St. Stephen’s Green: Save or Sacrifice?
As one of the most notable architectural landmarks of Dublin, St Stephens’ shopping centre has been Dublin’s castle at the end of Grafton St since the 1980s. It’s a work of detail and quality due to its design being entirely ironwork and glass. It is not something for show but it is embedded within every crevice of the shopping centre. With pearly white beams running across this way and that way within the building, the quality as well as the design is a test against time. This is not only an architectural beauty but it is a foundation to the Dublin metropolitan experience.
What makes it so special?
This shopping centre is not only adorned with flourishing flowers that are no doubt an uplifting testament of rainy Irish weather. The arched windows leading to balconies as far as the eye can see, a soft adornment to the rigidness of cities. It is a building that one always uses as their compass, to see the dome-shaped glass is to know where you are. Just when you think you are entering a greenhouse, you’re greeted by multiple businesses both local and large-scale, a microcosm of Dubliners.
So, what could possibly be wrong with it?
The answer to this proves to be a lot more complicated and beyond many people. Is there a way to move along with the modern world and still hold hands with the past? Are we moving too fast? Since the 1980s, the concept and idea of ‘modernisation’ has moved from 0 to 100 in what feels like the span of five minutes. No wonder people predicted we’d have flying cars! Landlines were replaced by flip phones and those were replaced by smartphones and now our smartphones aren’t modern enough that anything other than purely glass buttonless phones are absurd.
While you stare at the adorned and intimately designed grandeur of it all, it is a miracle that this design has held on as long as it has. With the slight rusting beginning to the creep out of the corners, you’re reminded how many decades of Dublin it has seen. A reminder of simpler times, especially compared to the current climate of the world, it has become a moment of relief to look at a testament of a past time that stands strong against a future. However, it doesn’t seem to stand a chance against market needs.
What makes the world go round? The economy, and the economy runs on what you’ll need in the next hour, minute and even second. Dublin City Council seemingly felt that the shopping centre didn’t show you what you need but what you already have. Unfortunately for the market you can’t sell something you already have? So Dublin City Council decided to give the green light for the whopping 100 million euro demolition and rebuild plan of the beloved shopping mall. Turns out the future is more expensive than we expect!
Unlike Dubliners, DTDL Ltd, as the entity-owners of St. Stephens’ shopping centre, have received plans and interest in the revision plans. With BKD Architects and O’Donnell + Tuomey coming out on top, they have proposed a vision that accommodates 3,000 office workers, a retail floor spanning three levels all accounting for 19,001 sq m.
While the owners of the mall are sold, Dublin isn’t. The news circulated the internet like rapid fire, with vox pops, instagram reels, commentary both professionally and socially, you name it; Dublin had some things to say. The Journal “revealed a result of 81% of people who hated or didn’t like the planned re-development”. However, there’s a good chance that 81% of these people are not business owners themselves, where the capacity for a large[er]-scale retail space spanning three levels would provide more movement in the Irish economy. But at what cost?
Just because there will be more retail space available does not mean Irish-owned local businesses will get first pick. If anything, this ‘modernisation’ is sure to attract the ‘future’ such as higher, more high-end retailers to in turn please the round of tourists passing by. The cost becomes the tight-knit familiar faces of St. Stephen shop owners you’ve seen for years that can’t compete with large international companies. The plans for re-development are beyond rumours where they are committed to a mere 4.2 million development contribution to Dublin City Council compared to the 100 million estimated project and, of course, the Luas Cross City Scheme also needs its own ‘donation’ of 1.3 million contribution.
But this burden on the Irish-owned businesses was not the topic of concern for the public who showed a dislike for the project, but were more than anything self-concerned visually, where the design was the biggest loss. However, it is understandable for a city so known for its colourful doors and Victorian details throughout, this building is yet another that is lost to the mundane and soulless image that is portrayed as the ‘future’. One thing we can expect from Dubliners is that they won’t let this go silently, you can expect petitions to begin to rise and protests online forming with @savestephensgreen already amassing 15.6k followers on instagram, regularly posting the history and updates along with a planned protest in front of St Stephens May 9th, to save the iconic Dublin landmark.
Written By: Sophia Arceo, @sophiearceo
Edited By: Kirsten Baldwin, @teddys_bookshelf
