Plans for a 140-bedroom four-star hotel in Dublin city centre have been turned down by An Bord Pleanala. The Fitzpatrick Hotel Group had been granted planning permission by Dublin Corporation for the scheme, proposed for a site at the junction of Adelaide Road and Lower Leeson Street, but this decision was appealed by a resident of Leeson Place. Ms Phyllis Gibney, wife of the award-winning architect, Mr Arthur Gibney, took particular exception to the proposed demolition of a derelict Regency mews building at the rear of the site. She was supported in her appeal by An Taisce, the Dublin Civic Group, the Irish Georgian Society and the Upper Leeson Street Residents' Association. The scheme, submitted by Ferdella Ltd, would have involved the construction of a five-storey extension on the Adelaide Road frontage of the site, behind the former Dublin headquarters of Ansbacher Bank.
The bank building and its extensive site were acquired by Ferdella - a subsidiary of Fitzpatrick Hotels - for about £3 million. Two adjoining buildings on Lower Leeson Street were subsequently purchased for £900,000.
The proposed hotel, incorporating the three Georgian buildings, would have included a swimming pool, gymnasium and basement parking for 145 cars, with access from Leeson Place on the site of the existing mews.
In its ruling, An Bord Pleanala said the proposed development would contravene the zoning of the area under the city plan, which is designed to protect its architectural quality and residential amenities.
The board said the proposed hotel would "detract from the existing architectural and civic design character of the area" and would "seriously injure the residential amenities of property in the vicinity".
It took into account that the hotel would have been located "in close proximity to an important area of Georgian architecture" and that its construction would mean the loss of the unlisted mews building. The decision also referred to the additional traffic and "associated disturbance" which would have been generated by the scheme and said that it would create "serious traffic congestion" in the area.
Ms Gibney said local residents were "delighted" with An Bord Pleanala's decision and she was particularly pleased the mews building had been spared, as she believed it was unique.
She also recalled that planning permission for an earlier development on the site, by Ansbacher, was conditional on the mews being restored. But as that scheme did not proceed, it was "allowed to go derelict".
Ms Gibney said she hoped the board's decision would put pressure on the owners to restore the building and "bring it back to its former glory", adding that there "isn't another one like it in Dublin". A spokesman for the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, which runs hotels in Killiney, Bunratty and New York, said it would now "consider resubmitting a modified version of the scheme".
