Wood Quay: what exactly was lost?

Ready4Boarding

Was over there today and must confess I really like the Civic Office buildings. Stephenson's bunkers have aged well IMO, helped by the glass atrium between them which wasn't part of the original design. The long building facing the quays softens the austereness (though it's less impressive at the front) and the landscaping is great. Now added to my long list of favourite perspectives of Dublin is that looking up at the bunkers with Christ Church steeple looming behind - a combination of A and B, neither of which does it justice.

But what was lost during construction? From a cursory search, they seem to have extracted most of the artifacts and preserved a section of wall as part of an underused events venue. Was much left unexcavated or destroyed? What could have been achieved by abandoning construction of the Offices.

spurious

If they had built the two built bunkers on the site of the unbuilt bunkers (there were originally four planned) they could have kept the streets and workshops they uncovered and built a protective museum over them. On the lines of the Rynek underground in Krakow.

wakka12

I think appreciation for the buildings has grown over time. I think it's a nice building but the location is poorly chosen and divides the greater city from the liberties. It is a protected structure now, not that it matters, DCC would never move! I believe that what was uncovered beneath were the most extensive remains of viking era urban settlement outside of Scandinavia, it would probably be Dublin's major point of interest today had it been maintained in that spot . That museum in Krakow looks unreal!

Not as historically important but I think what they demolished at the quayside was a pity too and destroyed the unbroken continuity and uniformity of the South quays. But even if they had demolished those buildings and maintained a museum there would also be a stunning view of the entirety of the cathedral from the Liffey. Views of it while the council buildings were under construction were pretty spectacular.

Nearly like Edinburgh's castle hill!
Apart from that I think the whole legendary infamy surrounding the ordeal is the fact that the government continued with a project in spite of such widespread and virulent opposition from such a large segment of society..it really couldnt be described as anything but scandalous behaviour..imagine that happening today..now they give up entire expensive city centre sites and make them into parks because a few local council families said they werent happy

Ready4Boarding

wakka12 wrote: »

I think appreciation for the buildings has grown over time. I think it's a nice building but the location is poorly chosen and divides the greater city from the liberties. It is a protected structure now, not that it matters, DCC would never move! I believe that what was uncovered beneath were the most extensive remains of viking era urban settlement outside of Scandinavia, it would probably be Dublin's major point of interest today had it been maintained in that spot . That museum in Krakow looks unreal!

Not as historically important but I think what they demolished at the quayside was a pity too and destroyed the unbroken continuity and uniformity of the South quays. But even if they had demolished those buildings and maintained a museum there would also be a stunning view of the entirety of the cathedral from the Liffey. Views of it while the council buildings were under construction were pretty spectacular.

Nearly like Edinburgh's castle hill!
Apart from that I think the whole legendary infamy surrounding the ordeal is the fact that the government continued with a project in spite of such widespread and virulent opposition from such a large segment of society..it really couldnt be described as anything but scandalous behaviour..imagine that happening today..now they give up entire expensive city centre sites and make them into parks because a few local council families said they werent happy

I think I'm conditioned by contemporary NIMBYism to assume that such civic resistance is wrong-headed aversion to change. But I'm wrong, aren't I? These house foundations are remarkably intact.

I just can't understand why the development would have been allowed go ahead. I'd be really interested to see their logic. I suppose it was a time when Dublin was economically and socially stagnant, and when the likes of Sam Stephenson, TK Whitaker, Mary Robinson were frantically trying to bring about progress. In such circumstances, the importance of heritage is often ignored. That, and the absence of conservation-minded planners!

Perhaps the finest block in Dublin is the one between Merrion and Kildare Street. (The dream would be to open up the Kildare Street plaza and Leinster Lawn to the public, somehow connecting them, but that's probably not going to happen!) But I remember reading that there was opposition to the construction of (I think) the Natural History Museum because it would encumber views of the existing buildings. And it caused me to think that the construction of practically every building of note involved a tradeoff - loss of green space, obstruction of a view, opportunity to construct something else in its place. With every gain you lose something. So I'm very torn between conservation and renewal. But that vista of Christ Church atop a hill sloping down to the Liffey would be pretty special if there today.

spurious

Wood Quay 1968

spurious

1970s




1980s

Ready4Boarding

Great pictures. ‘68 Wood Quay certainly wasn’t anything special!

ollaetta

Ready4Boarding wrote: »

Great pictures. ‘68 Wood Quay certainly wasn’t anything special!

By '68 they had begun to buy up and demolish some of the buildings. This pic gives and idea of what it looked like before that.

The area around Christchurch was also hugely historical - called Hell (similar to Monto in terms of the erm, nocturnal activities that went on there : P