People will soon again be able to see the dome of Dublin’s Four Courts building as scaffolding gradually comes down in August and September on a restoration project that is likely to cost over €10 million.
The Four Courts was built between 1776 and 1796, with finishing touches to the arcades and wings being completed in 1802.
It remains an architectural set piece overlooking the Liffey but, according to Office of Public Works assistant principal architect and head of conservation Terri Sweeney Meade, the dome has taken something of a battering over the centuries.
In 1916, the building was annexed by the rebels during the Easter Rising and became the headquarters of Edward Daly’s First Battalion. Rebels occupied the building again in 1922, while the Free State government controversially bombarded it in a bid to get the rebels out.
Destroyed by fire
The outer dome and inner dome above the entrance rotunda suffered extensive damage as a result of a major fire in this engagement. The original timber roof and much of the interior and exterior were destroyed.
An extensive restoration programme was carried out and completed in 1932. The work included construction of a reinforced concrete dome to replace the destroyed timber outer dome of the original Gandon building, and a steel frame to support the ceiling of the entrance hall and the floor above.
In 2011, the dome was in trouble again and one of the capitals fell onto the roof of the Four Courts below. Special netting was required to mitigate the immediate risk while conservation architects put together a plan.
Structural issues
Limited scaffolding was placed at a number of selected points to allow access for specialists to examine and report on the cause, location and extent of the structural issues, but it became evident that the full extent of works could only be established by erecting a full scaffold. This was put in place in 2015.
The OPW completed the enabling, investigative and entablature repairs – repairs to the horizontal stones which sit on top of the capitals – at the end of July 2021.
The scaffold that facilitated this phase of investigations and repairs will be dismantled over the court’s recess period of August and September to minimise disturbance to the Courts Service.
But the work is far from over. With €5.8 million spent, Ms Sweeney Meade said a further final phase of repairs is required to the decorative stone capitals which support the dome. Work is expected to begin in autumn of 2022.
Sources indicate that this further work, which will require more scaffolding, could cost as much again.
