Madam, – I feel a genuinely worthy opportunity is being missed, while the easy option is being taken. The GPO, by virtue of its historical function, is inherently unsuited to the location of the Abbey. Built as a post office in 1818, it has graciously survived as such for over two centuries, and is now one of the last major Georgian public buildings in Dublin to retain its original function.
It continues to serve citizens well, even if the status once attached to a postal service has diminished since its inception. The building performs a useful civic duty, grants universal and free public access, and therefore should remain as is when entered from O’Connell Street – by all accounts with new, complementary cultural uses. Even if the grand 1920s public office was retained as a post office with the Abbey located to the rear, the status of the National Theatre would naturally be vastly diminished.
To move the Abbey to the GPO not only confuses the legibility of this significant public structure, it also deprives the historic centre of Dublin of probably its only chance of a new civic building any time this century. With this in mind, the ideal site for a striking contemporary Abbey Theatre and arts centre is that of Hawkins House, home to the Department of Health and Dublin’s most reviled office building, facing the current theatre directly across the Liffey.
Not only is this site in State ownership, it is the perfect location for a major public building, addressed by the junction of five streets with the potential for a grand civic piazza to the front. Such a development would also continue the strong legacy of the Wide Streets Commissioners, Georgian Dublin’s planning authority, in this area, whose grand urban schemes left us with fine terraces such as the former Irish Times offices on D’Olier Street, punctuated with major civic buildings.
A new axis could be created between this site and the former House of Lords portico on College Street, in turn linking around to a pedestrianised College Green.
The Abbey relocation project is about so much more than simply finding a new home for the National Theatre – it involves the very essentials of urbanism, architecture, civic life and fundamentally giving something new and meaningful back to the centre of Dublin. Sadly, the GPO option ticks very few of these boxes. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I attended the new Sebastian Barry play Tales of Ballycumberat the Abbey recently. The theatre was just about half full. This important new work demanded much better.
In my opinion if there were fewer folk obsessing over locations and more, many more, occupying seats in the Abbey, or indeed any theatre, the arts would be much better served. – Yours, etc,
Madam, If serious consideration is under way for the Abbey Theatre to be transplanted into the GPO, may I ask if any serious thought has been applied to the placement of the front-of-house marquee, neon lighting and the posters for forthcoming attractions? – Yours, etc,