EXCELLENT STREET IMAGES

FRANCIS STREET IN DUBLIN

June 4, 2023 by infomatique

NO LONGER A NEVER ENDING CONSTRUCTION SITE

The residents of of Francis Street (Dublin’s Art & Antique Quarter) have effectively lived on a construction site for five or six year, maybe longer. I have visited the street at least once a month to see if there has been any major changes and today I was pleased to discover that the redevelopment work appears to have been completed. However, I am a bit surprised by the fact that there is no sign of dedicated cycle lanes.

Francis Street was a significant part of medieval Dublin in 1200, it was known as Great Street, the King’s highway in 1325, St Francis‘s Street in 1337, St. Francis Street in 1363 and 1446, St Fraunces Street in 1575, and St Francis Street in 1610. Now overflowing with markets, cafés, nightlife, educational centres and history, there’s lots to appreciate about the area. Francis street is a glimpse into the old heart of Dublin.

At a later date I will publish photographs of the buildings that populate the street.

MEMORIAL TO HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

June 4, 2023 by infomatique

IVEAGH GARDENS IN DUBLIN CITY

On Thursday, 24 November 2016, President Michael D. Higgins inaugurated the first global memorial to murdered human rights defenders.

The Human Rights Defenders Memorial celebrates the lives and achievements of people who have been killed because they worked peacefully for the rights of others. The aim is to gather the names of the estimated 3,500 human rights defenders who have been killed since the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998.

Throughout his life, President Michael D. Higgins has been a passionate campaigner for human rights and the promotion of peace and democracy in Ireland and many other parts of the world. Since his inauguration as the ninth President of Ireland, he has continued to focus his work on the themes of human rights, equality, and independent and creative thought.

In his speech at the launch of the Memorial, the President reflected on the threats to human rights and on the specific roles of human rights activists.

I WALKED ALONG DORSET STREET AT ABOUT 3PM

June 3, 2023 by infomatique

AND PHOTOGRAPHED AT RANDOM USING AN OLD CANON DSLR

Dorset Street is an important thoroughfare on the north side of Dublin, Ireland, and was originally part of the Slighe Midh-Luchra, Dublin’s ancient road to the north that begins where the original bridging point at Church Street is today. Subsequently, yet prior to the street being given its current name in the 18th century, the road was known as Drumcondra Lane and was shown on maps as such. It is divided into Dorset Street Lower (northeast end) and Dorset Street Upper (southwest end).

The street runs north east from Bolton Street at Dominick Street junction, north of Parnell Square and Mountjoy Square, and leads into Drumcondra Road at Binn’s Bridge on the Royal Canal. It makes up part of the most common route from Dublin Airport to the city centre, and the R132 regional road follows Dorset Street for part of its route. It meets the R135 route at the junctions with Blessington Street, location of the Blessington Street Basin, and St. Mary’s Place; other major roads feeding onto this spine street include North Circular Road, Gardiner Street, Eccles Street, North Frederick Street, and Granby Row.

Physically the street rises up from the Liffey valley at its south western end to its apex at roughly where it meets with Blessington and North Frederick Streets; proceeding north-west the street slopes down again on the approach to Binn’s Bridge at the Royal Canal.

Some early Georgian houses are dotted along the street, primarily identifiable by the stone Gibbsian doorcase entrances, and close to the crossroads with Blessington and North Frederick Streets. Much of the street redeveloped during the Victorian era, with a number of significant buildings built, such as the Gothic style stone-built Dominican priory, designed by J. L. Robinson in 1884–87 at the corner of Dominick Street, while across from it is the red brick Italianette former fire station, designed by C. J. McCarthy and completed in 1903. Much of the street consists of vernacular Victorian terraces, with shops opening straight onto footpaths at ground-floor level. During the latter part of the twentieth century, stretches of the street were again redeveloped by Dublin Corporation for social housing flat complexes near Dominick Street.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF SIR JOHN ROGERSON’S QUAY IN DUBLIN

June 2, 2023 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED IN MAY 2023

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.

PEARSE STREET GARDA STATION

June 2, 2023 by infomatique

POLICE STATION

Police barracks built for the Dublin Metropolitan Police, replacing the former barracks on College Street. Commissioned in 1910, it was built to designs by the Office of Public Works under the supervision of M.J. Burke, with H.G. Leask and A. Robinson as job architects.

Built in a Scottish Baronial style, evident in the gables and mullioned windows. The bow end to College and D’Olier Street reflects the design of the original terrace and of the bow-ended buildings opposite.

The carved figurative stops articulate the separate entrances, one for Inspectors who used the officer’s entrance, and the other for rank-and-file constables who used the main public entrance.

The well-executed rock-faced stone is an example of the fine craftsmanship of the stone masons at Ballybrew granite quarry, Co. Wicklow, creating a stoic, sombre impression.

Following the DMP’s amalgamation with An Garda Síochána in 1926, Pearse Street Station became headquarters of the ‘B’ District. The building is an attractive termination to the west end of Pearse Street and an historic landmark in Dublin’s streetscape.