Storms are being blamed for the partial collapse of a glass and wooden facade at the former La Touche Hotel in Greystones, Co Wicklow.
The listed Victorian building, a distinctive feature in the town for more than a century, has been closed since 2004 and derelict for the best part of 10 years. The seaside hotel and its grounds became the subject of ambitious redevelopment plans before the economic collapse.
Earlier this week, panels of small-pane windows which formed part of the entrance to the building collapsed, leaving a decaying, upstairs balcony unsupported. The hotel windows have been boarded for many years while the car parks and former gardens have been fenced off.
Despite several fires and water damage in the building it is still standing. Planning permission was granted in 2015 to convert the hotel into five three-storey terraced houses, but this would require significant structural work given the extent of dereliction.
Planning permission
Local Cllr Derek Mitchell, who has previously called for the building to be formerly declared a derelict site, said “a section of the front wall of the La Touche Hotel has collapsed in the March storms”.
In 2005, planning permission was obtained to develop a new hotel and 85 apartments on the site. But the development never took place and a receiver was appointed by AIB in 2008.
The former hotel was sold last year by AIB and Nama, which held multimillion euro loans on the property and some adjoining houses. The new planning permission was granted to Kavere La Touche Ltd, with an address at Molesworth Place, Dublin 2.
According to An Taisce's heritage officer Ian Lumley, the hotel was built in about 1900 following the arrival of the railway in Greystones.
