In 1713, Dublin Corporation leased lands on the Liffey to Sir John Rogerson, who was a developer and had been Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1693 to 1694. The lease of 133 acres (54 ha) on the south bank of the river (described as ‘betwixt Lazy Hill and Ringsend’) was conditional on Rogerson constructing a quay on the land. As part of the privately funded development, a quay wall was built facing the river, with a second wall built further inland. The gap between these walls was filled with sand and gravel dredged from the Liffey. The project commenced in 1716, with the initial phase completed by the early 1720s.
John Rocque’s 1756 map of Dublin shows Rogerson’s quay as largely developed by the mid-18th century. During the early 19th century, the quay serviced larger freight vessels, including colliers which brought coal (from ports like Whitehaven in England) to feed the coal and gas works at nearby Hanover Quay. By the 20th century, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay was home to a number of shipbuilding and shipping companies, as well as several storehouse types, including cold stores and ‘campshire’ sheds. At the beginning of the “Lotus-Eaters” episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses, set in 1904, Leopold Bloom, one of the novel’s protagonists, walks along Rogerson’s Quay. Joyce describes it at the time as busy with lorry traffic, and notes some of the businesses along it—a linseed crusher, the postal telegraph office, and a sailor’s home.
As of the early 21st century, the previously functional maritime buildings and features of Sir John Rogerson’s Quay have been redeveloped for heritage tourism, and newer office buildings built on the quay. This has included redevelopment of the quay’s ‘campshire’ warehouses (associated with the historical use of the quay as a military ‘camp’), and the renovation of a mid-19th century diving bell made by Grendons of Drogheda. The diving bell has been a feature of the quays since the 1870s, and was used to build and maintain many of the walls of Dublin’s quays.
REPLICA OF THE ORIGINAL ART DECO BUILDING KNOWN AS ARCHERS GARAGE
I lived on the same street as the original building many years before it was illegally demolished and I preferred the original and in my opinion the replacement did not have the same look or feeling as the original.
Archer’s Garage is a building located at the corner of Sandwith [spelling is correct] Street and Fenian Street and unfortunately the current building is a replica of a Grade 1 listed 1940’s Art Deco garage previously on the same site that was illegally demolished in 1999 by a property developer who was subsequently forced to rebuild the garage to original specifications.
The original building was constructed in 1946 for Dick Archer, the first agent for Ford motorcars in Ireland. Designed by Arnold Francis Hendy, the building provided offices on a first floor level supported over an open ground-level forecourt that allowed for access of vehicles. The building was characterised by a striking circular tower with a flagpole and projecting fins for signage that acted as a corner fulcrum to the two streets.
Subsequent to its use as a garage, the building was home to the firm of CWL Electric, and appeared to have fallen into a state of disrepair by the late 1990’s. Over the bank holiday weekend of June 1999, contractors working for the property developer demolished the building, apparently in advance of plans for a new office and residential building on the site.
The incident caused a public outcry, and changes to the law under the 2000 Planning and Development Act that would make developers liable for fines of up to £1 million and prison sentences of up to two years for illegal demolitions.
Dublin Corporation and the developer subsequently came to an agreement that the developer would replace the building with an exact replica, at a cost to the developer running into millions of pounds, construction being overseen by the Corporation.
Responses to the new garage building when it was unveiled were mixed, with some seeing it as a “reasonably faithful copy of the original” while others expressed disappointment, noting the many small changes to detailing, and that the whole building is set back slightly further from the street line than previously.
YOU CAN ACCESS THE CABBAGE GARDEN VIA LONG LANE CLOSE OFF LONG LANE
The Cabbage Garden is a former burial ground off Upper Kevin St. in Dublin’s south inner city.
The ground was consecrated by James Margetson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh in 1668. It consisted of a plot of land which was set apart by the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1666 for the purposes of a cemetery for the inhabitants of St. Patrick’s Close and of the parish of St. Nicholas Without, as their cemetery had become overcrowded. Later part of this plot was reserved for the burial of Huguenots, who worshipped in the Lady Chapel in the Cathedral.
The name of the plot can be traced back to the arrival of Oliver Cromwell in Dublin 1649, who planted cabbages on this spot to feed his soldiers.
The burial ground was closed in 1878 to all but 14 families. The last interment took place in 1896 and the cemetery closed early in the 20th century. Towards the end of the century part of the ground was converted into a public park while the rest was covered by public housing constructed by Dublin Corporation at the junction of Cathedral Lane and Upper Kevin St., which opened in 1982. The park can be reached by way of Cathedral Lane (until 1792 called Cabbage Garden Lane).
CHANCERY HOUSE, PARK AND KIOSK – DESIGNED BY HERBERT SIMMS
“Designed by Herbert George Simms as part of the development of Chancery House housing scheme, this modest kiosk is built in the same style as the latter with Art Deco elements including a stepped parapet and geometric window railings. The contractor was G.& T. Crampton. The housing scheme was heavily influenced by what was happening in Amsterdam at the time, with many of the buildings having fine rounded corners and brick detail. These flats are unusual in that they have a mixture of rendered surfaces and brickwork. There is a small enclosed garden to the foreground for the residents at the perimeter of which stands the kiosk. The use of Gaelic script to the front of the kiosk provides artistic as well as contextual interest. The provision of a clock to the outer façade is both functional and decorative, and indicates the responsibility to the public which was assumed by the architect.”
In May 2018 Dublin City Council considered a report from city officials proposing that blocks of flats across Dublin’s city centre should be taken off the list of protected structures, and demolished to make way for “regeneration”.
Later the City Council made the following statement “Dublin City Council has not planned the demolition of any of the blocks designed by Herbert Simms (aside from those already being redeveloped as part of the Teresa’s Gardens regeneration programme) nor planned de-listing of these blocks and there is no current suggestion of changing this position.”
Herbert George Simms (30 November 1898 – 28 September 1948) was an English architect who worked in the department of the Dublin City Architect Horace Tennyson O’Rourke.
During the First World War he served in the Royal Field Artillery. He was awarded an ex-service scholarship of £150 and tuition fees which allowed him to study architecture at Liverpool University. He began studies in October 1919 but had to abandon them for financial reasons when the three years ended. He had received the Certificate in Architecture in 1921 and passed the third and fourth years of the Diploma course. On grounds of previous office work and the standard of his studies he was permitted to sit the course for the Certificate in Civic Design which he was awarded in March 1923.
After university he moved to Dublin, where he worked for a while in the office of Aubrey Vincent O’Rourke. In February 1925 he was appointed temporary architect to Dublin Corporation, a role that was gradually extended and lasted until December 1927. In 1926 he was authorised to visit London, Liverpool and Manchester to examine the latest developments in flats.
In 1932 or 1933 a separate housing architect’s department was formed to focus on the building of new houses and Simms was appointed to the new role of Corporation housing architect. He immediately recruited staff to work in the department. In the sixteen years he was in the post he was responsible for the construction of 17,000 residences, including both flats and houses.
His work on flats showed influences by Michel de Klerk, Jacobus Oud and Johannes van Hardeveld.
After Horace O’Rourke retired in 1945, the pressure on Simms increased. He had already suffered one nervous breakdown fifteen years before and on 28 September 1948 he took his own life by throwing himself under a train at Dún Laoghaire. A suicide note said that he felt overwork was threatening his sanity. He was buried in Deans Grange Cemetery.
A SECRET GARDEN FOR NORTHSIDERS ONLY – BLESSINGTON STREET BASIN PUBLIC PARK
I am only joking about the park being for Northsiders only however unless you live in Phibsborough or Broadstone it is most likely that you will be aware of the little park. I live nearby and was surprised be the fact that not one of my neighbours knew that there was such facility close by.
Blessington Street Basin is a drinking water reservoir in Dublin which operated from 1810 until the 1970s, serving the north city. It became a public park in 1994.
The Blessington Street Basin was built in the early 19th century by Dublin Corporation. Construction began about 1803 and finished in 1810, the plant was opened as the Royal George Reservoir, named in honour of King George III.[2] The basin is rectangular, about 120 m long and 60 m wide basin took about 4 million gallons (15.1 million litres) of water. The water came from Lough Owel in County Westmeath, carried by pipe along the Royal Canal through a 3 km long pipeline into the basin at the western end of the Blessington Street. From its construction, the site was used as a public park.
By 1869, the basin was not large enough for purpose, and water collection moved outside the city. The basin continued to serve the Jameson’s and Powers’ distilleries until the 1970s, and then went out of operation as a reservoir. There were worries about the stagnant water creating a typhoid outbreak in the late 1800s leading to the corporation wanting to fill in the basin and the stretch of water connecting the basin to the canal, this connection was finally filled in 1956.
In 1993 work began on the restoration of the site following a rejected proposal to extensively refurbish it in 1991. The refurbishment was carried out by the Dublin City Council aided by FÁS, and with financial support from the National Heritage Council and A.L.O.N.E..[6] It was reopened as a park on the 4 November 1994. The site also includes a lodge house built in a Tudor style in 1811, and another modern council building.
Since its restoration, the basin now serves as a bird habitat, with an artificial island and a number of fish. Amongst the birds that can be seen there are swans, tufted ducks, chaffinches, mallards and pigeons
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