Stephen Court

WorldbyStorm

Apr 30

I guess any building anywhere will eventually come to fit in with its surroundings. Is this true of Stephen Court on St Stephen's Green? Perhaps, maybe, I don't know. I actually quite like that style and it is very typical of buildings constructed in the 1970s to 1980s, albeit the rather dark finish didn't exactly illuminate Dublin in those somewhat grim decades. Finished in 1971 it's a half century old and apparently up for demolition.

Associated now, in the public imagination, if at all, as the headquarters of Anglo-Irish Bank. For those of us a bit older some may recall how it was home to a bookshop, at least on the ground floor left hand side as you went in the door. I well remember the Chris Foss illustrated covers of Isaac Asimov's books piled there. Not sure how long it had that function. But I've got to be honest that always made me fonder of the building that it perhaps deserves.

Frank McDonald has an excellent piece on it and he's argued for retention of the facade at a minimum. Looking the photograph accompanying the piece I have to admit I do like that none-more early 1970s ground floor facade with arches and columns.

And the proposed replacement, visible in picture form further down that article is not clearly an improvement on the status quo.