Building after the British left

A distinctive Irish (?) design to be seen in many towns is that of "Technical School Art Deco" - the one in Enniscorthy (below) survives in use as the local library. Not an attractive style in my opinion but unusual

And here's a useless abomination built by the State shortly after the Republic was declared.


http://www.irisharchitectureawards.ie/gold-medal/winner/busaras

Dublin Airport opened in 1940 - not wildly attractive but fit for purpose unlike Bus Aras which was a triumph of design over functionality.

Cedrus wrote: »

That is a personal opinion which is not shared universally as evidenced by the title of the photo you quote
www.irisharchitectureawards.ie/images/gold-medal/gold_busaras.jpg

In my opinion, Busaras is a fabulous building with extraordinary detail, the mosaics alone are worthy of awards. Sadly it has not been maintained to anything like the standard it deserves, indeed this is the fate of many buildings whether old or new architecture.

Of course it's a personal opinion - but one shared by many. If you examine the bus station itself, it has been shoe horned into the building like it was an afterthought. That's a personal opinion too!

One must remember that many of the architects of the Independence era were trained in England and were heavily influenced by what was happening there - prior to 1922 the majority of potential clients in Ireland were English or Anglo-Irish; after the 1922 period many of the works commissioned were from the same people, including the re-building of homes burned down. Many of the other works were commercial, e.g. banks, which always took on an air of ‘classical solidity’ to give the right image, so ‘new/modern/different’ is not a good idea.

Boyd Barrett who designed the Art Deco 1930’s Dept. of Industry and Commerce building on Kildare St. was Irish and trained here. However, much of the immediate the post-Independence work was reinstatement or social housing, so design one house and copy it X 100’s – Some of the landlords who were ‘burned out’ were allowed sell their compensation from central government to county/city councils for a percentage of the value. The councils were building 3 up 2 down type houses for the ‘working classes’, so that discount enabled them to build many more and was an important factor in developing the housing stock. Croydon Park in Fairview Dublin 3 is a typical example of that type of housing. Story here

Busarus - I too find it difficult to accept the ‘greatness’ of Michael Scott – perhaps because I’m not a fan of most of his architecture, including Busarus (which some say he had little input on). His firm (eventually Scott Tallon Walker) had some great buildings, e.g. the Carrolls factory in Dundalk, the Goulding house in Enniskerry, the Bank of Ireland on Baggot St., etc. but they were from the Mies-ian influence of the other partners, rather than from Scott himself.

For 20th century Irish architects I’m a big fan of Kevin Roche

I also believe that too many Irish people have no taste or aesthetic sense with regard to housing. Just walk around with your eyes open and see the dross....

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I might have been happy just to see houses or buildings with a wee bit of celtic design. I Googled 'Celtic style house' and found roundhouses, found in Ireland and Wales. A skilled Architect could produce something modern with that design, couldnt he/she? This might be seen as an attempt, but I'm not taken with it myself: http://www.mernagh.ie/pc_ch1_hse.htm though I do like the roundhouses. Still just my opinion mind.

Google images [ Pat McAuliffe stucco work Listowel ] and you should get plenty of Celtic embellishment! Some of his work is in Abbeyfeale also - dates to the late 1800's.
That 'round house' #2 is very like another from the late 1960's - will have to find the reference.

As for skilled architects providing the design - yes, they could, but it would not get past the planners ! 'You want to build a what? A Tower? It's round, like a chimney and HOW HIGH???? WHAT!!?? Go back to your monks and tell them that we have height restrictions here!

Cedrus wrote: »

........, but there is also the fact that developers are scared/ won't risk being different .......

They are not scared / won’t risk being different – they are greedy, want the most for the least and have no taste – look at what Zoe Developments threw up, look at the unimaginative blight outside most villages, look at the homes where the recent crop of developers lived – bling, in your face tat, unless of course they used a ‘designer’ instead of the latest wife.

Cedrus wrote: »

To my mind, the cardinal sin of estate house owners when they get over the hump of their mortgage, is they add a porch/verandah with a PILLAR. A big white absolutely inappropriate fluted concrete pillar. "It adds a touch of class" they say, NO, it doesn't, the grand house style you think you're emulating takes more than a pillar.

They sin long before that.
Gardens – no idea of what a garden should do or be. Total absence of planting. It is worse in the country, where new houses are built and years later they get around to ‘doing’ a lawn with a row of leylandii around the edges. Straight line driveways, black tarmac, a blueyellowred plastic swing and wendyhouse in a corner, everything in your face ‘look what we have achieved!’

The now ubiquitous ****ty plastic conservatory with a half wall (and usually no exterior door!) is IMO as bad as the pillared porch.

The stupidity (and growing frequency) of the crass exposure of random rubble walls with raised ‘pointing’ highlighted by brick window surrounds.

The insistence of stone cladding in rural Ireland as being ‘traditional’ – no it’s bloody not, never was, even cottier houses were mortared and limewashed.

The worst by far are the omnipresent awful windows – plastic ‘glazing bars’ inserted BETWEEN the panes, horrible clunky PVC frames, windows that ‘flap’ instead of being sliding sash, plastic front doors with bits of coloured glass inset. Not to mention the iron-on lead strips to give that ‘Tudor’ look!

Rant over!