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STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS

Today [22 October] many of the derelict buildings are gone and some of the major construction projects have been completed or are in the final stages but the extended area could still be described as a work in progress.

Work Continues for New €40m Hotel at Portobello Harbour. Construction is well underway for the €40m boutique Hotel Development located at Portobello Harbour in Dublin 8. The 175-bedroom hotel development will span 6 storeys in height and feature a bar, restaurant, gym, meetings rooms, and a business library.

Last December A €2.6 million redesign of Portobello Plaza, which became a focus of anti-social behaviour during the Covid-19 pandemic, is to be undertaken by Dublin City Council. The new plaza would involve the pedestrianisation of Richmond Row from the canal bridge at Rathmines Road to Portobello Harbour, the road which runs in front of the Lower Deck pub. Dublin City councillors have been told it could take up to 18 months before construction begins. However, the plans have been criticised for the lack of greenery and too much “concrete”.

A few years ago I said that ” South Richmond Street is at the same time interesting and ugly mainly because there are so many buildings that are derelict or in very poor condition but also because it has been a building site for many years”.

“The built environment in Dublin is changing faster than I can photograph the changes and there is an area on South Richmond Street that caught me by surprise earlier this year as many of the restaurants and shops had closed or disappeared. According to many the Bernard Shaw was a huge loss to the area but I am not convinced and some of my friends who live in the area were pleased to see it go elsewhere.”

“Richmond Villas [now shown as Richmond Street South on Google Maps] was a place to visit if you were interested in Street Art but now it is dominated by a huge construction site [Charlemont Square where Amazon will be located] and I assume that the laneway will no longer exist once the building project has been completed. I am assuming the the Bernard Shaw and nearby buildings will soon be demolished.”

“Amazon employs more than 2,500 people in Ireland and announced plans last June to create another 1,000 jobs over the next two years, most of which will be located Dublin at Blanchardstown, Tallaght, North Count Dublin and the Portobello area of Dublin.”

“The Charlemont Square project was due to be completed this year but because of the current lock down completion may be delayed. This mixed-use development is the second phase of a city centre regeneration project.”

“My understanding is that there will be a total 79 social housing units.There will also be 184 private residential units, bringing to 263 the total number of homes in the complex, in addition to significant commercial office space and retail units.”

The 1837 Ordnance Survey map showed one building on the western side of Richmond St. (excluding property belonging to the Portobello Hotel), which corresponds to no. 34, which was the Caroline Records shop (closed in 2003).

The hotel at the nearby harbour was opened in 1807 (the architect was James Colbourne). In 1858 it was taken over by a Catholic order of nuns, who used it as an asylum (St. Mary’s) for blind girls. A few years later they successfully appealed to the Guardians of the South Dublin Union for some finance (it cost £10 to keep a girl for a year), though the Irish Times in an editorial frowned upon this proselytising by “Romanists”, while they lauded the efforts of the Protestant-run “Home for Orphans” at 7 South Richmond Street (which advertised frequently for “fresh souls to save” in the same newspaper).

Ten years later the Asylum was sold to a Mr. Isaac Cole, who renovated it and returned it to its original function as a hotel, to accommodate 100 persons. It was popular among officers visiting the nearby Portobello Barracks (who would occasionally pop across South Richmond Street to the Grand Canal Tavern for a drink) and claimed it was the nearest hotel to the Royal Dublin Society grounds. However, it was slow in providing catering facilities – in 1871 a Rathmines businessman, in a letter to the Irish Times, lamented the absence of restaurants in the neighbourhood, and enjoined upon Mr. Cole to provide same, preferably a two-course meal for two shillings (the price to include beer and punch).