Oliver Bond flats, also known as Oliver Bond House, is a group of blocks of

flats Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

in the

Liberties Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society f ...

area of

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 ...

, Ireland. They were designed by Herbert George Simms and built in 1936. They are named after

Oliver Bond Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * '' Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver ...

, a member of the

Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

Buildings

The buildings were designed with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

trimmings and are named alphabetically from A to T with the letters I, J, K and Q omitted. The site is bounded by Oliver Bond Street, Bridgefoot Street, Ussher Street and Ussher's Quay.

History

Before the flats

The area used to be the site of a brewery called ''The Anchor'' which was founded in 1740. This was later owned by a son of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

. Rivalry with the

Guinness Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...

was intense, even extending to politics – in the 1841 election there was a boycott of Guinness "Protestant porter".

Employment

Many residents were employed in local factories, such as a mattress factory on Manor Street, a

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

stick factory, sewing factories or the Winstanley shoe factory. There was a popular belief that the residents were all employed in the

, but according to a resident this is not true. The area was always poor, but there was plenty of employment for decades and though people could not always afford what they made, shoe factory employees could get shoes. One resident was an

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The Ar ...

soldier who served in the

United Nations Operation in the Congo The United Nations Operation in the Congo (french: Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, abbreviated to ONUC) was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. ONUC was the ...

and survived the Niemba ambush. Many factories closed in the 1970 and 1980s, leaving only a factory that makes clothing labels.

80th anniversary celebrations

Local residents collected an archive of materials relating to the history of the flats, including personal photos. They also held talks on Herbert Simms and the role of public housing in Irish society.

Crime

Residents have complained to the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...

about

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

and

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

dealing in the flats. It is connected to the Kinahan gang. After the murder of Eddie Hutch Snr, part of the Kinahan-Hutch feud, friends and relatives of the Kinahans living in the flats were advised to move out of their homes.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Oliver Bond Flats (C,D, E & F Blocks)
- Children & Young People's Services Committees
Oliver Bond St. Flats (R,S & T Blocks)
- Children & Young People's Services Committees
Oliver Bond House Estate Renewal
www.dublincity.ie Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Apartment buildings in the Republic of Ireland Art Deco architecture in Ireland