A chara. We are beginning to see the inevitable recriminations as it emerges that Temple Bar is not, despite the expenditure of £200 million the "model of sustainability in an urban context" that Mr Brendan Howlin assured us it was, but rather a glorified theme pub. When you spend sums like this (£100 million of public money), inevitably somebody's going to do well out of it, but I wonder if all the representatives of the cultural institutions who have been lined up to defend the cultural development of the area in The Irish Times in recent days ever worry that it appears to be the case that there are no more artists working and living in the Cultural Quarter than there were before the money was allocated.
Years of spin and hype clouded what was going on in Temple Bar. Immediately across the river from Temple Bar, the Northside's equivalent rejuvenation area (the "HARP" area centring on Smithfield) is being given the same media holiday.
In the last few weeks many of the best buildings in Smithfield have received demolition permissions or actually been demolished. 29 North Anne Street (two of the grandest houses in Smithfield (List 2, et 750)) burnt out earlier this month. So did the former postoffice on Ormond Quay Upper (et 790). Heritage Properties demolished the top floor of their enormous List 2 Granary Building in "Smithfield Village" without planning permission. (Heritage have also dropped the plans for a sculptors centre, theatre and studio workshops in the Village). The former pub on Little Brittain Street where James Joyce set the Cyclops scene in Ulysses is the subject of a demolition application. Permission was recently granted for demolition by the Law Society of 23 Hendrick Place (List 2), a building which the Corporation owned until recently - perhaps still does. 96 and 97 Capel Street languish in Corporation ownership five years after proposals were first made for their restoration. Their interiors were recently gutted. The Corporation's architectural competition for North King Street, enthusiastically supported by Frank McDonald (April 17th) allows demolition of Nos 158 and 159 North King Street (good quality four storey buildings of et 790). There are many other demolitions planned.
This is like nothing so much as Temple Bar in the early days of its "rejuvenation". So please be warned. All is not well in HARP in 1997. Less guff and more reality. - Le meas,
Ormond Quay Upper,
Dublin 7.