O’Connell Bridge House

Oh come on, when you look at it from this angle, its a dog

http://www.archeire.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/southcity/dolier_street/oconnell_bridge_house_lge.html

I used to love sitting in the spanish pasta place on D’Olier St. and imagine I was in new york… Try these… one before window renovation and one after. I think they did a good job although I liked the rythm of the old windows better. They concentrated on the verticals which worked well..

and this after

I feel OConnell Bridge House looks as well as it possibly can. The thing is it should never have been built there as it is out of place totally.
Liberty Hall on the other hand has a better location and adds to the skyline from the Ha’penny Bridge angle at least. But It could do with an overall – new windows. I dont think it should be knocked or anything like that as it is as much part of our history as any other building.

This is an interesting little frackas, to which I’ll add more photographic evidence supporting this nice (but strangely placed) structure….

number one
number two
number three

And that was a fantastic clean up job…

fjp

I never thought mcuh of this building… its too monolithic looking, especially for D’Olier Street. I would have been much better situated on the southside of Matt Talbot bridge (whats that quay – City?). But I suppose we must put up with what we have, its such a shame though.

I agree with the obvious difference that recladding has had. It looks much better.

There is a current recladding project going on at the top of Pearse Street – beside the GArda Station. It was an ugly concrete clad 60’s yoke… any ideas or pics as to what it will end up like. I thinks its called Joyce House.

Shame on all you O’ Connell Bridge House worshippers!!! It is monsterously placed, towering above all surrounding buildings and streets, grossly out of scale with the area and the city as a whole. It destroys the low-rise character of the city centre, wreeks havoc on it’s skyline and intrudes itself in the most ingnorant and brutish way imaginable onto the plaza-like area of O’ Connell Bridge.

Whereas the recladding has made it look very streamlined and contemporary, nothing short of complete demolition could improve this pile of monsterous rubbish!

Na …I think it is a good anchor point here, the bridge here is quite broad to sustain a high anchor point.
I’m just sorry that the make over it recently got was’nt more stylish. It has a cluttered roof. I think it could be a lot better.
The Ballast Office across the way is ridiculous…It was demolished and rebuilt in the 1980’s …only to house today the tacky frontage Carroll’s etc…It is an anachronism.
The 3 buildings here at O’Connell Bridge; they being O Connell Bridge House, the cutie Victorian like pile in the middle that housed the Man U superstore and the afore mentioned Ballast Office would be better if they were replaced by 3 contemporary stylish sister buildings. (The one in the middle could be removed and built elsewhere if it has any architectural merit) This area is a focal point for the city too …..it could become a comtemporary version of College Green.

I agree with you on the Ballast House, its a fairly grotty reproduction. But its probably considered more important for its contribution to completion of the terrace of Westmoreland Street than its contribution to the bridgescape.

Wasn’t the original plan to build two O’Connell Bridge houses, the other being on the site of Ballast House?
The original Ballast house was destroyed to make way for the second building but there was a public outcry and it was subsequently rebuilt.
Two O’Connell bridge houses framing the victorian building in the centre would make a great set piece coming down O’Connell Street.

Originally posted by StephenC
There is a current recladding project going on at the top of Pearse Street – beside the GArda Station. It was an ugly concrete clad 60’s yoke… any ideas or pics as to what it will end up like. I thinks its called Joyce House.

That would be Goldsmith House. It has really been stripped back to a shell.

I pulled this off the OPW site:

This six-story office development constructed in 1975 is State owned and is located at one of the busiest traffic junctions in the city. Work in connection with its complete refurbishment both externally and internally commenced in June 2002 and are due for completion in June 2003.

The existing building has been stripped back to the concrete frame and is to be reclad using stone and feature glazing with modern performance glass. The new zinc roof incorporates two new floors (727m) with a set back penthouse.

The office space has been completely modernised with suspended ceilings, raised access floors and the provision of mechanical ventilation throughout. The new training centre will be located on the ground floor and will have five training rooms.

O Connell Bridge House haters – don’t you think the building at least off-sets the height of Liberty Hall on the other side?
I’d probably be killed in some quarters for saying this, but I think both buildings form and interesting visual frame for the custom house when looking up the quays. Tourists taking photos from the Ha’penny bridge are usually facing that way, so the view can’t be that bad…

Sorry that the high rise issue has to come back in but it is the major issue involved in O’CBH. Standing in the centre of O’ Connell Bridge looking all around the ‘real city centre’, all one can see is the 5 storey streets stretching out in all directions, charmingly pierced with domes and cupolas of O’ Connell Street and Westmoreland Street, and the further-away spires of the city’s churches. Walking from Stephens Green, through Grafton St, College Green, Westmoreland, the Bridge and finally O’ Connell St, one does not encounter a single building that breaks the code, (the Central Bank is too set back to be noticed to any degree)

If O’ CBH was at least a taller. slenderer landmark building, fair enough, at least it would make a statement, and contrast with the surronding buildings,but it isn’t. It is too fat,stout and medium height to work, and creates the impression of being in a badly planned city. It remindes one exactly of any standard, badly planned,higgeldy piggelty British city, like the centre of Bristol.

It is the one major blight on the character of Dublin, and should be removed.

(I’m not anti-tall. A Docklands reaching for the skies would be a feature in itself for the city)

I still like it, there are far worse buildings that are far more intrusive.

I also like the fact that there is no car spaces with it (although it was a breach of the planning guidelines of the time – and I know the real reason for this), less car spaces=less cars (probably why there was so much difficulty filling the building). Yes the Q-Bar is toss and the loss of the Carlile Building was regretable but we can’t live in a museum.

Hurray for O’Connell Bridge House, boo to half baked nonsense like the Ballast Office reproduction. O’CBH is as much a part of Dublin as the ha’penny bridge, let it be.

I think its close neighbours including and around Hawkins House would qualify for that gong Graham. O’Connell Brdige House is nothing when compared to the planning mess that allowed Tara Street and Hawkins Street get into such an awful state.

Yeah – to alot of people (esp those from outside the pale) – O’CBH is an integral part of Dublin. It has been around for much longer than some of us! It’s vile, hideous and misplaced – but this is planning corruption Ireland we’re talking about here. It’s a part of the skyline (why little Dublin actually has).

I persume your being sarcastic Andrew

Dublin doesn’t really have any “views” as such with the river included. Other than O’CBH, Lib Hall, Ha’penny and the liffey… nicely framed, well balanced view from Essex bridge. It’s what you see coming from the Heuston direction. Four Courts are about all you see going west.

Andrew Duffy’s pic shows that the Loopline doesn’t obliterate all views of the Custom House from the quays…

Well d_d_dallas, I’m from well inside the pale, and I’m not going to start with the true blue dub stuff, but I think O’Connell Bridge house is fine, its just a matter of taste, either you like it or hate it. I just happen to like it

I said it was an integral part of Dublin!
I don’t think it’s the most attractive building in the city – I do like the recladding though. But I think Dublin would be at a loss if it was gone – so I guess I kinda like it in a perverse way!

I’m in the ‘hate it’ clique, indeed seething, blood-boiling, murderously inclined hatred would be more appropriate.

The last word I’ll say on it is that it’s so bad because it is on the city’s main throughfare, it can be seen from head to toe, brazenly dominating the city centre in a manner that Hawkins House and friends can only dream about. It isn’t just an ugly head of a building peering above the city’s 5 storeys, but rather a structure built to be seen, to dominate the surrounding buildings and hence is utterly destructive of the character of the city centre.

The remark about not having to live in a museum is dangerously reminesent of arguements put forward by developers (and notably Sam Stephenson) during the battle for Hume Street and Fitzwilliam Street.

well now if you compare details it’s actually fairly different, but the building above certainly has the same “feeling” as our own little fella.

except the manchester version looks more impressive because it’s taller.

fjp

I quite like O’Connell Bridge House – buth the window renovation? How can you possibly carry out so much expensive work on a building and end up with it looking cheaper and nastier than it did before? I mean – puleeeze, dark tinted windows with shiny aluminium frames? Quelle fashion mistake.

For the full (and sordid) story of the construction of O’Connell Bridge House read Frank McDonald’s “The Destruction of Dublin” pages 34-39.

Some interesting names crop up such as Charlie Haughey, Des Traynor and the Guinness and Mahon Caymon Trust. This is where it all began!

There’s a parking ramp on Hawkin’s Street which probably accesses parking somewhere (?).