Apollo House was a 9-storey

office block An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

Tara Street Tara Street is a major traffic route in Dublin, Ireland, partly due to the current one-way traffic flow in the city centre.

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

History

Apollo House was built in 1969 for the Norwich Union Group by Block Office and Shop Investments. 7 older buildings were demolished to make way for the 9-storey office block with street level retail, a car park, and a petrol station. It was constructed with pre-cast concrete blocks, and designed by David Keane, who also designed Phibsboro Shopping Centre.

Occupation

The empty office block was occupied by 40 homeless people for 27 days from 15 December to 12 January 2017, supported by the Irish Housing Network under the campaign entitled "Home Sweet Home". Over the course of the occupation, 205 homeless people were housed in the block. Among the supporters of the occupation were

Glen Hansard Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and actor. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten ...

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, and

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Demolition and redevelopment

After the demolition of Apollo House in June 2018, the remains of a large stone building were discovered on the site which are thought to be the chapel which was known to have existed in this area. The site was purchased by developer Pat Crean's Marlet Property Group for an estimated €56 million from the

National Asset Management Agency The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA; ga, Gníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Bhainistíocht Sócmhainní) is a body created by the government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish pr ...

. Permission was granted for a mixed development on the site, alongside the adjoining College House and

Screen Cinema The Screen Cinema was a three-screen cinema in Hawkins Street, Dublin, Ireland. History The cinema had been operating since 1984, showing world cinema, and independent and Irish films. The Screen Cinema, originally named The New Metropole, ope ...

, under the new name College Square. This was despite objections from

An Taisce An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland (; meaning "the store" or "the treasury"), established in June 1948, is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) active in the areas of the environment and built heritage in Ireland. It considers itself t ...

about the impact of a new development that is proposed to be taller than the previous Apollo House.

References

{{reflist Office buildings in the Republic of Ireland Office buildings completed in 1969 Buildings and structures demolished in 2018 Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) 1969 establishments in Ireland 2018 disestablishments in Ireland Brutalist architecture in Ireland Demolished buildings and structures in Dublin 20th-century architecture in the Republic of Ireland

History

Occupation

Demolition and redevelopment

See also

References