On the 'F' Spine? a Heritage Informed Perspective on the NTA Proposals

‘To hell or to Kimmage1’ on the ‘F’ Spine?

A heritage informed perspective on the NTA proposals for Corridor 11, the ‘F’ Spine

Summary of Lower Kimmage Road Residents Association stance

‘To hell or to Kimmage2’ on the ‘F’ Spine?

1 Brendan Behan coined the phrase in jest on being relocated to the then rural Kimmage-Crumlin district from a city centre tenement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimmage 2 Brendan Behan coined the phrase in jest on being relocated to the then rural Kimmage-Crumlin district from a city centre tenement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimmage

Summary of Lower Kimmage Road stance and perspective on NTA proposals for Corridor 11

1. Dublin City Council have specifically designated Lower Kimmage Road both Z2 and Z1 status, i.e. to protect and improve the amenities of residential conservation areas, and to protect, provide and improve residential amenities. An area of archaeological interest is also zoned following the course of the Poddle directly along much of Lower Kimmage Road. In addition, Z9 zoning is granted to the overarching district, to preserve, provide and improve recreational amenities and open space and green networks. NTA proposals must demonstrably respect, adhere to, protect and consolidate such zoning. 2. LOKRA views as imperative that the location of the Corridor 11 Bus Gates, if implemented, as supported by residential surveys, protects such structures as both Mount Argus and Mount Jerome and are not substantially moved from the current proposed location but are managed sensitively with regard to residents’ concerns. 3. Commuter traffic and congestion impacts on structural and routine maintenance owing to the shortness of gardens and distance from the road. The threat of road widening and drawing increased traffic closer to vulnerable period properties through unnecessary foreshortening of gardens, from structural, visual/aesthetic and safety perspectives, remains a source of deep concern to home owners along the entire length of Lower Kimmage Road. 4. Architecture on Lower Kimmage Road challenged construction topographically and many homes have substantial retaining walls, and elegant raised gardens. Current published plans for Bus Connects proposing compulsory purchase of land from such gardens challenge residential access uniquely and create significant anxiety in relation to the removal of retaining walls and the structural integrity of foundations to homes, and long-term compliance for disabled access for home owners into old age should such need arise. 5. Previous road widening schemes on Lower Kimmage Road (South) have had enduring negative visual impact on our heritage which failed both residents and commuters over time. This further undermines the current proposal to yet again widen the Lower Kimmage Road. LOKRA calls for alternative, progressive sensitive solutions that actively value our heritage. 6. LOKRA requires strong endorsement of cultural and architectural collateral and commitment to the support of our redemption of heritage capital within the overarching scoping and planning of transport services for this most historic and vulnerable route. 7. All new works proposed within the design, planning and implementation phase, including signage, should relate sensitively and positively to the cultural and architectural detail, scale, proportions and design of our existing structures and landscape. 8. Proposals should be compatible with the Harold’s Cross Vision 2025 and with our aspiration for a Local Area Plan for which this area is listed. Plans should ultimately contribute to the positive special interest of Lower Kimmage Road within the overall Corridor 11 as an attractive route upon which to travel, live and breathe for residents, visitors, commuters, pilgrims and tourists.

Heritage and architectural considerations, Lower Kimmage Road in the context of Corridor 11

Corridor 11 is arguably the single most ancient and historic route of all the 16 corridors proposed under the NTA transport plan for Dublin City. While LOKRA legitimately only argues the impacts on Lower Kimmage Road resident’s homes of the emerging preferred route as published, it is imperative that such proposals are situated sensitively in the broader context of this short stretch from Medieval Dublin, tracing the Poddle river, along the route that gave the city its name, DyfLinn, Dubh Linn or Dark Pool, and on the very path desperately raced by Hugh Roe O Donnell on his historic escape from Dublin Castle in 1592. Hugh Roe with Art and Hugh O Neill- the only trio on record ever to escape alive from the castle dungeons- followed the Poddle, defensive supply to the castle moat, along what is now Lower Kimmage Road stretching out to the Dublin mountains along which road lay clean air and freedom.

Corridor 11, the putative ‘F’ Spine traces just shy of Dublin’s two Cathedrals, through the Liberties (the once infamous ‘four corners of hell’3), negotiating Georgian terraces, past the birth place of Leopold Bloom, the greatest Dublin commuter of all, immortalised in Ulysses, crossing the Grand Canal and Robert Emmet Bridge, the site of the Archbishop’s Harold’s Cross gallows- toll and landmark, now a Victorian park and playground with coffee shop, past the regenerated ‘great houses’ as were of Greenmount, the Hospice, and towards sacred places of Mount Jerome and Mount Argus, the only national shrine of a revered Saint’s bones in Ireland. Onwards through what was once Plunkett Land at Sundrive Cross Roads, and onto the Kimmage Cross Roads, with a public house dating from 1860. Uniquely a route of complex religious traditions, interfaith co-existence and character, associated with Huguenot and Jewish refugees, both Protestant and Catholic faiths including Quaker families, and latterly Muslim and Russian Orthodox believers worshipping and sharing daily life along this narrow residential stretch of road. Equally impressive are the critical thinkers and leaders associated with this route from Dean Swift, Archbishop Marsh, St. Charles, Mary Aikenhead, Archbishop McQuaid, in the visual and performing arts, Oscar Wilde, Zozimus, Louis Le Broquy, James Pearse, Cecil Sheridan and son Noel, Neil Tobin and in the political realm, Robert Emmet, WolfeTone, Frederick Shaw, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Padraig and Willie Pearse, the Plunkett family (both Count Joseph and Captain George) and Chaim Herzog.

The Poddle, or river Sáille (aweelah-weelah-wilyah of the Dubliner’s song, ‘the old woman who lived in the Woods’) long supplied both the drinking water and industrial mills and tanneries of the city, including some 8 mills (paper, flour, corn, wire etc.) in this district in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and enabled the extensive quarrying at what is now Lower Kimmage Road (South). These quarries assisted in the restoration of Christ Church Cathedral sponsored by Roe’s Distillery, supplying local limestone. The challenges of flooding of the Poddle banks have long been a feature of the district, including of the crypt of St Patrick’s Cathedral resulting in damage to Dean Swift and Esther Johnson’s remains (Stella); anecdotally, arising from the opening of the grave associated with the flooding, Dean Swift was subsequently subject of an unusual post-mortem autopsy by Oscar Wilde’s father, Sir William, who is laid to rest in Mount Jerome cemetery. Oscar Wilde himself requested assistance on his deathbed from the Passionist priest, Fr. Cuthbert Dunne, in his search for peace and ultimate conversion to Catholicism.

The Poddle splits close to Sundrive Cross Roads at what is known as the ‘Stone Boat’ or ‘Tongue’ supplying the watercourse / city basin and the remainder continuing along the city basin, part of a

3 https://comeheretome.com/2014/09/29/the-four-corners-of-hell/ demonstrates the entire destruction of community arising from the insensitive imposition and prioritisation of transportation through-put over the rights of residents

3 confluence of rivers. Much of the Poddle is culverted now but runs beneath homes along the Lower Kimmage Road and is part of the flood plain monitored by Dublin City Council.

While the residential origins of the district may have been humble reflecting skilled labour and trade, over time the gradient and geographical elevation led to Lower Kimmage Road being associated with cleaner air, better health and wellbeing. The Thom’s Directory of 1839 refers to a neighbourhood abounding in ‘handsome seats and villas’ and lists homes in Kimmage Road owned by a delightfully egalitarian social mix including a Lord High Chancellor, Solicitor, Recorder of Dublin, Veterinary Surgeon, Dairy, Jeweller, Barrister, Painter and Paper Hanger, Flour Miller and Corn Factor, Bankers, Millers and Flour Merchants.

Over the nineteenth century a number of ‘great houses’ were established in the area, reflecting notable social status and the position of the district. Interestingly, many are associated with social leadership / entrepreneurship and innovation. Most are preceded in title by ‘Mount’- Mount Argus, Mount Drummond, Mount Jerome, Greenmount House (Hospice).

The Greenmount Spinning Mill was established in the nineteenth century by the Pims, one of the leading Quaker families, the factory’s machines were initially powered by a waterwheel and later a steam engine. The nearby cottages housed some of the 150 workers from the Mill. Louis Le Broquy and his family lived nearby.

Our Lady’s Hospice is located on the site of another Quaker family ‘great house’, Greenmount House’, purchased by the Sisters of Charity in 1845. A site of refuge for the poor, sick and dying, a hospice opened in 1879.

Mount Jerome opened in 1836 as a Protestant cemetery, and accepted remains of people of all faiths following the post-World War 1 Spanish Flu epidemic. Those interred include WB Yeats, William Wilde, Synge, Sheridan Le Fanu, Thomas Davis, AE (George Russell), George Petrie, Thomas Kirk, Hamilton, Máirtin O Cadhain, Máirtin O Direáin, alongside residents and friends, the humble and the great. Taking its name from the Rev. Stephen Jerome, Vicar from 1639 of St Kevin’s Parish which then encompassed Harold’s Cross; in the eighteenth century the lands were held by the Earl of Meath and a mansion was built on the site, which today houses the administration offices of the cemetery. John Keogh subsequently owned the cemetery and was friend and close affiliate of Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet and an activist in the Catholic emancipation movement. His descendants sold the 47-acre site to the Dublin General Cemeteries Company in 1835, the greenhouse rapidly became the first mortuary chapel. Mount Jerome is in the ownership of the Massey family and is an important local and national landmark.

The Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles Saints Peter and Paul is located alongside Mount Jerome Gates on the site of the former Church of Ireland, constructed in 1838.

St Paul's Retreat, Mount Argus Church is a protected structure, facing onto Lower Kimmage Road with impressive wrought iron gates and Avenue. The Church itself is designed by James Joseph McCarthy, in 1866, and was under construction from 1873-1878; built by direct labour, with all sculpture and painting by Earley and Powell. The gates were donated by the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1909, and double gates donated by An Garda Siochána when the car park was later improved. Finely crafted sculpture on the façade, topped by St Michael the Archangel guards the district. First Mass was celebrated by the Passionists in 1856, within an original farmhouse building. The existing church building was opened in 1878. Ignatius Spencer, ancestor of Princess Diana is associated with its opening. The Passionists traditionally sought isolation from urban development in founding Mt Argus, but the reputation of St Charles and his healing ministry and compassion for the

4 poor drew large crowds in a short time. James Pearse (father of William and Padraig), converted to Catholicism here, and his firm installed the pulpit, while he himself sculpted a Blessed Virgin. Easter 1916 volunteers were blessed here prior to the Rising, and in the aftermath, as documented by Pat Liddy, Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald’s father, Desmond, sought refuge and was hidden from the military in the monastery. While the monastery is to be redeveloped as duplexes facing the now public green space of Mount Argus Park, exiting onto Lower Kimmage Road via the Avenue, the new monastery is a model of modern architecture blending unobtrusively with the parklands.

By far Lower Kimmage Road's most famous citizen was Joannes Andreas Houben, the Dutch native, who became Fr Charles Andrew ultimately, St Charles in June 2007 and whose shrine is nationally venerated. A shy, quiet man from a humble family he was ordained a Passionist in 1850, and while serving in England became fond of many Irish escaping from the Famine. In 1857 he transferred to Mount Argus and while a poor communicator, he became known for his capacity to comfort the sick and penitent; he quickly became associated with healings, and even the medics became suspicious of his gifting! Water he blessed began to be sold for profit and on account of this he left again for England, not returning until 1874. His funeral in 1893 was enormous, such was his renown in his own time, with people travelling nationally to mourn4. In Ulysses, Bloom asserts in the ‘Circe’ chapter that he is the Messiah (drunkenly),and is challenged to ‘Then perform a miracle like Father Charles’; he climbs Nelson's Pillar. Anne Kearns in Ulysses elsewhere references rubbing on water received from a Passionist father, to cure lumbago5.

The Mount Argus Community was served by farmlands, with dairy herds, until relatively recently. Surrounding garden soil is rich reflecting the orchards that eventually yielded to brick-fronted housing from 1850-1920 for example, Madgin’s Farm, now Casimir Road. The original farm house site is located on the corner of Kenilworth Road and Lower Kimmage Road.

Larkfield, at Sundrive Cross was also a Mill and Farm owned by the Plunkett family, and used as a clearing station for arms in the 1914 gun-running and for training of the Kimmage Garrison in preparation for the 1916 Rising. From this base, some 60 volunteers sought blessing in Mount Argus before travelling by tram from Harold’s Cross to participate in ultimately what led to execution for both Pearse brothers. Bombs, bayonets and pikes were made on the site of what is now our shopping centre at Supervalu. Geraldine and Joseph Plunkett lived for a time in ‘Larkfield Cottage’ 6and were visited there by Michael Collins among others7.

Understanding of the district along the so-called Corridor 11 broadly must also encompass recognition of the levels of skilled craftsmanship and labour that inform its character and development. Poplin weavers, lace-makers, canal-trades and transportation such as coal/fuel hauliers, mill and farm labourers are long gone. Some artisan dwellings remain along the Lower Kimmage Road and on Corridor 11, but also with the emergence of the rising middle classes and emerging new technologies, this delightfully balanced and mixed housing stock reflects family homes many of which have survived the ravages of tenancies of the 1970’s and which in a two

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_of_Mount_Argus 5 https://www.google.ie/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=ulysses+then+perform+a+miracle+like+Father+Charles&= and https://books.google.ie/books?id=wfzYCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT128&dq=Ulysses+a+bottleful+from+a+passionist+fat her&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigya3UgPThAhXVTxUIHcMiDwwQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=Ulysses%20a%20b ottleful%20from%20a%20passionist%20father&f=false 6 https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/86033/geraldine-plunkett-and-tom-dillon 7 https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-1916/1916irl/cpr/cmp/jmp/

5 kilometre stretch reflect a socio-cultural history of the city at a scale which can easily be comprehended.

Critically, in planning and zoning terms, Dublin City Council have specifically designated Lower Kimmage Road both Z2 and Z1 status, i.e. to protect and improve the amenities of residential conservation areas, and to protect, provide and improve residential amenities. An area of archaeological interest is also zoned following the course of the Poddle along much of Lower Kimmage Road. In addition, Z9 zoning is granted to the overarching district, to preserve, provide and improve recreational amenities and open space and green networks.

Thus the residential nature of Lower Kimmage Road is to be protected, improved and conserved. Furthermore, our residential access to green space and amenity is vital to community well-being and to our historical identity as a place of peaceful well-being and clean air. Named a ‘road’ and not a ‘street’ this also highlights that we are not part of the inner city but residential and urban in character.

Some 300 two-storey family dwellings lie the length of Lower Kimmage Road, developed over a period of approximately 150 years, if Mount Argus as a protected structure is taken as the earliest listed landmark building. Development of new homes is ongoing with Mount Argus Mill apartments incomplete. The well -proportioned cottages below McGowan’s pub, while not technically on Lower Kimmage Road are thought to be Regency, (i.e. before 1820 in period), sympathetically curve, bridge and link from Mount Jerome cemetery as another listed protected structure, the Victorian Harold’s Cross Park and the residential Lower Kimmage Road, at its narrowest point along its length, a width of a mere six metres.

LOKRA views as imperative that the location of the Bus Gate, as supported by residential surveys protects such structures as both Mount Argus and Mount Jerome and is not substantially moved from the current proposed location, but is managed sensitively with regard to residents’ concerns.

Edwardian homes include art nouveau style brick-fronted homes, with bricks being locally sourced from Mount Argus and Dolphin’s Barn. With bay windows, balconies and decorative doorways, both semidetached and in terraces, the original fabric and detail give both rhythmic architectural continuity and unique Edwardian character to the road. Features such as windows and doors are aligned, with patterning variations in decorative glasswork, and consistencies in brick features in terraces, indicating architectural design and planning. Constructed sequentially from 1901-1911, with Wicklow granite pillars, plinths and steps, wrought iron railings, gates and cast decorative foot scrapers, decorative balcony trims, original stained-glass doors and windows, Minton patterned tiles and pathways and some decorative features on chimneys externally, the internal character of these homes is equally rich. Plasterwork, fire surrounds, glass and wooden features echo the craftsmanship of the era and the ambitions of the emerging professional classes that commissioned the construction of such family homes. At least one has an intact concrete bomb shelter.

Gardens are modest in scale, and in proportion visually to the height of the home. Because of the topography of the road, and the slope to the banks of the Poddle, granite steps to raised entrances and retaining walls with decorative railings are essential for the visual and structural integrity of the house. Variations on these homes, both single and double storey, both expansive and modest in scale, stretch along a considerable length of Lower Kimmage Road, reflecting different emphases in features and somewhat different levels of initial investment in construction. Sufficient commonality in red brick glow in sunrise for those facing east, and sunset for those facing west, give coherent identity to the road.

Not all gardens have survived owing to speed, congestion and parking restrictions associated with the burden of increasing commuter traffic management; along with the yielding of resident’s garden space for personal parking, has been the regrettable loss of original features for many Edwardian and ‘period’ homes, and loss of distinctive character to both area and city. Commuter traffic and congestion also impact on structural and routine maintenance owing to the shortness of gardens and distance from the road. The threat of road widening and drawing increased traffic closer to vulnerable period properties through an unnecessary foreshortening of gardens, from a structural, aesthetic/visual and safety perspective, remains a source of deep concern to home owners along the entire length of Lower Kimmage Road.

Between 1920 and the 1950s, several styles of home typically either semi-detached or in terraces were constructed along the Lower Kimmage Road, with considerable variance in scale. These include classical art deco and arts crafts styles and some early publicly funded housing which also shows influences of both Gothic and arts-crafts styles. In this way on a short stretch of road, the history of architectural development over a century can be quickly illustrated.

Lower Kimmage Road also has coherent blocks of 1940’s post-war homes, reflecting modern construction and architectural features, prioritising space and light. Decorative features include stucco-work and respond to Edwardian influences with red brick patterning on external walls, and decorative glass work.

Numbers 72, 74 and 76 reflect further cutting-edge technology of their time in adopting an experimental ‘no fines’ concrete approach to construction, wherein air pocket concrete insulation methods increased heating efficiency over previous technologies. The architect-designed flat-roof construction reflects relatively radical modernist influences but remains sympathetic and responsive to both arts-crafts styles features and surrounding homes in height.

Art Deco homes centre beyond Mount Argus towards and about Sundrive junction; approaches vary. Some have concrete walls and typical squared windows. Others are red-bricked with bow windows and decorative brick features. Many have rich interior fittings and furnishings entirely consistent with 1930s styling and proportions, from plasterwork, wooden features, oak and mahogany fire surrounds, tiling, some with stained glass panels in doorways. While scale and period varies, external decorative brick features on red bricks are shared in common with earlier Edwardian homes linking North and South ends of the road, silently speaking to coherence.

Lower Kimmage Road again challenged construction topographically and many homes have substantial retaining walls and elegant raised gardens. Current published plans for Bus Connects proposing compulsory purchase of land from such gardens challenge access uniquely and create significant anxiety in relation to the removal of retaining walls and the structural integrity of foundations to homes, and long-term compliance for disabled access for home owners into old age should such need arise.

At Sundrive junction, commercial buildings are of a later period but curve, inviting the eye around the corner, up the former ‘Dark Lane’ or ‘Hangmans Lane’ as Sundrive Road was once known. Commercial facades at street level with red-bricked upper office space echo 1930’s styling, even though it dates from circa 1955. The balance of retail and office space reflected the then evolving village cultural life, and the nature of office occupancy the need to provide essential local services, consistent with much late nineteenth and early twentieth century development- insurance, banking, book-keeping, advisory and support services, the simplicity of architecture underlining trustworthiness, stability and discretion. There was little need to provide for car parking in the

7 conceptualisation of urban villages. Echoing the ‘modern style’ simplicity of form and a lack of ornamentation, even the appearance of the flat roof emphasised a vision for a new egalitarian society. The Apollo cinema would have been a key attraction at the cross roads.

Moving towards the Kimmage Cross Roads, an eclectic mix of house types happily co-exist, from arts craft double-fronted styled bungalow and two-storey homes interspersed with variations already discussed. Such double-fronted homes reflect later developments with greater availability of land per unit, finishes are in cement plaster and there are fewer, if any, references to earlier period homes down-stream. Picturesque and substantial properties for professional families, with generous roof pitches and elegant porch and driveways, half bricked fronts and large windows, these continue to reflect cutting edge technologies of their time, and a commitment to the exploitation of light and space consistent with modern design.

Some homes lost garden space to road-widening which appears in the face of current proposals to have served little purpose, some thirty years previously; while compensation was paid at the time to affected homeowners, the impact on the streetscape and visual continuity was not and still is not addressed. Neither was the enduring impact for the limited green space at the source of the spring of the city’s very identity. Arguably this road-widening creating increased space for traffic has created current challenges for residents in adjacent roads in Aideen Avenue, Mount Tallant, Priory, Larkfield, Clareville and Kenilworth as commuter cars seek to escape congestion legally and illegally. This enduring negative visual impact on our heritage which failed both residents and commuters over time further undermines the current proposal to yet again widen the Lower Kimmage Road. LOKRA calls for alternative, progressive sensitive solutions that value our heritage.

As ‘Eveline’ (James Joyce8) described ‘Once upon a time there used to be a field in which they used to play every evening….then a man…bought the field and built houses in it- not like their little brown houses but bright brick houses with shining roofs’. Eveline looked with anticipation and hope at homes such as those built along the Lower Kimmage Road, as symbols of a better future.

‘Little Jerusalem’ below the Robert Emmet Bridge, from Clanbrassil Street to St Patrick’s Cathedral is well documented in terms of its development as a piece of transport infrastructure; the perils of indecision impacting on the maintenance of historic streetscapes and living communities is as visible as the irrevocable devastating impact of the prioritisation of transport throughput over heritage and related values. The broad and narrow streets of Dublin’s fair city are testament to sociocultural development, in this case, not of a mere two hundred years or so, but of a thousand.

LOKRA requires strong endorsement of cultural and architectural collateral and commitment to the support of our redemption of heritage capital within the overarching scoping and planning of transport services for this most historic and vulnerable route.

All new works proposed within the design, planning and implementation phase, including signage, should relate sensitively and positively to the cultural and architectural detail, scale, proportions and design of our existing structures.

Proposals should be compatible with the Harold’s Cross Vision 2025 and with our aspiration for a Local Area Plan for which this area is listed and should ultimately contribute to the positive special interest of Lower Kimmage Road within the overall Corridor 11 as an attractive route upon which to travel, to live and to breathe.

8 Dubliners, collection of short stories

Select References http://www.haroldscross.org/about-the-village-community-council/ https://libguides.ucd.ie/findingmaps/mapshistDublin

Harold’s Cross Walking Trail, Map and Guide, Dublin City Council (Dublin Tourism)

Buildings of Irish Towns, Patrick and Maura Shaffrey, O’Brien Press, 1984

Dublin, Be Proud, 1000 Years A Growin, Pat Liddy, Chadworth Limited, 1987

The Kimmage Garrison 1916, Making Billycan Bombs at Larkfield, Ann Matthews, Maynooth Studies, Four Courts Press, 2010

County Dublin Directory, Thom’s, 1839

Dublin Historical Record, Old Dublin Society, 1974

Guide to the National Monuments of Ireland, Harbison, Gill and MacMillan, 1970

Blue Guide, Ireland, A&C Black, London, 1992

Appendix B

Lower Kimmage Road South and North (grey line), Dublin City Development Plan, showing designated zones

Map showing the road following the river from the common at (1) Harold’s cross. (2) The junction with Hangman’s lane (Sundrive road) John Roque map 1756 ucd

Above, view of Mount Jerome and of the Monument marking the grave of Sir William Wilde

The Old Mill Race between Sweeney’s Lane and Blackpitts. Taken in the early 20th Century’, Elgy Gillespie (ed.), The Liberties of Dublin (Dublin, 1977) p. 30. An example of how a mill may have looked.

The ‘tongue’ or ‘stone boat’ close to Sundrive Cross, traditionally splitting the Poddle.

Around 1555, there came a point that there was pressure on the Mayor to maintain the upkeep of the water course and make repairs where necessary. There are some ordinances which refer to the ‘Head’ of the water – the portion from the source to the tongue at Harolds’ Cross. There was established an understanding that should any damage occur beyond that point, it was the duty the Mayor and local Bailiffs to gather local citizens who dwelt in the abbeys and monasteries owning mills on the water to facilitate repairs at their own cost. Where an owner failed to do so, it was within the power of the local authority to arrest the mill horses and keep them in ward. RIAI

Map dated 1912 X X

X D X

Flour mills marked X at the ‘Dark Lane’, formerly Hangmans Lane now, Sundrive Road. D is a Tram route

Map showing quarries (pools of blue) above Sundrive Cross used for restoration of Christ Church (UCD)

St Peter and St Paul, Russian Orthodox Church, Dublin

The Russian Orthodox Church in Harold’s Cross was originally a Protestant Episcopal Church. It was built in 1838 by architects John Louche and R.and W.Tough. Stained glass window in memory of Henry Vanston ,a retired officer of the RIC who had lived at 110 Leinster Road .

Front elevation, Regency cottages, Russian Orthodox Church of St Peter and St Paul visible behind

Google earth image illustrating Flynns Flowers and Regency cottages facing the Victorian Harolds Cross Park, curving around to the 6 metre point of Lower Kimmage Road where the proposed Bus Gate will be located

Two story detached house and single story dwelling ,mid 19th century

Art Deco style terrace showing brick and plaster work feature interplay, geometric ironwork

Edwardian Terrace, with decorative brick, granite and ironwork, stained glass features

Edwardian semi-detached redbricks with strong Art Nouveau influence reflecting a strong emphisis on craft and aesthetics, wicklow granite dressing, iron work, etc

‘The Edwardian period represented a gradual change in domestic architecture that was already underway in the closing decades of the 19th century. Indeed, ‘Edwardian’ in architectural parlance often refers to the wider period of 1890 until 1930, when the heavily embellished Victorian aesthetic gave way to the lighter style of the Arts and Crafts movement and the more streamlined approach of the classical revival.

The expansion of the civil service and the professions in Dublin in the opening decades of the 20th century fuelled the market for modest suburban housing. Much of this was built in the picturesque Arts and Crafts

17 style, a design movement that developed in reaction to the mass industrialisation and often eclectic adoption of historical styles during the Victorian era.

These houses attempted a more ‘authentic’ style, romantically delving back to medieval precedents, typically making use of coloured tiled roofs, timber porches and casement windows with leaded lights. While the best examples of these houses are usually individual commissions, the basic design principles of the movement were also used by large developers in new roads and estates.’ (Dublin Civic Trust)

Edwardian terrace adopting modern house construction techniques, arts crafts style

Westfield House, Edwardian arts crafts revial early 20th century. Mature monkey puzzle close to retaining wall.

Entrance Gates for Mount Argus (St Paul of the Cross), Shrine of St Charles, a Protected Structure, Donated by Dublin Metropolitan Police.

Shrine of St Charles, beatified in 2005, site of national pilgrimage.

Mount Argus, St Paul of the Cross, designed by JJ McCarthy in 1866, opened in 1878.

Edwardian red brick terrace elevated above road level.

Detached arts crafts gable fronted residence in aesthetic style.

Dublin housing crisis

On September 2nd 1913 two tenement homes collapsed to the ground, killing seven working class Dubliners

Tenement collapse in Fenian Street 1963 claiming the lives of two young children. Marion Vardy (9) and Linda Byrne (8).

‘Large tracts of suburban housing were built by Dublin Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s as part of its programme of slum clearance and re-housing taking place in the city centre. These well-planned, outlying estates of terraced and semi-detached houses were laid out around green areas, often in the shape of a crescent or oval, with distinctive corner houses addressing street junctions’. (Civic Trust)

Sundrive junction showing emergent office space mixed with retail frontage serving evolving village life. Note the curve and modernist approach with flat roof. Circa1950

Layers of history, hand-painted signage, fonts illustrating changes in fashion and time. Top Left image from Guardian newspaper. Below at Thom’s Chemist the location of the proposed Bus Gate.

Inter-war coherent terraces houses on raised sites with high retaining walls. Circa 1930. Strong Art Deco influence on interiors.

Edwardian Terrace attached to later Arts and Crafts featured home at St Martins Dairy

Below: Boundary marker for township of Rathmines; boundaries for Roundtown (Terenure), Rathmines, Kimmage have evolved over centuries. It may relate to the boundary markings in the DCC map below (blue arrow) associated with Larkfield, Sundrive Road and Lower Kimmage Road (South).

1837 Map (UCD)

1. Clandaube Quarry. 2. Round town (Terenure). 3. Mount Argus House

Quarry pools

Inter war house with garage 1930s lower kimmage road south.

K. C. R. house established 1860

Terraced cottages circa1850

Post Second World War Art Deco terrace, emphasising new materials, strong modernist styling

An expansion in house building occurred in Dublin in the 1930s as growing numbers of middle class families moved out of the city and from rural areas into the capital’s expanding suburbs. The houses of this period are characterised by a transitional style, moving away from

Edwardian brick and decorative detailing to the more spare treatment of an emerging modernisim. They often feature pebbledash finishes and double-height rounded bays with timber or steel casement windows.

This form of suburban development was encouraged by the emergence of the motor car, where middle class families had, for the first time, access to their own private transport. New avenues and estates of traditional-styled houses were erected by private developers and housing associations, attracting prospective new owners with the comfort of familiar architecture with all modern conveniences, from bathrooms to electricity to private garages. (Civic Trust)

Semidetached Single story fronted Edwardian house.

K.C.R. iconic landmark in South Dublin since the 1960s.