Think of one of the most important locations in a European capital city, such as Paris's Place de la Concorde or the Spanish Steps in Rome. Now imagine that on a key site there a mass market chain store of a foreign football team has opened. It is highly unlikely that this could occur. Except that it has, in Dublin - with the opening of the Manchester United store beside O'Connell Bridge.
But a particularly significant example of O'Callaghan's work can be found right in the centre of Dublin, located on one of the city's most important sites - the junction of Westmoreland and D'Olier Streets where these meet O'Connell Bridge. The two streets had been created by the Wide Streets Commissioners in the very first years of the 19th century and were provided with uniform facades by James Gandon's pupil and partner, Henry Aaron Baker.
The ground floor interior holds a poorly-executed metal staircase leading downstairs to the eating area - currently described by staff as "closed until further notice" - while a bridge in the same material takes shoppers through to the adjacent building where the retail business is located. Full-length plate-glass windows carry signs for beer - and reveal a space bereft of all ornamentation except publicity for Manchester United. Absolutely no effort appears to have been made to link the exterior of the former insurance office with its interior; the decoration of each cannot be said to relate to the other in any respect. The colour scheme used inside the building is white and red, made all the harsher by the aggressive nature of the lighting.
If the building which houses the Manchester United shop and cafe were sited in a less prominent position, its ill-considered refurbishment might be slightly more tolerable. But this is a key location in Dublin. O'Callaghan's building closes a thoroughfare that begins with the Rotunda Assembly rooms at the top of O'Connell Street. Simultaneously, it marks the meeting point of five major routes: those to east and west along the quays, together with D'Olier, Westmoreland and O'Connell Streets. As intended by the Wide Streets Commissioners, these all congregate in the same space, providing marvellous - and unrivalled - opportunities to make a decisive architectural statement in the city centre.
Some ill-considered retail sites in Dublin:
And one good example in the capital:
Think of one of the most important locations in a European capital city, such as Paris's Place de la Concorde or the Spanish Steps in Rome. Now imagine that on a key site there a mass market chain store of a foreign football team has opened. It is highly unlikely that this could occur. Except that it has, in Dublin - with the opening of the Manchester United store beside O'Connell Bridge.
The name of John Joseph O'Callaghan is little known today. In the final decades of the 19th century, however, his was one of the most successful architectural practices in this country. Running a business without a partner for over 30 years, O'Callaghan was responsible for designing a considerable number of parish churches, including those in Clifden, Castlebar, Mountmellick, Clara and Castletown Geoghegan as well as completing St Mary's on Haddington Road in Dublin. Much of his best work was carried out in the capital: pubs such as Mooney's on Harry Street; Callaghan's department store on Dame Street; and the Dolphin Hotel on Essex Street.
But a particularly significant example of O'Callaghan's work can be found right in the centre of Dublin, located on one of the city's most important sites - the junction of Westmoreland and D'Olier Streets where these meet O'Connell Bridge. The two streets had been created by the Wide Streets Commissioners in the very first years of the 19th century and were provided with uniform facades by James Gandon's pupil and partner, Henry Aaron Baker. Reaching the quays, substantial properties were erected on the commissioners' instructions: Carlisle Building at the bottom of D'Olier Street, demolished in the 1960s to make way for the mediocre highrise office block called O'Connell Bridge House; and the Ballast Office at the end of Westmoreland Street, re-constructed behind a pastiche Georgian facade in the late 1970s. Between this pair of buildings lies the most critical spot of all, at the point where the streets connect and on an axis with O'Connell Street across the river. Contemporary engravings show that Baker's original design treated the structure in the same fashion, and using the same materials, as those elsewhere - albeit terminating in a blunted point due to the narrowness of the site. In 1894, this owners, the London and Lancashire Insurance Company, chose to demolish Baker's block and gave the job of designing new premises to O'Callaghan. Thanks to its prominent position, the building subsequently became known as "O'Callaghan's Chance". Born in Cork around 1838, O'Callaghan trained with Deane and Woodward, working on that practice's museum building in Trinity College Dublin, and Union Society debating room in Oxford, before eventually setting up his own office in 1871; the following year he became the first president of the Architectural Association of Ireland. The work on the D'Olier/Westmoreland Street site was among the last major jobs undertaken by O'Callaghan, who suffered from ill-health in his final years and died in 1905. In its present incarnation, the building is in pure French gothic taste and shows great skill in compressing a considerable amount of detail into a very small space without jeopardising the overall effect. Distinctively tall and slender, it contains three distinct facades, of two bays each on the street sides and with three bays facing across the river. While the D'Olier Street front rises five storeys, that on Westmoreland Street has a sixth floor, sharing a gargoyled and octagonal-topped corner turret with the main facade, above which climbs a sharply-pitched roof, its peak surpassed only by the two bands of chimneys. Because the structure is clad in Portland stone, it is embellished with a wealth of elaborate carving, the only other material used being veined red marble for columns on the ground floor. It might be imagined that, as a result of its architectural interest and its critical location, this landmark building - occupied in recent years by the ICS Building Society - would be treated with considerable respect. Since last autumn, however, it has served as nothing more than a lobby to a Manchester United clothing and souvenir shop and a basement cafe. The ground floor interior holds a poorly-executed metal staircase leading downstairs to the eating area - currently described by staff as "closed until further notice" - while a bridge in the same material takes shoppers through to the adjacent building where the retail business is located. Full-length plate-glass windows carry signs for beer - and reveal a space bereft of all ornamentation except publicity for Manchester United. Absolutely no effort appears to have been made to link the exterior of the former insurance office with its interior; the decoration of each cannot be said to relate to the other in any respect. The colour scheme used inside the building is white and red, made all the harsher by the aggressive nature of the lighting. If the building which houses the Manchester United shop and cafe were sited in a less prominent position, its ill-considered refurbishment might be slightly more tolerable. But this is a key location in Dublin. O'Callaghan's building closes a thoroughfare that begins with the Rotunda Assembly rooms at the top of O'Connell Street. Simultaneously, it marks the meeting point of five major routes: those to east and west along the quays, together with D'Olier, Westmoreland and O'Connell Streets. As intended by the Wide Streets Commissioners, these all congregate in the same space, providing marvellous - and unrivalled - opportunities to make a decisive architectural statement in the city centre. That such opportunities have not been realised is not the fault of Manchester United or, indeed, the building's current owner, the property company Treasury Holdings. The area facing on to O'Connell Bridge deserves to be treated as a plaza into which people are brought by a number of different routes. Instead, at the moment, this space acts merely as a traffic junction through which large numbers of cars and lorries are encouraged to pass. Only a narrow pavement exists directly outside O'Callaghan's building and another, equally small, traffic island stands between the property and O'Connell Bridge. Since vehicles have been given priority, it is impossible for any architecture here to be treated with sufficient respect. Nonetheless, the present fit-out of this key structure in Dublin does nothing to enhance the site. And it is surely ironic that Foley's statue of Daniel O'Connell, the "Liberator of Ireland", should now gaze across the Liffey at a retail outlet for an English soccer team.