IT IS ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA NOT ST. PATRICK – CARMAN’S HALL OFF FRANCIS STREET
When I photographed this building back in 2012 I thought that the statue on the wall was St. Patrick.
There is both a building and a street named Carman’s Hall.
The National Inventory Of Architectural Heritage describes the building as follows: “Freestanding corner-sited nine-bay two-storey former national school, built 1936-39, having curved two-bay three-storey stair hall to south-west corner, playground and shelter to roof, and two-bay two-storey return to rear (north) elevation. Now in use as parish hall and heritage centre. Flat roof hidden behind parapet with concrete coping, having rendered chimneystack and cast-iron rainwater goods to north elevation, and flat-roofed concrete shelter with circular-profile piers adjacent to stair hall to west end. Rendered cross to parapet to front. Rendered walls with roughcast render below continuous sill course to ground floor windows. Statue of the Virgin Mary and raised metal lettering to front elevation. Statue of St. Nicholas of Myra to curved south-west corner.”
Below is information provided be Dublin city Council:
Carman’s Hall is a two storey building located along Carman’s Hall in Dublin 8. The site is bounded by Garden Lane to the west, the rear of Mews Garden Court development to the north and a vacant site to the east which is located at the junction of Francis Street and Carman’s Hall. The premises were formerly used as a Parish Centre and known as St. Nicholas of Myra, it is in the ownership of the Dublin Archdiocese. The permitted use under the lease is as a temporary accommodation facility to cater for the needs of homeless persons and the term of the lease will cease on the 1st of September, 2021.
As restrictions are easing during the current Covid-19 Pandemic, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) & Dublin City Council’s Housing and Community Services give notice that planning permission is sought for the retention of the existing use for a further period of 12 months, until cessation of the lease, of the former Parish centre at 12-14 Carman’s Hall. This is to ensure the continued emergency accommodation of homeless persons during these unprecedented times. This service is funded by the DRHE under Section 10 funding from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The service will continue to be operated by the Dublin Simon Community.
IT WAS A SAD DAY FOR CLERYS AND SISTER BUSINESS GUINEYS
Photographed 18 September 2012 and much has happened since then.
I actually knew a few people who worked in Clerys and they all thought that their jobs were for life and the failure of the business really did come as a surprise.
Note: Michael Guineys (also trading as ‘Guineys’) is not to be confused with the firm of the similar name ‘Denis Guineys’ which was affiliated with Clery’s department store.
[Update: In October 2018 Real estate investment manager Europa Capital announced that it has agreed to purchase the building with local partners Core Capital and Oakmount. According to local media Europa Capital paid in excess of €60m. Currently former department store building is being transformed into a major new retail, restaurant and office destination. Also there is planning permission to extend the building by more than 40,000 square feet.]
[Update: Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson were appointed joint provisional liquidators to OSC Operations Limited (the “Company”) trading as Clerys, on 12 June 2015. The company ceased to trade with immediate effect. Staff were given 30 minutes notice to pack up and leave, some had worked there for over 40 years. Clerys sold for €1.00, the building itself sold for €29 million to the Natrium Investment Group.]
Clerys opened in 1853 as one of the world’s first purpose-built department stores. On Monday Clerys was put into receivership. Two stores in the group, Guiney of Talbot Street and Denis Guiney Furnishings, which operates two Clerys Home Furnishing stores in Leopardstown and Naas, are to be liquidated. Receivers Paul McCann and Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton said they were in advanced talks to secure the store’s future with a potential buyer with strong retail credentials.
In a statement Grant Thornton said: “The joint receivers hope to be in a position to make an announcement regarding new ownership shortly.”
The history of Clerys began in May 1853 when Mc Swiney, Delany and Co. opened ‘The New or Palatial Mart’ on the site of the present store in what was then Sackville Street. In 1883, the premises was taken over and renamed by M. J. Clery (d.1896), a native of Bulgaden, Co. Limerick. William Martin Murphy was also involved in the business.
Clerys was bought out of receivership in 1941 by Denis Guiney (1893-1967) for £250,000. The receivers were Craig Gardner & Co. Denis Guiney died in 1967 and his widow, née Mary Leahy, continued to be Chairperson until her death on 23 August 2004 at the age of 103 years.
A large clock with two faces hangs above Clerys’ central doors on O’Connell Street (opposite the statue of Jim Larkin). “Under Clerys’ clock” is a well-known rendez-vous, both for Dubliners, and visitors from the countryside, and is famous in the city’s culture as a place where many romances begin. In 1990, on the fiftieth anniversary of Denis Guiney taking over the store, a new clock was installed.
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