bedroom apartment with private living space and kitchen facilities) now involves jettisoning the private living room and kitchen aspect of one's life, represents an utterly insane level of price inflation in a very short space of time, and this is hideously bad for society.

That's something we need to talk about politically in my view - whether we can tolerate the societal harm which results from this kind of price inflation, and whether we should continue to accept "tough, that's the free market and that's just how it is" as an answer when we talk about it. In a democracy, all of these things should be regularly up for discussion.

If the building is locally known as The Orphanage anyways, I cannot see the problem

I agree that the name is the secondary issue here, I think the problem is that the whole co-living for previously apartment-worthy rental prices thing is regarded as a step entirely in the wrong direction by many people, and since the word "orphanage" conjures mental images of squalor and poverty, the fact that the people who are choosing to ask such an astronomical price for so little in return are being "tongue in cheek" about it is regarded as a massive "f*ck you" to society in general.

suicide_circus

that film El Orfanato was creepy as fook so i dont want to live in an orphanage thanks