Central Plaza, which features the former Central Bank of Ireland on Dame Street and College Green, was redeveloped by Hines and Peterson. The central bank building was designed by architect Sam Stephenson in the 1970s.
I thought that the sculpture outside the Central Bank was the ‘Money Tree’ but I now know that officially it is called “Crann an Oir” which means “Tree of Gold”. Early in 2015 the Central Bank announced that it intended to spend €500,000 to move its iconic golden ball from outside its then current headquarters on Dame Street in Dublin to its new base on North Wall Quay.
The piece, by the late Eamonn O’Doherty, was chosen in 1991 after a competition.
Éamonn O’Doherty (1939 – 4 August 2011), born in Derry, Northern Ireland, was an Irish sculptor, painter, printmaker, photographer and lecturer. He was best known for his sculptures in public places. He died, aged 72, in Dublin.
Well known sculptures by Éamonn O’Doherty include the Quincentennial Sculpture on Eyre Square in Galway and the Anna Livia monument, in 2011 moved to the Croppy Acre Memorial Park, in Dublin.
O’Doherty also won awards for his paintings, amongst other on the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. An exhibition of his photographs from the collection of the Irish Traditional Music Archive toured around the United States.
I am still testing my new Sony FX30 and today I recorded some video footage. I used a Sony FE 20MM F1.8 lens and I think that it performed better than my much liked Zeiss Batis 25mm lens.
Dame Lane is located in the south of Dublin’s historic city center, parallel to Dame Street. Temple Bar and College Green are found just north of the street. Dame Lane is close to Dublin Castle, St Andrew’s Church (now the Dublin Tourism Office) and Trinity College. The lane stretches from Trinity Street, to Palace Street, across South Great George’s Street in an east-west direction. It also runs alongside and close to part of the “Dubline”, an historic Dublin tourist walking trail that stretches from College Green to Kilmainham.
The lane is part of a small area bounded by South Great George’s Street and Dame Street. It is branded “Dame District.” This is promoted by a group of local businesses in both Dame Court and Dame Lane “as an area for socialising and entertainment.” The most significant landmark today on Dame Lane is The Stag’s Head, a mostly intact public bar built on the site of older taverns dating from the 1780s. The Stag’s Head was re-built in 1895 in “redbrick with Italianate detail” by businessman George Tyson and architect Alfred McGloughlin in high Victorian style with mahogany, stained glass and mirrors. It is “elaborately decorated inside and out.” This building sits on the corner of Dame Court and Dame Lane. This replaced an older bar from the 1830s known as John Bull’s Albion Hotel and Tavern.
The lane is also notable for the Universal Hair Clinic’s “Why Go Bald?” sign on the corner of South Great George’s Street, reputedly a favourite Dublin landmark of Bono. The sign dates from 1961 and was refurbished by Taylor Signs in 1999, following representations from the Twentieth Century Trust. From 2013 to 2018, 5 Dame Lane was the location of Fumbally Exchange, a not-for-profit community of design professionals. The building at No. 5 Dame Lane dates from 1906 and was built as part of an extension to the Hely’s Acme Printing Works. Architectural historian Christine Casey refers to the date of 1906 when Batchelor & Hicks used the Hennebique “system of re-inforced concrete framing reputedly employed here for the first time in Dublin”. The building was added to the Dublin City Council Record of Protected Structures in 2017.
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