Temple Bar

The historic Temple Bar area of Dublin City is bounded on the north by the river Liffey, to the east the old Houses of Parliament, to the west Fishamble Street and to the south Dame Street. During the 1960s and 1970s Coras Iompair Eireann (CIE) acquired much of the area as the site of a major new urban bus centre. This plan was abandoned and the Irish government established Temple Bar Properties with the objective of development within the context of an architectural and cultural framework. A limited competition was held in 1991 for an architectural frame work and this was won by Group 91 Architects (a loose grouping of young architectural practices). As a result of the cultural framework many galleries, archives and exhibition spaces have been built in the area including the Irish Film Centre, a multimedia centre, the National Film Archives, the National Photographic Archives and a Cultural Centre for Children.