What is the ugliest structure in Dublin?

TapouT

spurious wrote:

Whats with having to 'serve a purpose'?

Is it a necessary attribute for a building/structure to have to be worthwhile?

The Spire does 'serve a purpose' actually, but if you cannot recognise what it is, there's no point trying to enlighten you.

In other words, you don't know either?.

I drive a taxi. I drive past it a hundred times a week, I get tourists laugh at it every day and I can't explain it to them!.

Wanna try?.

crushproof

The ESB Headquarters, don't fit into the streetscape at all. The building was up for sale a while back, alot of people thought the council or government would buy it and rebuild it with a mock Georgian facade, but no no, of course they wouldn't do that!!
And the Loop Line Bridge, to be honest I though it looked better with the advertising.....all those Jacob biscuits!! lol!
Actually, did you know that it was proposed in the 40's or 50's to extend the railway all along the quays down to Heuston with a steel bridge! Imagine that! And they planned to concrete over the Liffey to make way for a surface car park!

peter1892

Apart from the obvious (Hawkins House, Loop Line bridge etc) there's a building on Cuffe street - at the corner with Wexford st., it's a low rise (3 or 4 storeys) that's always looked pretty bad to me. It's just offices, I don't know who or what it is. and some of the 70's/80's style buildings around St. Stephen's Green aren't great either, they just look out of place amongst the older Georgian architecture (e.g. that one that looks like the Irish Life Centre, there's a similar one in Galway too).

Outside the city centre...I've always found much of UCD's Belfield Campus to be fairly ugly. 60's concrete jungle. Northside, Donaghmede & Stillorgan shopping centres are pretty awful looking too.

monkeyfudge

TapouT wrote:

In other words, you don't know either?.

I drive a taxi. I drive past it a hundred times a week, I get tourists laugh at it every day and I can't explain it to them!.

Wanna try?.

Well it's the tallest sculpture in the world, surely that counts for something? It's also an excellent landmark and makes it very easy for people unfamiliar with the city to orientate themselves.

funk-you

That bridge from Tara St to Connolly station has one of the best views in the city when you're travelling across it and look down towards the O' Connell St direction. The city looks great for that 10 seconds crossing the bridge.


EDIT: The Ilac centre is looks terrible.


-Funk

TapouT

monkeyfudge wrote:

Well it's the tallest sculpture in the world, surely that counts for something? It's also an excellent landmark and makes it very easy for people unfamiliar with the city to orientate themselves.

A prefabricated steel tube is hardly something I'd consider "sculpture". Its awful, and its filthy.

Have you seen how dirty its become?..

But I seriously think the ugliest has to be Phobsboro shopping centre!.

FillSpectre

I like Busarus

BendiBus

TapouT wrote:

In other words, you don't know either?.

I drive a taxi. I drive past it a hundred times a week, I get tourists laugh at it every day and I can't explain it to them!.

Wanna try?.

How about "It's a piece of public artwork"? What more is necessary to explain it?

Edit: I walked up O'Connell St after work. Can I add the following to the list of uglies:

The old Eircom offices opposite the Royal Dublin Hotel.
The Royal Dublin Hotel itself.
The Dublin Bus HQ building.

Can't believe people criticise the Spire and ignore these 3 examples.

Oh, and O'Connell Bridge House too!

Funkstard

The Berkely Library building in Trinity. Pre-cast plastic windowed bomb shelter gun-turretted disgraceful piece of shíte. The Busáras bulilding - I don't care if it was a great leap forward, it looks terrible now.

I quite like the Spire. It's like a vision of how Dublin should move forward, or should I say, upward.

raheny red

Northside Shopping Centre........................

Dub13

FillSpectre wrote:

I like Busarus

You sick sick person...:)

Lunar Junkie

Busaras is actually considered a design classic, and is incredibly progressive considering when it was built (the late 40s). It just needs a good cleanup and some tasteful re-fitting on the interior... it's been allowed to get shabby and that can make a big difference with these sorts of buildings.
As for what's really ugly, I wholeheartedly agree with Hawkins House, the Phisboro Shopping Centre (soon to be demolished, thankfully) and River House (the Motor Tax office).

Agent Smith

i'm shocked that neither the British nor american emmbassys in Ballsbridge were mentioned

lostexpectation

roisin ingle

constitutionus

glad to hear the ilac center mentioned, i always thougt it looked fugly. the spire actually doesnt bother me and it looks really nice on a bright summers day (which of course is socommon in this country ) but i have to admit to hating busaras. i worked in the kip for years and it too cold in winter and a fecking furnace in summer. definetly an example of "style" over function.

have to mention the abbey theatre though, ****ing grey monstrosity. just as well theyre going to demolish it

gamblitis

that dam waste of space in the middle of o connell street.hs to be.

arbeitsscheuer

agent smith wrote:

i'm shocked that neither the British nor american emmbassys in Ballsbridge were mentioned

Well, the British embassy was purely built for defensibility, so aesthetics really weren't important. Which, having had the previous one burned down, was probably smart. And indeed, it worked, holding out another mob in 1981. Plus it ain't that ugly.

I'll take your point about the US Embassy though. Really ugly building (altho a lot of the newer ones around that area are pretty repulsive tbh).

Hermione*

I walk past both embassies a lot .... the British one's quite nice in a modern kinda way. The US embassy's a bit of an eyesore, much worse than the British Embassy imo.

And as Seb said, the previous British embassy had been a beautiful red brick on Merrion Square, and look how far its beauty got them. You can hardly blame them for thinking of other things besides beauty when replacing it.

Biggest eyesore for me would have to be the ESB headquarters on Fitzwilliam St, completely out of place.

senordingdong

spurious wrote:

This thread is about aesthetics, ('ugliest') not usefulness.
One does not imply nor rule out the other.

OK, so you hate the Spire - big deal - whether it 'serves a purpose' in your eyes is irrelevant.

Yeah, yuo're right.
Though it has to be said that the best vie of the Customs House is from the Dart on a summers day.
Beautiful.

Just saw the Phibsboro SC last night.....hideous.

Victor

fly_agaric wrote:

Agree with the "Sick building" on Hawkins St.
Also the ESB headquarters and the pill-box/gun emplacement bits of the civic offices (other part is quite a nice building IMO).

The problem is they only built 2 of the 5 buildings. When completed is was meant to form a series of planted terraces.

Victor

SebtheBum wrote:

Well, the British embassy was purely built for defensibility, so aesthetics really weren't important. Which, having had the previous one burned down, was probably smart. And indeed, it worked, holding out another mob in 1981. Plus it ain't that ugly.

I'll take your point about the US Embassy though. Really ugly building (altho a lot of the newer ones around that area are pretty repulsive tbh).

You are forgetting one building.

The one in Merrion Square was burnt by a mob in, I think 1972. From then until about 1995 it was housed in a (probably) Edwardian building on Merrion Road, they then built the current one next door and sold the 1972-1995 one and it was redeveloped as appartments.

antodeco

Dont forget about the french embassy on Ailesbury Drive. That thing just looks scary.
Have to say, the ugliest building would have to be the old dun laoghiare shopping centre. Its just a huge block of red brick with a car park on top. Also, lets not forget guineys!


I also agree with the ilac centre (before it was done up)

Anto McC

Hawkins house

TapouT

The boardwalk!.

Great idea, made ugly by hordes of scumbags doing their drug dealing and sh*t.

Victor

antodeco wrote:

Dont forget about the french embassy on Ailesbury Drive. That thing just looks scary.

Ah, but so French!

MrSinn

Brian Cowen

fricatus

I think the Spire and Central Bank are beautiful. I saw a documentary in the early '90s about the construction of the Central Bank and the way it was built was fascinating. I love the view from the little street opposite that leads to Wicklow St/Suffolk St.

ESB Headquarters certainly is ugly and arrogant - completely at odds with its surroundings.

Worst of all though is Liffey Valley. I admit it's a good shopping centre once you're inside, but the building is ugly, sprawling and totally detached from its surroundings. Some might say that's not a bad thing, hehe, but it just depresses me to be there among all the zombies.

Cake Fiend

Here's another vote for the spire. The fact that there are people who describe this monstrosity as 'art' causes me emotional distress.

Not only is it hideous on its own, but the fact that it's a visible representation of the kind of money our government throws away on ridiculous crap on a regular basis makes it even worse.

DublinWriter wrote:

Being pointless, expensive, shiney and sharp, I think it sums up the New Ireland.

QFT.

constitutionus

fricatus wrote:

Worst of all though is Liffey Valley. I admit it's a good shopping centre once you're inside, but the building is ugly, sprawling and totally detached from its surroundings. Some might say that's not a bad thing, hehe, but it just depresses me to be there among all the zombies.

thats what you get when you build neilstown shopping center and put it as far away as you can without crossing the liffey damn place is useless though, theres feck all in it compared to tallaghts square. honestly any shopping center where you cant buy a packet of fig rolls and a box of lyons tea doesnt deserve the name. not to mention the marble interior, fecking place will have you snowblind in summer. still at least they have a burgerking now

smurfbaby

I dont really like Liberty Hall- y'know the tall building beside the bridge at Custom House Quay? Just think it looks awkward and out of place, as well as old fashioned and grubby

But one of the ugliest buidlings I've seen in Dublin is one on Tara St-think its called Apollo House. Its so grim and dated, I almost feel depressed just looking at it