Newspaper Articles
HISTORIC SITE
Located between Christchurch and St. Patrick's Cathedrals, Ardilaun Court on Dublin's Patrick Street is a unique residential development. It was near this site that the Viking founders of the city drew their fresh water supplies from the River Poddle. When it was decided to build a new cathedral outside the original Norse boundaries, the builder John Comyn chose the Poddle River Island as the location.
Archaeological excavations carried out prior to construction work have uncovered a section of the original City Wall at the northern end of the site under Medieval, Georgian and Victorian layers. Ardilaun Court represents the latest phase of creative and constructive endeavour on a site which is immersed in the rich heritage of Dublin's history.
EUROPEAN CONTEXT
In recent years the renewal of the inner cores of urban centres has become a European phenomenon. From Barcelona to Berlin, Manchester to Munich and Paris to Pisa, the repair and renewal of derelict city centre sites has become a major focus of attention for architects, town planners and developers.
The ending of general Section 27 type relief for housing and the limitation of such tax incentives to residential and commercial developments in the Designated Areas as defined in the Urban Renewal Act has led to a wide range of inner city developments occurring in recent years as Dublin has partaken in this European process of renewal.
The Royal and Grand Canals, once regarded by housing developers as the edge of a "no-go" area for residential development, now define a zone where the majority of Dublin's recent apartment developments are located. Who would have envisaged, five years ago, that major residential developments such as those now being constructed at Gardiner Street by Cosgrave Bros., Ushers Quay by Bracegrade Ltd., and now Ardilaun Court, Patrick Street by South Dublin Construction Ltd., would be more than just the dreams of architects and planners?
URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR DUBLIN
The site was purchased by South Dublin Construction Ltd., from Dublin Corporation and consists of land left over from the controversial widening of Patrick Street forming part of the Inner Tangent Route. Critics have pointed out that the road was widened merely to cater for more traffic and that there has been minimal concern about streetscape formed as a result.
Tony Reddy, a partner with the firm, Fitzgerald Reddy & Associates, architects for the Ardilaun Court development, has expressed the view that Dublin needs a formal structure to prepare urban design framework plans in major redevelopment areas such as Patrick Street/Clanbrassil Street. He suggests that The City Architects Department, in consultation with the Planning, Roads and other departments, together with elected officials and community groups would be a suitable vehicle to produce such Urban Framework Plans.
Dublin already has a number of precedents for such a structure. The developers of the Gardiner and Pembroke estates imposed a new order on the city in the form of elegant streets and squares in the Georgian era. The principle was furthered by the work of the Wide Street Commissioners in the eighteenth and nineteenth century at D'Olier Street and Westmoreland Street.
In the earlier part of this century, in the rebuilding of O'Connell Street the City Architect, Horace Tennyson O'Rourke, produced clear guidelines for height of buildings, cornices, parapets, materials etc. in an overall urban design framework for the street, and individual architects worked within the disciplines imposed by these guidelines. He points out that the best urban renewal in Europe, as seen for example in Paris, Berlin and Barcelona, has been carried out on this basis.
Notwithstanding this lack of formal Urban Design framework for Dublin, Fitzgerald Reddy have worked closely with architects and planners of the Development Department of Dublin Corporation to produce a design which sets an extremely high standard in residential design terms and one which compares with the best urban renewal schemes to be found in other European cities.
GOOD DESIGN - A SOUND INVESTMENT
The scheme consists of two blocks which form a new edge to Patrick Street
opposite both the Iveagh Trust buildings and St. Patrick's Park. The ground
floor is clad in reconstituted granite and a number of retail and residential
units are located at this level. The upper levels are clad in brickwork
and above the third floor stone parapet line a number of penthouse apartment
units punctuate the roof to create a varied and interesting skyline.
The developers, South Dublin Construction Ltd., have carried out other
successful developments with Fitzgerald Reddy & Associates at Grand
Canal View, Kilmainham and Landore, Orwell Road.
The high level of sales achieved to date, based solely on drawings and
a model of the scheme, suggests that besides being an important example
of good urban renewal in Dublin it is also seen as a worthwhile investment
by purchasers.
