page_title: History of Dublin
section_title: Destruction of Georgian Dublin in the 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: History of Dublin / Independence / Destruction of Georgian Dublin in the 1960s
caption_attribution_description: English: Georgian building in Dublin.
context_page_description: The City of Dublin can trace its origin back more than 1,000 years, and for much of this time it has been Ireland's principal city and the cultural, educational and industrial centre of the island.
context_section_description: As part of the building programme that also cleared the inner city slums, from the 1950s onwards, historic Georgian Dublin came under concerted attack by the Irish Government's development policies. Whole swathes of 18th-century houses were demolished, notably in Fitzwilliam Street and St Stephen's Green, to make way for utilitarian office blocks and government departments. Much of this development was fuelled by property developers and speculators keen to cash in on the buoyant property markets of the 1960s, late 1970s and 1980s. Many schemes were built by Government supporters with the intention of profitably letting to highly desirable State tenants such as government departments and State agencies. It has been proven that many buildings were approved by government ministers personally connected with the developers involved, often to the detriment of the taxpayer and the proper planning and preservation of Dublin city.
  Some of this development was also encouraged by Ireland's dominant nationalist ideology of that era, which wanted to wipe away all physical reminders of Ireland's colonial past. An extreme example of this kind of thinking was the destruction of Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street in 1966. This statue of the famous British admiral was a Dublin landmark for a century, but was blown up by a small bomb shortly before the 50-year commemorations of the Easter Rising. In 2003, the Pillar was replaced as a landmark by the Dublin Spire which was erected on the same spot. A 120 m tall tapered metal pole, it is the tallest structure of Dublin city centre, visible for miles. It was assembled from seven pieces with the largest crane available in Ireland and is the tallest street sculpture in the world.
  Far from the destructive practices of the 1960s diminishing as time went on, if anything they got steadily worse, with the concrete office blocks of earlier times being replaced with the idea of Georgian pastiche or replica offices in place of original 18th century stock. Whole swathes of Harcourt Street and St. Stephen's Green were demolished and rebuilt in such a fashion in the 1970s and 1980s, as were parts of Parnell Square, Kildare Street, North Great George's Street and many other areas around the city. Many saw this practice as an 'easy way out' for planners; a venerable Georgian front was maintained, whilst 'progress' was allowed to continue unhindered.
  This planning policy was pursued by Dublin Corporation until around 1990, when the forces of conservationism finally took hold.
  However, it was not only sites associated with the British presence in Ireland that fell victim to Irish developers. Wood Quay where the oldest remains of Viking Dublin were located was also demolished, and replaced with the headquarters of Dublin's local government, though not without a long and acrimonious planning struggle between the government and preservationists. More recently there has been a similar controversy over plans to build the M50 motorway through the site of Carrickmines Castle, part of the Pale's southern frontier in medieval times. It has recently been alleged that much controversial building work in Dublin-—over green spaces as well as historic buildings—-was allowed as a result of bribery and patronage of politicians by developers. Since the late 1990s, there have been a series of tribunals set up to investigate corruption in Dublin's planning process.
caption: Georgian house on St Stephen's Green: a surviving Georgian house on St Stephen's Green, stuck between a Victorian building (picture right) and a 1960s office block (left). More than half of the Georgian buildings on St Stephen's Green have been lost since the Georgian era, with many demolished in the 1950s and 1960s.
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