1920 – Former Clery’s Department Store, O’Connell Street, Dublin

Architect: Ashlin & Coleman

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A Dublin landmark – opposite the General Post Office on O’Connell Street, Clery’s has for generations being a Dublin and indeed Irish tradition – meeting under the clock being a favorite place for couples down through the years. The second Clery’s Store on this site – the first was destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising, it is heavily based on the Selfridges Store in London. Smaller than Selfridges, Clery’s is much more monumental with a giant classical row of columns above continuous uninterrupted shop windows set in large bronze frames. The interior is quite well preserved containing its original bifurcating staircase leading to the first floor and columns. The store closed in mid 2015.

“Further alone on the same side, are Messrs. Clery’s great new premises, which will have a very extensive frontage, and be directly opposite the G.P.O. Messrs. Clery’s premises are still only in skeleton form, being designed on the Hennebique system throughout, and they are to be faced entirely with Portland stone. The building is not yet sufficiently far advanced to judge its architectural qualities, but it should be an imposing structure, owing to its size and scale. The architects are Messrs. Ashlin and Coleman”. The Architect, March 11 1921.