Letters

St Stephen’s Green shopping centre

The eye of the beholder

Tue Jan 16 2024 - 00:05

Sir, – Una Mullally refers to the St Stephen’s Green shopping centre in Dublin as “much loved” (“People will wonder why something unique was torn down for something generic”, Opinion & Analysis, January 15th). It is a poor pastiche of a building, it brings no life to the street, its ground floor was compromised from day one and its circulation is poor.

It is, quite simply, just there. It is familiar and functional, but that’s about it. It’s design to South King Street is a poor attempt at copying the Gaiety Theatre and the main facade facing the Green is, as one prominent newspaper architectural critic (you may remember him) labelled it at the time, a pastiche of a New Orleans paddle steamer. As for the reference to the hanging baskets, I look forward to your columnist joining forces with that other enthusiast, Bertie Ahern, in a campaign to Bring Back the Begonias. – Yours, etc,

BARRY KELLY,

Dublin 2.

READ MORE

A chara, – On foot of Una Mullally’s lament for the mooted demise of the St Stephen’s Green shopping centre, I was prompted to search for the image of the proposed “development”. I was shocked by what I saw. A bland box without style or merit and apparently without reference to the scale of the surrounding buildings.

I have long lamented the lost opportunity of the development along the Liffey where, with a few notable exceptions, we are left with rows of boxes where, with a bit of imagination, we had the chance to develop a world-class entrance to our capital city.

While I would not class the existing shopping centre as an architectural gem, it does at least have a character and presence notably lacking in this new proposal.

Is there any chance that sense will prevail and this can be stopped? – Is mise,

D Ó DONNAGÁIN,

Baile Átha Cliath 18.