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Post by kj on Aug 31, 2020 12:18:18 GMT
Bit of a personal post here. An old pub on the Cork quaysides has been demolished to make way for yet another glass box complex of apartments. This saddens me deeply, as I grew up about 10 minutes from this place. I also made a post a few years back about the gradual disappearance of "the auld fellas" with the peak caps from our culture and one in particular I saw most days. That pub was where he waited outside each morning for it to open and we always exchanged a friendly nod. Cork is now dominated by cranes constructing what strikes me as a soulless glass box cityscape, destroying the lovely views of fine old Georgian houses and hillscapes. Progress, I suppose..... Demolition of landmark Sextant bar in Cork prompts heritage debate |
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Post by cato on Sept 3, 2020 11:31:22 GMT
I had a similar experience in Cork too. I worked there in the early 1990s and frequented a little bar on John's street on occasion. Ordering Guinness in a pub across the road from Murphy's brewery was rather foolhardy but I was a tender youth back then.
I was back in Cork two years ago and was dismayed by the total disappearance of the bar. I fact the whole street was so done up I failed to recognise any of it. Overall things were tidier and more glammed up but the atmosphere seemed less local and Corkonian. It's still a nice place for a visit .
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Post by kj on Sept 3, 2020 11:41:41 GMT
It's still a nice place for a visit.
Damned with faint praise, I suppose!   For the record, the most traditional unchanged pub in the city centre I know of is The Castle Inn on North Main Street. In spite of a few innovations, it's like walking back into the 50s. I recommend it to anyone with a soul.
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Post by cato on Sept 3, 2020 11:47:53 GMT
It's still a nice place for a visit.
Damned with faint praise, I suppose! For the record, the most traditional unchanged pub in the city centre I know of is The Castle Inn on North Main Street. In spite of a few innovations, it's like walking back into the 50s. I recommend it to anyone with a soul. I didn't intend that faint praise . Sorry. In fact I enjoyed the access to some buildings that were closed when I was there originally , really enjoyed the food and drink and was saddened by the closure of a few bookshops I used to haunt but that is progress.... I would recommend Cork in fact especially in these restricted travel times. Having access to a daily mass in the classical extraordinary form was a bonus too. And in a beautiful church of which Cork has an abundance. Dei gratias. |
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Post by kj on Sept 3, 2020 11:55:33 GMT
Yes, the revival of a Latin Mass culture in SS Peter and Paul's is something of a minor miracle.
The secondhand bookstore decline is tragic. There used to be about 7 or 8 good ones at least; now about 2. So it goes....
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Post by cato on Oct 2, 2020 16:06:41 GMT
The Dublin family home of the O Rahilly of 1916 fame was demolished under cover of darkness by a development company this week. Dublin corporation are investigating whether any planning irregularities occurred but it's a little bit academic as the house is now gone. I believe it was in poor shape and had been in decline.
Dublin city has a poor history of preserving its architectural heritage and much that it has is allowed to fall into decline. The sad saga of the Moore St 1916 houses is a dispiriting tale . Little now remains of the Moore St. battle site other than an empty shell where the rising leaders fled immediately after the evacuation of the GPO.
Gardai are now reporting that a fire which destroyed the former Mercy sister convent in Skibbereen Co Cork was deliberate, whether for profit or malice is not clear. The chapel there was designed by Pugin . Sadly the convent was abandoned in the early 21st century as part of the long retreat of Catholicism from public life in Ireland.
There is a very good site that records Irish architecture in peril . It's The Irish Aesthete .This is not an oxymoron. It covers all the island and comes with photos , history and comments on the current state of the buildings.
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