The former Molyneux House studios of renowned Irish architect Sam Stephenson are set to be preserved along with the Brutalist facade he designed for the building as part of plans for Dublin's first citizenM Hotel.
The 245-room hotel, which is due to open for business in 2024, represents just the latest lease of life for No 69 Bride Street. While the property has accommodated the offices of numerous companies for several decades now, prior to Stephenson’s arrival there in 1973, it had been home for over 300 years both to a Huguenot church and to a weekly bird market. Although the architect’s addition of an imposing brick-clad frontage to the church’s romanesque-windowed nave was less controversial than his firm’s design of the ESB’s headquarters on Lower Fitzwilliam Street, it still represented a dramatic departure from the building’s history.
The planned demolition of the final remnants of the original church and preservation of Stephenson's facade will involve yet another departure for the site as citizenM and its Dublin-based developer partners, BCP Capital, combine their respective expertise in modular construction to deliver the first fully modular-built commercial building in Ireland. Construction of the new hotel is scheduled to get to under way in August.
Affordable luxury
With the space between the preserved Stephenson facade and the hotel set to serve as a permanent art collection for Dublin, citizenM intends to collaborate as it has in other cities, with a local artist. The detail in relation to this proposed installation will be announced at a later date.
CitizenM aims to offer luxury accommodation at affordable prices in prime urban centres. The company employs technology that allows guests to have what it describes as “a minimal-fuss contactless experience”, in which they can check in remotely, use their phone to open their room, order food and beverages, control the in-room experience, and then check-out when they’ve finished their stay.
Commenting on the opening of its first Irish hotel, citizenM chief executive Klaas van Lookeren Campagne said: “Dublin has been high on our list of target cities for some time, and we are thrilled to have secured this location as our entry into the Irish market. While the past year has been a challenge for the whole industry, we are confident and continue with our ambitious growth strategy both in Europe and the US, which includes actively seeking additional locations in Dublin.”
Nick Cullen, chairman of BCP Capital, added: “The commencement of this development is a real show of confidence in Dublin as a destination for both business and leisure tourism, and the arrival of citizenM helps fill a gap in the Dublin market which has historically lacked internationally recognised lifestyle brands in the hospitality sector.”
