Ugliest architecture in Dublin?

Annascaul · 07-10-2023 12:25pm #1

I often felt that the Dublin docklands, either North or South of the Liffey aren't exactly a beautiful design. Lot's of modern buildings, all or mostly all deliberately kept low rise but no common style of architecture.

The Convention Centre Dublin or the Dublin Convention Centre is to me the ugliest piece of architecture Dublin has to offer, and not only that, Samuel Beckett Bridge is also not very nice to look at. Even worse to me is a picture showing Samuel Beckett bridge in the foreground and the Convention Centre in the background.

It often makes me wonder, why some modern buildings do have to be so ugly?

Take in contrast the new ESB head office building on Fizwilliam Street in Dublin, - that's pretty much modern, but perfectly adjusted to the surrounding architecture and overall nice to look at.

JupiterKid · 07-10-2023 4:12pm

I find architecture can be very subjective - one person’s delight is another’s monstrosity.

Many terrible mistakes were made in Dublin in the 1960 to 1990 era of rampant demolition of our beautiful 18th century Georgian built fabric in the inner city to make way for some of the most bland, visually inarticulate rubbish - driven by corruption, indifference, greed and a deep hatred for buildings that had been erected by the British.

The irony is that many of these modernist late 20th Century office blocks are now being torn down to be replaced by newer buildings after 50 or less years whilst the 250 year old Georgian buildings still stand.

There were some good buildings IMO among the dross of that era, including the former Central Bank (built 1972-77) by controversial architect Sam Stephenson on Dame Street, Grattan House on Mount Street (1972), Miesian Plaza on Baggot Street Lower (1968-74) and the Irish Life Centre (1973-81) on Lower Abbey Street.

Truly awful buildings were the now thankfully demolished Hawkins House (1961-63) and the travesty of the City Council HQ bunkers on Wood Quay (1979-83).

Much of what has gone up in the Docklands has been very bland, low rise and rather disappointing with the possible exception of the Bord Gais Energy Theatre. Some missed opportunities for high quality, striking towers. I don’t really like the National Convention Centre either as it looks awful from the back and sides.

Former Central Bank under construction from Crown Alley, Temple Bar, 1974

whisky_galore · 07-10-2023 4:35pm

Liberty Hall. National Convention Centre.

Award for being both stupid and ugly goes to Met Eireann and their shít truncated pyramid.

Very few buildings built from the 60s onwards have aged well.

Allinall · 07-10-2023 4:39pm

The Convention Centre is cool.

The fact it annoys so many people makes it even cooler.

An architectural master stroke.

martco · 07-10-2023 4:47pm

I'm trying to think of ANY European capital city that Dublin compares favourably with

actually can't come up with any (maybe Warsaw?)

when it comes to architecture and infrastructure Dublin is a total utter kip

dublincc2 · 07-10-2023 4:56pm

Plenty of missed opportunities during the 90s/00s.

orangerhyme · 07-10-2023 5:14pm

Phibsborough is obviously one of the worst.

YellowLead · 07-10-2023 5:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058317157/ugliest-architecture-in-dublin

It’s so subjective. I absolutely adore the Samuel Beckett bridge and think it’s beautiful. I also love the Convention Centre and the Central Bank buildings.

growleaves · 07-10-2023 5:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121205944#Comment_121205944

Architecture is not meant to be a form of trolling.

SuperBowserWorld · 07-10-2023 5:22pm

This.

Monstrosity.

O'Connell Bridge House

Ugly as sin.

And with a huge advertisement for alcohol on the main thoroughfare of the capital city of a country that has a serious alcohol problem.

O'Connell_Bridge_House,_or_the_Heineken_Building_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1578573.jpg

tinytobe · 07-10-2023 5:24pm

I also feel that the Convention Centre Dublin is one of the worst looking pieces of arichiteture in Dublin. I find it downright ugly and walking or driving by this building has me felt insulted. The design looks like an oil barrel or something leaning against something or being some kind of a strange way part of that building. I hope they tear it down within my lifetime.

The city council on Wood Quay is also not very beautiful, but I don't find it nearly as bad as the Convention Centre.

Central Plaza as it is now known in Temple bar, I think was at least refurbished.

The College Square development looks good, so far. The former building was really dull-grey and even communist looking.

Isn't there a similarly looking bridge to Samuel Beckett bridge somewhere in Latin America?

Archeron · 07-10-2023 6:13pm

The Exo is horrible. If i remember correctly, even at its design stage everybody said it was pug fugly but it still got built.

I.am.Putins.raging.bile.duct · 07-10-2023 6:51pm

Busaras is a soulless depressing kip

mrslancaster · 07-10-2023 6:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206367#Comment_121206367

Agree it's awful. Dublin city planners have given permission for some ugly buildings.

getoutadodge · 07-10-2023 7:36pm

So many monstrosities to choose from ...so little time. Some on my hideous list:

Phibsborough Shopping Centre

The Law Society office on Church St

Wood Quay offices

Exo (the triple pillars at the base level)

The East Link bridge...

the petrol station on the south quays

https://youtu.be/C9pg2j2oGy0

Larbre34 · 07-10-2023 8:01pm

I don't mind places like Liberty Hall, they tell a story of the time. I mean they do eventually require replacing, as already have been places like Hawkins House and Apollo House. But in its day, Liberty Hall was cool.

I actually also like the Exo, but Capital Dock is very uninspiring for such a prominent site.

Dublin's biggest architectural warcrime, in my opinion, are the rows of crummy, sh1tbox Liam Carroll era apartments on the Quays west of Capel Street.

elperello · 07-10-2023 8:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206536#Comment_121206536

Award winning in its day.

A ground breaking design with a forgotten theatre in the basement.

Sadly run down and neglected.

Could do with re-purposing now that so much of it's function has moved to the airport.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus%C3%A1ras

elperello · 07-10-2023 8:39pm

At the end of the day I'd probably nominate the Loopline Bridge.

Destroyed, probably forever, the view of the Custom House and the vista downriver.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loopline_Bridge

SEPT 23 1989 · 07-10-2023 8:44pm

We were left with some beautiful buildings and streets but with the pygmy minds with the hatred of the previous administration they decided to butcher the city

Tubs own grandfather as a kid hated the gentry arriving every morning by tram and train into the city

hence the destruction of the transport infrastructure in this city and the country

Badly Drunk Boy · 07-10-2023 9:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206191#Comment_121206191

Isn't there a similarly looking bridge to Samuel Beckett bridge somewhere in Latin America?

Puente de la Mujer in Argentina, or Puente de la Unidad in Mexico, perhaps?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Mujer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Unidad

Strumms · 07-10-2023 10:25pm

It’s the plethora of rubbish looking third world residential properties that have sprang up in basically every area.

you can pick one big public or corporate building you don’t like but the absolute cheap looking apartments and houses that get planning permission granted nowadays…. 😵‍💫

only a few years old and cladding falling off and dated fading features.

tinytobe · 07-10-2023 10:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206536#Comment_121206536

It's one of those dull and grey 60ies 70ies buildings, but at least it has straight walls, and no extreme design.

Same goes for Liberty hall.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206367#Comment_121206367

I also don't like the Exo very much.

Those blue bars on the outside as well as those stilts it's raised on at the gound floor make it look cheap and ugly.

On the other hand, there are a lot of nice looking and contemporary designes coming up as well. Dublin East Road / Castleforbes looks rather nice.

https://omahonypike.ie/projects/castleforbes-commercial/

Sgt Hartman · 07-10-2023 10:45pm

The Department of Health building in Poolbeg Street would have been my first choice for ugliest building in Dublin but thankfully it’s now demolished.

Liberty Hall, Phibsboro Shopping Centre and Busáras are for me, the three ugliest buildings in Dublin at present. The toilets in Busáras are the worst toilets I have EVER had the misfortune of using. I’m surprised they haven’t been shut by health inspectors by now. The government should have invested in a much better state of the art bus station during the Celtic Tiger years.

JupiterKid · 08-10-2023 2:20am

The original Dublin Airport terminal building, completed in 1940 (now a listed building by Fingal County Council) is a really sleek early modernist/Art Deco design, like a ship. I’ve always liked it.

JupiterKid · 08-10-2023 2:41am

Advert for newly opened Phibsboro Shopping Centre, 1969

One of the most hideous buildings IMO in Dublin - but it did host the very first KFC in Ireland back in 1972.

Apparently, some Millenials who have reappraised modernist architecture in a positive light think that the centre is brutalism at its most beautiful.

JupiterKid · 08-10-2023 2:47am

Miesian Plaza, formerly the Bank of Ireland HQ, Lower Baggot Street, in 1978

Despite involving the demolition of a terrace of Georgian townhouses to make way for the front blocks, when it was built in the early 1970s the amount of anodised bronze used in the dark cladding affected the World price of bronze.

I've always liked this complex.

Arghus · 08-10-2023 3:28am

Liberty Hall is so ugly that it's kind of amazing.

getoutadodge · 08-10-2023 9:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121208088#Comment_121208088

Nuke it from orbit..it's the only way to be sure!

It's a universal pattern. This homage (below) to a nuclear bomb shelter had all the experts in raptures. I wonder was the architect trying to drive the monks insane to avenge some imagined childhood trauma.

https://youtu.be/i62e7eYKIo4

I.am.Putins.raging.bile.duct · 08-10-2023 10:08am

I visited the Stasi museum in Berlin now that's an ugly building but the interior aesthetic is worse. It actually makes you feel oppressed and ill leaving. The old Apollo House on Tara Street was similar looking I thought.

1280px-Main_entrance_to_the_Stasi_Museum_October_2015.jpg

MrCostington · 08-10-2023 10:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121208067#Comment_121208067

Agree there. This was the subject of the excellent "Building Ireland" series on RTE a few years ago. It might still be on the Player.

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0422/1132919-the-making-of-dublin-airport-building-ireland-returns/

Ger Roe · 08-10-2023 11:54am

I did an open top bus tour of Belfast years ago and the guide had a funny comment on one aspect of city architecture.

We passed what he said was the ugliest building in Belfast. It was a grey, moss stained concrete monstrosity, with no character beyond looking like a giant old cavity block. He pointed out that during the troubles, when many fine buildings were destroyed, this one remained standing.

He suggested that a condition of the peace agreement, should have been that some of the decommissioned explosives could have been allocated to do the city a favour and blow the building up in the spirit of making a fresh start.

There are some buildings in Dublin that deserve the same treatment - although looking at the bland glass office block built beside historic Dublin castle on Dame Street, I would not trust our local authority to build sympathetically in any cleared site space.

getoutadodge · 08-10-2023 1:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206178#Comment_121206178

Yup...this one is strong candidate for the Dublin Chernobyl Award

blackbox · 08-10-2023 1:45pm

The offices on Wood quay are shocking. They should have continued Stephenson's original design.

tinytobe · 08-10-2023 1:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206178#Comment_121206178

This building never bothered me. It's too contemporary looking.

But again, tastes are different.

Regarding the Phibsboro Centre there was actually a nicely looking re-devellopment plan which was never implemented.

72sheep · 08-10-2023 2:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121207037#Comment_121207037

Yes, the way we destroyed Georgian Dublin says so much about us as a nation. And those Irish pwopertay developer "gents" have been building crap for decades.

jos28 · 08-10-2023 2:42pm

I really like the Samuel Beckett bridge and the Convention centre. I think they are a great addition to the city. That's probably because I'm old enough to remember the decay and dereliction that was there beforehand. I cycle over the bridge on the way to work every day and I'm a fan of the renovations and restorations. I think they've done a great job on this one below by maintaining the original facade, I like that mix of old and new. I'm definitely not a fan of the brutalist concrete look. I'd definitely take a wrecking ball to Phibsborough shopping centre. There were some hideous shopping centres built in the 1960 and 70s, Northside, Donaghmede and Stillorgan come to mind.

Seth Brundle · 08-10-2023 2:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209331#Comment_121209331

Stillorgan SC was built in the 60s.

BagofWeed · 08-10-2023 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121205980#Comment_121205980

Warsaw puts Dublin to shame in terms of buildings and especially infrastructure.

Capt'n Midnight · 08-10-2023 4:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121208067#Comment_121208067

A lovely building ruined by the bridge in front of it.

That bridge is awful by design. They've gone out of their way to block the view of the Ocean Liner ascetic of the old terminal from the bridge by filing in the eye-level windows. The bridge also is a reminder of how shorter a straight line is, and how a straight line could have had a single long travelator powered at the ends.

Ash.J.Williams · 08-10-2023 4:58pm

Nidges safe house , located at the junction of the canal on the naas Road at inchicore, worst building in Ireland / end of thread 😀

tittybiscuits · 08-10-2023 5:04pm

Stephen's Green shopping centre, or the Mississippi paddle steamer on the Green as someone once called it

08-10-2023 5:27pm

I find Croke Park hideous.

Citizen Six · 08-10-2023 5:44pm

It's ugly from all angles.

elperello · 08-10-2023 6:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209931#Comment_121209931

That particular ship is due in the breakers any day now.

Cienciano · 08-10-2023 9:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206536#Comment_121206536

So many seem to like it because of the wavey canopy that looks like a giant asbestos sheet. I think the building is horrendous myself.

JupiterKid · 08-10-2023 11:52pm

This is the planned new facade of the redeveloped St. Stephen's Green Centre. I will actually miss the Mississippi paddle steamer look, as it was very distinctive when the centre opened in November 1988. The new look is just so.....bland.

There will be larger retail units in the revamped centre, as the existing small units on the ground floor are considered too small for the needs of modern stores.

JupiterKid · 08-10-2023 11:55pm

The absolutely vile former Dublin County Council headquarters on O'Connell Street Upper, built in 1973 and the venue for many brown envelope planning corruption dealings in the 1970s and 80s.

And this is what it replaced...

getoutadodge · 09-10-2023 6:28am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121212108#Comment_121212108

Classic "before and after" shot encapsulating the disease. Another one for the Dublin Chernobyl award.

getoutadodge · 09-10-2023 8:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209905#Comment_121209905

any photos?

Tombo2001 · 09-10-2023 8:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121208679#Comment_121208679

Funny enough - the glass office you mentioned, the one opposite the Olympia- that for me; I wont say its the worst building in DUblin but it is without question the one that annoys me the most.

All the crap buildings were built before my time, in the 1970s or 60s or whatever; when it was tougher economic times and when there wasnt as much value placed on older structures.

Those days are most definitely gone - and there has been a lot of lamenting done for buildings that have disappeared and whats replaced them.

So to see that stupid looking thing go up in the middle of a beautiful open space at the entrance to historic Dublin Castle, and opposite the historic Olympia Theatre; I couldnt believe it when I saw what they were doing.

Sgt Hartman · 09-10-2023 8:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206831#Comment_121206831

It just looks dirty and run down. I didn’t realise there was a forgotten theatre in the basement of it. Out of interest I looked it up. It was called The Eblana Theatre. It Here’s some more info on it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eblana_Theatre

Ugliest architecture in Dublin?

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