Development and preservation in Dublin: Encyclopedia II - Development and preservation in Dublin - The 1980s -A Change in Policy

Development and preservation in Dublin - The 1980s -A Change in Policy

In the 1980s and 1990s, greater efforts were made to preserve Dublin's historic fabric. Dublin Corporation's road-widening schemes were abandoned. Strict preservation rules were applied, keeping intact the remaining squares, though Saint Stephen's Green of the three southern squares had already lost much of its Georgian architecture. Ironically one of the worst offender had been the Irish state itself, which had built its (by common agreement) hideous Department of Justice on the site of an eighteenth century building in the 1960s. Indeed the 1960s had seen one of the earliest battles to preserve Georgian Dublin, in what became known as the Battle of Hume Street whose corner opened onto St. Stephen's Green. There an ultimately successful attempt by a property developer to demolish a block of Georgian houses hit the national headlines, and became a cause célèbre as involving students, celebrities and future politicians battled to stop the destruction. Though the original buildings were lost, the developer ended up building Georgian pastiche buildings on the site.

By the 1990s a greater civic pride and a new management team in Dublin Corporation saw changes in how the city was run; among the results was the restoration of City Hall to its eighteenth century interior (removing victorian and edwardian additions and rebuilds), and the replacement of the famed Nelson's Pillar (a monument on O'Connell Street which had dominated the skyline until being blown up by republicans) by a new Spire of Dublin, the world's tallest sculpture, on the site of the old Pillar and which could be seen throughout the city.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The 1980s -A Change in Policy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki