St Stephen’s Green bandstand reopens following €400,000 restoration

A Victorian bandstand in Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green, closed off more than two years ago to protect it from vandalism during the Covid-19 pandemic, has been reopened following a €400,000 restoration programme.

The bandstand, commissioned by the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, was closed in May 2021 after it became a focal point for youths gathering in contravention of pandemic restrictions.

In early June, a large group of people broke through the metal security barriers and climbed up on to the rafters of the bandstand, while speakers were erected playing music to a tightly-packed crowd dancing below.

Gardaí cleared the scene and contractors reinstalled the fencing the following day, the Office of Public Works (OPW) said.

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The structure was subsequently assessed for damage by OPW conservation architects, and it emerged the cast iron columns supporting the bandstand had over the years developed significant structural defects and needed remediation.

“The columns had a particularly unusual feature in that they also acted as rainwater pipes,” senior OPW conservation officer Audrey Farrell said. “We had spotted signs of corrosion, but on more detailed investigation it emerged the problem was more extensive and they were quite compromised.”

A build-up of leaves and other debris within the column had trapped water, allowing only a trickle to drain through. The freeze and thaw action expanded the trapped water over multiple winters slowly compromising the interior of the metal.

“There were about 24 layers of paint on the columns, and paint always hides issues that are happening behind it, and because the rainwater was coming down the inside of the column it was corroding from the inside out,” Ms Farrell said.

During the pandemic, members of the public did some damage to the roof of the structure, straining the struts in the rafters, but she said the main damage was down to the weather, and time.

“I wouldn’t say they did us a favour – the bandstand is 140 years old, it would have been earmarked for one of our restoration programmes within the next 10 or 15 years – but it did mean we did pick up the problem earlier than we might have and identified that the issue with the columns was more serious that we initially thought.”

The full programme of work included the recasting of five of the structural cast iron columns, structural repairs to one of the columns in situ, replacement of the aluminium gutters with cast-iron to match the originals, repairs to the masonry base plinth of the bandstand and the entrance step, repairs to the timber decking. repainting of all metal work to a historic painting scheme based on paint analysis, and repairs to the galvanised metal roof.

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