I usually visit this area every time I am in Cork because there are a number of buildings and structures that are of interest to me but this time my access was somewhat constrained because of ongoing construction work.
Cork City Council’s long-held vision to revive and regenerate the Morrison’s Island quays in Cork City Centre is about to get under way. According to the City Council the project will be delivered along Morrison’s Quay and Fr. Matthew Quay between Parliament Bridge and Parnell Bridge. Currently, these quays are ineffective public spaces, primarily used for car parking, and are under-utilised as a riverside amenity. As the lowest lying quays in the city centre, they are the source of regular tidal flooding that has a major impact on business and properties within the centre island. The scheme aims to capitalise on the quay’s south facing aspect, by creating a high-quality public realm and opening up the views of the River Lee. The improved public spaces and safer and more vibrant environment will also make the area more attractive for further investment and development.
The upgraded streetscape will incorporate a wide riverside promenade, a much-improved setting for the impressive Holy Trinity Church, a plaza area at the eastern end of the South Mall and a redesigned Trinity Bridge crossing to Union Quay. As part of the project, changes will also be made to traffic movements, car parking will be reduced, and additional bicycle parking will be provided.
In addition to the public realm investment, other critical aspects of the project are the construction of flood defences, changes to the surface water drainage system and remedial works to the existing quay walls. These quays are frequently inundated by tidal flooding, and the defence works will bring much needed reassurance to City Centre businesses. In addition, the historic cut limestone quay walls will be refurbished to ensure their long-term integrity by repairing, cleaning and re-pointing in-situ.
Construction work has commenced on a €45m hotel and office development at Morrison’s Island, kickstarting a a major overhaul of Morrison’s Quay. The development will include a 6,800 sq m 187-bedroom Premier Inn with offices in one ground-floor section, as well as the full refurbishment of Nos 11, 12 and 13 Morrison’s Quay as high-quality own-door office buildings, whose protected 19th century facades will be conserved.
The development area is approximately 8,500 sq m, which takes in numbers 9-14 Morrison’s Quay, 5-5A Fitton St, 1 Keeffe St, and adjoining lands backing onto Catherine St and Keeffe St.
Nos 11, 12, and 13 Morrison’s Quay will be at the centre of the development, with two new five storey hotel blocks book-ending these buildings.
RTE HQ Building, is located on Father Mathew Quay. This building, originally offices, depot and garages for the Cork Gas Consumers Company’s distribution department, was built in 1969. In the early 1990s RTE the Irish State Broadcaster purchased the building to be used as their headquarters in Cork. It has a distinctive, clean appearance with long ranges of horizontal windows. The entrance is emphasised by a short tower.
In 2017 I said "Unfortunately one face of the clock is not in good condition and most of lettering on one face has totally faded while the other face appears to be ok. Also this part of the city looks a bit run down and it has suffered badly from storm damage in recent years" ... nothing has been done about the clock face and the area still needs to be improved or redeveloped.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann [Radio and Television of Ireland] or RTÉ is a semi-state company and the national public service broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on 31 December 1961, making it one of the oldest continuously operating public service broadcasters in the world.
Holy Trinity Church, also known as Father Mathew Memorial Church, is a Roman Catholic Gothic Revival church and friary on Fr. Mathew Quay, on the bank of the River Lee in Cork. It belongs to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and is the only church dedicated to Father Theobald Mathew.
The building's listing in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes it as a "Regency Gothic-style church with Gothic-Revival portico", and it is "one of the first large churches in the south of Ireland to be built in this style." Construction of the church began in the early 1830s but stalled shortly before the Great Famine. It would only be completed in 1890, in time for the centenary of the birth of Fr. Mathew. The church features several noteworthy stained glass windows, including three by Harry Clarke's studio and a large memorial to Daniel O'Connell.
Theobald Mathew (10 October 1790 – 8 December 1856) was an Irish Catholic priest and teetotalist reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew. He was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary. He received his schooling in Kilkenny, then moved for a short time to Maynooth. From 1808 to 1814 he studied in Dublin, where in the latter year he was ordained to the priesthood. Having entered the Capuchin order, after a brief period of service at Kilkenny, he joined the mission in Cork.
Statues of Mathew stand on St. Patrick's Street, Cork, by J. H. Foley (1864), and on O'Connell Street, Dublin, by Mary Redmond (1893). There is a Fr. Mathew Bridge in Limerick City, named after the temperance reformer when it was rebuilt between 1844 and 1846.
Cork College of Commerce is a college that was established in December 1908 in Cork, Ireland. It was originally named the "School of Commerce and Domestic Science".
Since 1991, when the last of its secondary school students finished their Leaving Certificate examinations, the college changed its focus, running both full-time day courses and a night school. Today, the college offers hundreds of courses across a range of topics including computing, business studies, office administration, applied languages, health studies, beauty therapy, complementary therapy, childcare and Montessori, fashion, travel and tourism, adult Leaving Certificate and general interest courses. Many of the courses offered by the college result in a formal qualification, such as a qualification recognised by Accounting Technicians Ireland, or as a Certified Public Accountant.
There are three Bridges: Parliament Bridge, Trinity Foot Bridge and Parnell Bridge.
