Dublin's O'Connell Street has been transformed into a wide boulevard that celebrates the city's history and culture. Designed by Gerry Mitchell and Ian Ritchie Architects.
The late 20th century was not kind to O'Connell Street. The social and economic decline of its adjacent north ward, and its position as a central traffic artery for the city, contributed to a loss of confidence and identity. The 'Celtic tiger' economic revival appeared to be leaving the street to wither under cheap plastic shop fronts and incoherent street clutter. By the mid-1990s it was clear that bold and ambitious measures were necessary to restore O'Connell Street to, in the words John Stafford, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, 'a place that represents the nation'.
O’Connell Street is a street in the grand manner. Connecting Parnell Square in the north to O’Connell Bridge over the River Liffey in the south, O’Connell Street brings together much of the history and aspirations of Ireland in one coherent boulevard.
Dublin’s shiny new 120-metre high stainless steel spire provides an awe-inspiring vertical flourish alongside the historic General Post Office. Other great sculptures celebrating O’Connell, Parnell, Larkin and O’Brien and the scale and architecture reinforce the powerful identity of the street as the symbolic centre of Ireland’s past and future.
The boulevard rarely forms part of the urban vocabulary of UK cities. Perhaps because of the lack of boulevards, London and other English cities rely on squares and intersections such as Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus for iconic significance. There are few streets in the UK that serve as a focal point and essential destination both for a city and for the country as a whole.
O'Connell Street is both old and new. It emerged from Dublin's Georgian expansion eastwards along the river in the 18th century, with its northern end laid out as Drogheda Street as an elongated public square. A wide streets commission, established in 1757, prompted the extension southwards as O'Connell Street. It was a composition pre-dating Nash's Regent Street by 30 years. In 1808 Nelson's Pillar was erected at the central crossing of Henry Street and Earl Street North, designed by Francis Johnston who was also responsible for the nearby GPO building. Although almost three quarters of the street was damaged and rebuilt between 1916 and 1930, the careful control of the reconstruction retained an elegant consistency of height and scale. Nelson's Pillar however, did not survive, and was destroyed in 1966.
