O'Connell Bridge House is a 12-storey office block in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

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 Byrne at a cost of 1 million

Irish pounds The pound ( Irish: ) was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or £Ir for distinction.) The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin circulation until ...

, after he purchased the site for £53,000 in 1961. Byrne's company, the Carlisle Trust, which developed this site was managed by

Des Traynor Des Traynor (3 June 1931 - 11 May 1994) was an Irish banker, financier and accountant known for his dealings with Charles Haughey and his involvement in the " Ansbacher Affair". He became known as "Charlie's Bag Man". Early life and family D ...

. Upon opening in January 1965, there was a rooftop restaurant with a view over the city, but it was closed in July 1966 and the space was converted into an office for Byrne. On 26 November 1972,

loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

planted a bomb outside the rear exit door of the Film Centre Cinema, at O'Connell Bridge House, injuring 40 people. Having been the primary tenant since the completion of the block, the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

left the building in 1999.

Architecture

A 12-storey concrete and glass tower faced in

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

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 Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

and

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, and now holds

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

. At the time it was first opened, the lease on the Guinness sign took in more revenue than all the office space. The construction took 500 tons of structural steel, 90 tons of steel-reinforcing bars, and 7500 tons of concrete. Upon completion, it was 145 feet tall. It contains 45000 square feet of office space, but no car parking. The planning laws requiring one car parking space per 500 square feet of office space were waived for this development. The original plan was to build a matching block on the opposite side of the river, on the site of the Ballast Office, but planning permission for this was rejected.

Reception

Kevin Duff, writing in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' 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 Liberty Hall (), in Dublin, Ireland, is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU). Designed by Desmond Rea O'Kelly, it was completed in 1965. It was for a time the tallest building in the countr ...

Gallery

File:O'Connell Street Bridge House.jpg File:20130807 dublin092.JPG File:Dublin Heineken Building.jpg File:Heineken soviet star Dublin night.jpg File:O'Connell Bridge House, or the Heineken Building - geograph.org.uk - 1578573.jpg File:OConnell bridge (260961146).jpg File:Heineken building - panoramio.jpg

References

{{reflist Office buildings in the Republic of Ireland Office buildings completed in 1965 Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) 1965 establishments in Ireland 20th-century architecture in the Republic of Ireland