A Chancery Would Be A Fine Thing.

In Blogby Rashers Tierney74 Comments

chancery

One of Dublin’s most iconic eyesores has come up for rent. The home of the former tax office at Chancery Place is actually called River House but for most of us its probably referred to with a string of far uglier names.

Not everyone pours scorn on the dank looking concrete shell though –  the wonderful Built Dublin architecture blog even goes as far to declare a strange grá for the spot.

“River House has always been quite attractive to me, and having visited the two other motor tax offices, the nature of the business seems to cast an inherent ugliness on its surroundings – it’s genuinely hard to imagine Nutgrove’s one being aesthetically appealing, but it’s quite possible I might change my mind if I saw it in photographs or in another country, removed from my own experience. Here, anyway, the attraction is the big, dirty concrete form, the way the plinth steps out to handle the angle of Greek Street and to take in the entrance to the car park.”

One’s mind races when it comes to alternative uses for the spot. Conveniently located around the corner from the notorious Chancery early house, it could have the making of a palace of thumping techno and excess – an idea barred from reality due to its proximity to residential housing no doubt.   There’s probably far more useful social functions that it could serve too given the state of our dear city.

So, here’s the question out to the floor. What would you lot do with the place if you had a chance to rent it?

The details are on daft.ie – let us know how your bids go.

Comments

  1. A similar eyesore in Cork (also a former tax office) is now Sample-Studios

  2. Low cost offices for start ups. Shared facilities. Soup kitchen on the ground floor, community clinic for low cost healthcare, lending library.

  3. Massive public art space with rehearsal spaces, performance space, art studios and gallery space.

  4. some sort of government challenge like “the thirsty games” send in Enda and friends see who comes out and if we still don’t like them send them back in until we have eliminated all threats to our beautiful people and country!!!

  5. I would use it to store all the joy and hope that has been sucked out of the nation. With a big padlock on the door. Fuck you- no joy for the likes of you.

  6. Give it over to Peter McVerry to run…and give him the Oireachtas budget…let the hammock-swingers emigrate…in fact deport them…to their Friends in U$roi£.

  7. I love these buildings! Brutalist architecture is so underrated. I agree with Spud Murphy – techno fortress.

  8. Give it to Richard Seabrook from Offset. It’s his wet dream!

  9. Somewhere, sometime, there is a memory of an article by Frank McDonald??? on Dublin Buildings that mentioned this one. What the author said wasn’t actionable, but the incorrect architects were named. These architects sued – successfully, on the grounds that accusing them of having designed this yoke was libelous.

  10. A grand spot for the (soon) newly appointed government. Of the people, By the people!!

  11. A grand spot to start the (soon) newly appointed government. Of the people, By the people!!

  12. I wonder if it’s the same person that designed phibsboro shopping centre..

  13. Could be new office for Central bank Hq, they spending lots of our money on new offices! Why not use this instead?

  14. We’ll all be sorry if these brutalist gems are ever knocked.

  15. Dáithí Blanko defo needs refurbishing looks horrendous as it is like other buildings in Dublin, would make a great arts centre who designs these type of buildings, we need to learn some things from other European cities.

  16. @techno fortress. Those fine Gardai beside it could be bouncers.

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