KILLER ON THE LOOSE NEW PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART ON DAME STREET
I do not know if this artwork refers to a specific incident or that it is part of a campaign highlighting that women do not believe the streets of Dublin to be safe.
A few hours ago I collected a meal from a local restaurant and while I was waiting outside I could hear Riders On The Storm by the Doors, one of my favourite songs. I always remember the lines “There’s a killer on the road His brain is squirmin’ like a toad. A few minutes later as I am walking down Dame street I noticed this paint-a-box street art. Note: Portions of the song’s lyrics were allegedly inspired by the case of Billy Cook who had killed six people, including a young family, while hitchhiking to California.
Until recently the Irish Police refused to accept the fact that there could be serial killers in Ireland. However, in 2001 Gerry O’Carroll, a former member of the Garda murder squad claimed in an interview said that he has no doubt there is a serial killer on the loose in Ireland, responsible for the death of a number of missing women here. “My honest hunch is that we have a serial killer in our midst. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody; serial killers are operating in every country in the world and Ireland is no different. I do believe that there is a connection between the missing young women. I am convinced there is an organised killer who is evading us”.
As I went to school nearby I have always liked this area of the city, not that I liked school. However then Temple Bar, as it is today, did not exist. In 1968 I worked [outside school hours] as a trainee electronics engineer for ITG a company that imported Hi-Fi equipment from the USA and Japan. They owned a lot of property off Dame Street. By the way the pay was very good and they gave me huge discounts allowing me to buy and resell equipment.
The street takes its name from a dam built across the River Poddle to provide water power for milling. It appears later as Dammastrete and Damask-street. There was a medieval church of St. Mary del Dam which was demolished in the seventeenth century. Sir Maurice Eustace, Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1660–1665, built his townhouse, Damask, on the site.
The former Central Bank of Ireland headquarters, now known as Central Plaza, on Dame Street was built in 1975. It was initially higher than planning permission allowed, though this was retrospectively rectified. The new building was built on a parcel of land on which was a collection of Victorian and Georgian buildings including the Commercial Buildings. The Commercial Buildings dated from 1796, and were associated with the Ouzel Galley Society. This building also featured a paved courtyard which served as a pedestrian shortcut between Merchant’s Arch and the Ha’penny Bridge beyond. Initially planners wanted the facade the building retained, but it was discarded and eventually a replica was constructed in the scheme. Commenting on the scheme in September 1972, Architects’ Journal stated that the proposed building was “an exercise in how to do the greatest urban damage”. The Bank left the premises in March 2017, and moved to North Wall Quay. In comparison, Northern Bank, retained the Italianate headquarters of the Hibernian Bank both the exterior and interior, with redevelopment taking place behind the streetscape.
The street features a modern square, Barnardos Square in front of Dublin Castle and to the side of City Hall. The site had been occupied by a row of shops, one of which was the birthplace of the square’s namesake, Thomas John Barnardo. Before its redevelopment, the site had been cleared of the Georgian terrace of buildings which were demolished in the mid-1970s as part of a road widening development. One of the surviving buildings from the block is the headquarters of the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers’ Society. In the 1980s there was a proposal to create a park on the site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.