O'Connell Bridge House


O'Connell Bridge House is a 12-storey office block in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

History

O'Connell Bridge House was built on the site of Carlisle House, which was built in 1779 and demolished in 1962. O'Connell Bridge House was completed in 1964 and opened in 1965. It was built by John J. Byrne at a cost of 1 million Irish pounds.
On 26 November 1972, loyalists planted a bomb outside the rear exit door of the Film Centre Cinema, at O'Connell Bridge House, injuring 40 people.
The Department of the Environment left the building in 1999.

Architecture

A 12-storey concrete and glass tower faced in Portland stone designed by Desmond FitzGerald. On its north face is a clock and a large advertising space; it has in the past bore the names of Guinness and Sony, and now holds Heineken.

Reception

Kevin Duff, writing in The Irish Times declares that, "the design of this 12-storey building is the epitome of its time, when new commercial schemes generally showed no regard for site or context. However, because of its scale and location, O'Connell Bridge House makes probably the single most brutal intrusion into Dublin's urban design - more serious, even, than Liberty Hall."

Gallery