ulsara agm - ulsara.ie

Spring 2016
The Upper Leeson Street Area Residents Association Newsletter
ULSARA AGM
Wednesday 13 April at 7.30 pm
Litton Hall, Wesley House, Leeson Park
Litton Hall adjoins Wesley House on Leeson Park, just
south of the large church on the corner of Dartmouth
Road and upper Leeson Street.
(see map on page 2)
To find out more about ULSARA and discuss
pressing issues in YOUR neighbourhood, we urge
you to attend.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Dr Ellen Rowley
Irish Research Council Post-doctoral fellow (UCD/DCC)
The Value of Ireland’s 20th Century Architecture
Jacqueline Kelleher
Project Leader of the Heritage
Community Garden Donnybrook,
The benefits of community gardens.
Carrolls building behind Dartmouth Square West
Carrolls Building
Ballsbridge Triangle
The well-known Carrolls building on Grand Parade, designed
in the early 1960s by architects Robinson, Keefe and Devane,
and which lay vacant for some time, has now been bought by
London and Regional Properties (L&RP).
The sites of the former Jury’s and Berkley Court hotel were bought
from NAMA some time ago and development will now proceed
under the planning permission granted in 2011, Residents will
recall the part ULSARA played in presenting residents’ views at
the oral hearing, and the relative success achieved in restraining
The developers intend to refurbish the building and to create a
residential complex on the plot behind, bordering on Dartmouth
Square. ULSARA sent representatives to a consultation meeting
with L&RP and their advisers. Further meetings have taken place
between L&RP and local residents, who are capably representing
their interests. ULSARA maintains a watching brief.
Dublin Draft
Development Plan
The process of developing a new plan for Dublin is under way
(see page 2). ULSARA, together with our neighbours in the
Pembroke Road association, are interested in the potential in
the plan for creating an Architectural Conservation Area for the
district, in line with the evolving views of the Council planners.
This is medium-term strategy.
ULSARA NEWS
ULSARA News 2016 v3.indd 1
the worst excesses of the original planning permission.
Roads
The state of the road surfaces in the area is often appalling.
There are deep potholes, notably in Burlington Road, especially
near the Waterloo Road junction; as you turn into Elgin Road at
the US Embassy; in Leeson Park; spasmodically in Wellington
Road; and indeed elsewhere.
We sometimes refer to these potholes as a disincentive to
through traffic, but the situation has got so bad that we have
written to the traffic and roads departments of the Council,
asking for a meeting.
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
Spring 2016 Page 1
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ULSARA
Chairman’s Message
Every five years a new Development Plan for Dublin City is
drafted, outlining the proposed planning strategy for the coming
years, and is displayed for public view and comment. The current
plan, for the period 2017-2022, is a comprehensive document,
with detailed drawings and descriptions, and runs to several
volumes.
Once the draft plan has been released for public viewing, it goes
through a number of stages, as various interested groups make
observations, comments or express objections to the plans.
ULSARA is fortunate to have a number of committee members
with experience of planning and development, who study these
plans on your behalf and highlight concerns that could impinge
negatively on our area.
In December 2015 ULSARA made its submissions to Dublin
City Council in regard to the Draft Dublin City Development Plan
2017-2022. In order to best preserve the residential character and
amenities of our neighbourhood, we offered to work with Dublin
City with a view to establishing an architectural conservation
area or areas for our neighbourhood. In addition, we requested
Dublin City Council to remove a loophole in the text of the draft
plan to ensure that embassy offices cannot be considered open
for consideration in residential conservation areas zoned Z2. We
await results!
ULSARA’s activities rely on the annual membership fees. Thus
the support of existing and new members is essential for our
future. The annual membership form is enclosed with this
newsletter, and gives you the option to pay by direct debit, if that
is more convenient for you.
Our 2016 AGM takes place on Wednesday 13 April at 7.30pm in
Litton Hall (Leeson Park), so please make a note in your diary.
We shall have two speakers as usual.
We hope that you will join us and enjoy these presentations.
As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at:
ULSARA, P.O.Box 8411, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Carmen Neary, Chairman
Who We Are
The Upper Leeson Street Area Residents’ Association was
founded in 1968. The Association draws its members from the
catchment area of streets, lanes and squares, extending south
from the Grand Canal, that are adjacent to Upper Leeson Street.
The primary aim of the Association is to promote the conservation
and preservation of the residential character and amenities of
the neighbourhood, including the maintenance of green spaces,
as well as the distinctive Georgian and Victorian architectural
features of this area of Dublin.
ULSARA AGM
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ULSARA NEWS
ULSARA News 2016 v3.indd 2
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
Spring 2016 Page 2
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Development
ULSARA AGM
Flood control works below Ballsbridge
Water Water Everywhere Underground Rivers
Residents recall the floods of November 2011, when flooding
occurred in Clyde Lane, coming probably from Herbert Park.
Water also crept some distance up Elgin Road.
The floods of December 2015, however painful for the people
affected, seem this time to have passed us by, owing no doubt to
geography and perhaps also to the Dodder scheme. It certainly
provides reassurance.
The Swan River and other streams underlie our area, as is shown
on the map on page 2, and the underlying natural water table
is close to the surface. Wells in some terraces show that the
water table is perhaps a metre or less below ground level; some
of these wells are fully stone-lined down for some 6 metres,
demonstrating that the water table in the 19th century may have
been that far down.
The water table is affected by many factors, among them
surely the extent to which we are creating hard surfaces in
place of grass or other absorbent surfaces. Another concern is
the extent to which large buildings have one or more storeys
at underground level, potentially cutting old drains or natural
underground water seepage routes. The same may be true of
the fashion for creating large underground extensions to private
houses or embassies.
These are questions for engineers and hydrologists, and are
also we trust a concern of the planning department of DCC.
Residents should be told of the risk factors involved in this
area; the question could arise of installing non-return valves on
domestic sewers or other preventive measures. See page 5 for
more on water.
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Dublin has an amazing variety of underground rivers. Altogether,
the city and county have around 75 rivers and streams, and
while these all flowed overground, that was before the city was
built up. In the past 150 years, many of them have disappeared
underground, built over. Only a few rivers, like the Liffey, the
Dodder and the Tolka, remain above ground.
The best known underground river in this part of Dublin is
the Swan, which has its origins in the upper reaches of the
Dodder and flows through Terenure, Rathmines, Ranelagh
and Ballsbridge, to join the River Dodder as it flows under
Londonbridge Road. Its course is deep below Morehampton
Road, then underneath Clyde Road and Shelbourne Road. One
branch of the Swan once flowed through Herbert Park into the
Dodder in Ballsbridge. The name of the Swan shopping centre in
Rathmines is one of the few present day reminders of this river.
See the course of the Swan river on the map.
Also in this part of south Dublin, the Elm Park stream, which
starts in Goatstown, flows beneath Elm Park golf course and
empties into the sea at Merrion Strand. The Nutley Stream
flows from Clonskeagh, beneath RTÉ, and reaches Sandymount
Strand close to the Martello Tower.
Another underground stream rises in this part of Dublin, the
Gallows Stream, which rises near Leeson Lane, and flows
underground appropriately close to Government Buildings. The
Stein or Steyne River rises near Charlemont Bridge on the Grand
Canal and flows underground far beneath such city centre
landmarks as Brown Thomas, discharging into the Liffey.
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
Spring 2016 Page 3
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Trees and Gardens
Front Gardens
Indian Embassy improvements
Practically all of the buildings, in the ULSARA district, were
built for families to live in. Ttwo Victorian Gothic churches
were built to serve those families - St. Bartholomew’s
and Christ Church - and there are some ambitious public
buildings like the Molyneux Institute or the Old Mens’
Home in Northbrook Road. The twentieth century has
added more big blocks: the Fitzwilliam Tennis Club, the
unlovely frontage of the Burlington, now the Double Tree
Hilton Hotel, and John Johansen’s quirky concrete pill
box, built for the American Embassy in 1962. Blocks of
flats have been shoehorned into sites that are rather too
small to contain them yet, despite these insertions, our
area survives as one of the best example of a nineteenthcentury residential district with many grand houses, built
for fashion-conscious Dubliners, from the late Georgian
period, through the whole of Queen Victoria’s reign and
even, at Herbert Park, into the Edwardian age.
Of course when they were planned all these houses had
ample front gardens, set behind cast-iron railings, low
brick walls with granite copingstones from Dalkey or, on
occasion, a privet hedge. These railings, walls and hedges
are important since they contribute directly to the sense
of place and create a space between the public and the
private domain. They are an integral part of the historic
character of our area and, since practically all the houses
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are designated as protected structures, their curtilage
should be protected too. Yet this does not happen. A walk
down any of our streets today will immediately establish
just how much the front gardens of ULSARA are under
attack. Where there are more businesses, as in Waterloo
Road, the dereliction is worse: here railing and front walls
have been removed to create a sea of asphalt, usually illmaintained, with cars parked up to the front steps of once
handsome houses.
Environmentally these spaces are a disaster! No thought
is given to the needs of wild life inhabiting the gardens.
There is no cover for birds or any places where the
invertebrates they feed on can grow and multiply. The
number of blackbirds in our area has fallen markedly and
thrushes have disappeared. No thought is given to the
flash flooding that these areas of additional hard surfaces
create for the city drainage system, which every year
backs up more and more. And these spaces look frightful.
The ‘satellite view’ on Google Maps reveals the extent of
this blight. In one glaring instance, some years ago an
Embassy on Leeson Park entirely removed its garden
wall and more recently laid concrete over the garden and
even across the public pavement. Let us determine as a
community to see that no more work like this disfigures
our area again.
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
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Water Feature
Water Butts and the Conservation Grant
The Conservation Grant offered by Irish Water aimed to encourage citizens to improve the efficiency of their water use.
If we have a meter we are charged according to our use, up to a limit, and we can make financial savings by reducing
our use if our annual bills are below €160 for a single adult household or below €260 for a multi adult household. After
the end of 2018, when the cap is planned to be removed, there could be scope for wider financial savings.
Of course we were charged indirectly before the
introduction of water charges, and charged too much
because there was little incentive to be efficient; yet we
were not charged enough to ensure adequate investment
in a safe and reliable system. We had the worst of both
worlds.
What to do with the conservation grant?
• Leaking taps and pipes - probably best to get in a
plumber.
• Leaks outdoors between the mains and your house –
ditto.
• Over-generous WC cisterns – often one can reduce
the flush by placing a closed plastic bottle full of
water in the cistern.
• To save on heating and on water bills, insulate water
pipes between the boiler and the hot tap, to reduce
the amount of water wasted while waiting for the hot
water to come through.
• Install a water butt; they can be attractive, see below
– and see the article on the ULSARA website
• and then there are also simple tweaks to our
behaviour listed in www.taptips.ie/
If we are doing this seriously, there are dozens of other
actions that can be taken. Apart from the well known
options such as selecting a water and energy-efficient
dishwasher or washing machine, there are also watersaving shower heads, for example. These have been well
reviewed by WHICH? consumer magazine and could pay
for themselves surprisingly quickly in some households.
Update on Lower
Dodder Flood
Alleviation Works
We reported in the 2014 Newsletter feature on this
topic that we were advised that these works would
be completed up to the Smurfit Weir in Clonskeagh
in 2015. DCC now expects the works to be
completed during 2017.
The delay has been due to unanticipated significant
additional works in constructing reinforced retaining
walls below Ballsbridge, to secure business
properties from Sherry Fitzgerald to Ballsbridge
Motors. Above Ballsbridge further such walls will
be required at the rear of Anglesey Road properties
opposite the RDS.
Flood protection works to Herbert Park and
Donnybrook RFC are nearing completion, while
works from Donnybrook to Clonskeagh Weir will be
carried out in 2017.
Hurricane Charlie in August 1986 caused a deluge
200mm of rainfall into the Dodder catchment, while
the most recent Dodder flood in October 2011
resulted from 83mm of rainfall. A repeat of either of
these rainfall events would cause flooding problems
within ULSARA’s area, but the flood alleviation
works will help to contain the Lower Dodder within
its banks.
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P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
Spring 2016 Page 5
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ULSARA Activities
Website www.ulsara.ie
Please check www.ulsara.ie for local information
and up-to-date news on ULSARA activities. The
site includes links to Dublin City Council services
including Property Flood Protection and Planning
Applications, further articles on the local area and an
archive of newsletters dating back to the 1980s.
#ulsaradublin
We invite you to follow us at #ulsaradublin and
welcome ideas on how to make our website and
tweets more useful.
Carnac Restored
On 14 November 2015, The Leeson Lounge hosted a nostalgic
and delightful evening to celebrate the unveiling of the restored
‘Carnac’ by sculptor Bob Mulcahy. The audience was privileged
to hear Imogen Stuart in conversation with Professor Alistair
Rowan as well as wonderful contributions by Ronan Sheehan,
writer, and Philip O’Neill, sculptor. Carmen Neary, the intrepid
Chairwoman of ULSARA, braved the elements along with many
of the audience to unveil the sculpture. More photographs and
an appreciation can be found on www.ulsara.ie.
ULSARA Campaign to
Control Graffiti
Well done those residents who regularly clean up graffiti in their
streets, specifically those of Northbrook Avenue and Waterloo
Lane! We too have been concerned at the increase of graffiti in
our area and last year some committee members volunteered
to paint out offending graffiti on utility street furniture on a
monthly-patrol basis, and checking for repeat offences. Paint
and materials are supplied by DCC.
This collaboration with DCC began in early 2015 when ULSARA
recognised that the graffiti problem was approaching epidemic
proportions. An agreement was reached between ULSARA and
Dublin City Council whereby DCC funded a clean-up project of
graffiti in the ULSARA area (successfully completed in Spring
2015) and ULSARA volunteered to try to control the problem on
an ongoing basis. The ULSARA committee organised monthly
clean ups, averaging 12 instances per month, starting in June
2015.We believe this is a success.
ULSARA cannot take action on any private property, and owners
are encouraged to clean graffiti on the walls of their own private
property; contact Dublin City Council for advice (01 222 2362).
ULSARA’s Autumn Social
Members of ULSARA gathered in the Pirates’ Den in November
for the annual social, and the occasion provided a valuable
opportunity for discussion. The committee welcomes the social
as a chance to catch up with the members and to listen to any
issues of concern to them. What better way to spend a wet
November afternoon? It also helps to remind residents of the
existence and value of the association. This year’s event: 5
November.
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Imogen Stuart and Carnac
Bloomsday
Did the Invincibles’ gang stop for refreshment in Upper Leeson
Street? So we believe and ULSARA aims to mark this interesting,
if rather bizarre, historical fact on Bloomsday.
The Bloomsday connection: Joyce (born 1882) refers to the
Phoenix Park Murders (also 1882) in Ulysses. In one scene,
McHugh and Dedalus listen to Crawford in the Freeman’s
Journal: “Skin-the-Goat drove the car for an alibi. Inchicore,
Roundtown, Windy Arbour, Palmerstown Park, Ranelagh…. X is
Davy’s publichouse in upper Leeson street.”
Davy’s public house is now the Leeson Lounge, where the event
will take place from 7pm – 8pm, 16th June 2016. The guest
speaker will be Senan Molony, author of The Phoenix Park
Murders: Conspiracy, Betrayal and Retribution (Mercier, 2006).
Victorian attire recommended!
Check out www.bloomsdayfestival.ie, www.jamesjoyce.ie and
www.ulsara.ie for updates.
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
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ULSARA Activities
Public Plaques &
Monuments in the Upper
Leeson Street Area
Jim Larkin (1874-1947), docker and Labour activist, at 41
Wellington Road, 1934-1947.
Eoin Mac Neill (1867-1945), scholar, soldier and politician, at 63
Upper Leeson Street, 1941-1945.
Padraig Pearse (1879-1916), soldier, teacher, barrister and poet,
worked at Cuil Crannac, 17 Sallymount Avenue, 1907-08.
Frances Bunch Moran (1928-2002), painter, at 106 Pembroke
Road, 1952-2002.
Decade of
Commemoration:
Unveiling the Dowden Plaque at 55 Wellington Road
A plaque commemorating Professor Edward Dowden (18431913) was unveiled In November at 50 Wellington Road by
Councillor Micheal MacDonncha before a sizeable crowd.
This was the convivial conclusion of dedicated efforts by the
current residents, Paul and Elizabeth Murray, to have Professor
Dowden, first Professor of English at Trinity College Dublin,
commemorated in this way.
Paul discovered the connection between Edward Dowden and
the house while researching his biography of Bram Stoker (2004)
and uncovered letters written by Dowden to Walt Whitman,
among others, from 50 Wellington Road. Stoker was likely a
frequent visitor, as would have been the Wildes and Yeatses.
Other plaques
in our area:
Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) Writer and scholar of Japan; 73
upper Leeson Street.
John Bagnall Bury (1861-1927) historian and classicist who
lived at 12 Leeson Park
William Percy French (1854-1920), Songwriter, painter and
poet; 35 Mespil Road.
Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967). Poet; 62 Pembroke Road (19431958), 19 Raglan Road (1958-1959) and at the former Parson’s
Bookshop at Baggot Street Bridge. Also three canal-side
benches at Baggot Street bridge.
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Irish men and women from this community who volunteered as
officers, soldiers and medical corps for the Great War, in which
many perished, are commemorated by a large stone Celtic cross
between Christ Church and Molyneux House in Leeson Park.
Recently, a garden of remembrance with a simple stone cross
was erected on the corner of Clyde Road and Elgin Road, in
memory of the deceased parishioners of St Bartholomew’s
Church, Clyde Road, including officers and soldiers who
participated in the Great War.
Not far from St Bartholomew’s, a plaque and Celtic cross stands
at the corner of Herbert Park & Clyde Road, in honour of the
officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion, Óglaigh na hEireann,
participants in the Easter Rising, 1916.
Herbert Park Updates
• The Parks Service of Dublin City Council commissioned
Howley, Hayes Architects to undertake a conservation and
management plan for the park. A copy of this excellent
report can be found on the Dublin City website. It is open for
public consultation and comments can be sent by email to
[email protected].
• The tearooms still have not opened but we understand
the franchise has been given to Noshingtons who along
with their café on the South Circular Road, already run the
tearooms in Harolds Cross Park and St Patricks Park.
• Floodlighting has recently been installed for the tennis courts,
and we now await the resurfacing of the courts.
• ULSARA remains concerned that despite all the expenditure
on major new facilities for the park, the day to day
maintenance of the park is at an all-time low.
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
Spring 2016 Page 7
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Leeson Terrace
Notebook
Speculations on Leeson Terrace
The 2012 ULSARA Newsletter carried an article on the refurbishment of part of
Leeson Terrace, especially the forecourt.
70
Leeson Terrace
Leeson Terrace comprises thirteen early
Victorian houses on the west side of Upper
Leeson Street, opposite the end of Waterloo
Road. The terrace was built between 1840
and 1849 in two distinct architectural styles:
Classical (65A-69) and Tudor (70-75). The
nine houses at 65A-72 originally accessed a
shared coach house through a gap between
70 and 71 that was filled by 70A in about 1869.
The terrace was built in the grounds of a villa, Harrymount, which stood
on the site now occupied by Leeson Village. All the houses were originally
rented from the owner-occupier of Harrymount, Mr George Patterson, who
was associated with two building companies: Patterson and Catcheside,
contractors for a number of workhouses in the early 1840s; and by 1847,
Hammond, Murray & Patterson, railway contractors. . As Leeson Terrace
was built within the grounds of Patterson’s property and he owned all the
houses, it is reasonable to assume they were his own private development.
Patterson’s career parallels with that of the English architect George
Wilkinson (1814-1890), who was appointed by the Poor Law Board in
January 1839 to design all 130 workhouses in Ireland. The workhouses
were complete by 1847, and Wilkinson moved on to work for 3 railway
companies, including the Dublin and Wicklow Railway for whom he
designed the Harcourt Street Terminus (1859), now the Odeon Bar. Both
Patterson and Wilkinson moved from workhouses to railway infrastructure.
Wilkinson employed several architectural styles in his work, including a
tudor domestic idiom and classical. The Tudor detailing would have been
familiar to Wilkinson from his early life in Oxford and he had used these
styles in buildings in England and Wales prior to his appointment in Ireland.
While many of the details of Wilkinson’s output are evident in both the
classical and Tudor elements of Leeson Terrace, and the link between
architect and builder is tangible, no concrete evidence has been uncovered,
as yet, of Wilkinson’s hand in directly designing the houses, as opposed to
Patterson simply observing and replicating.
However, it is possible that Leeson Terrace was the result of collaboration
between two men at the forefront of their respective and evolving
professions at that time. The terrace’s development coincided with the
Great Famine and provides an insight into domestic building activity in
Dublin at that time.
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Urban bees and urban beekeeping
Bee-friendly flowers make urban areas more attractive
places in which to live and work. If we make cities better
for bees and pollinators, they are better for us too. Bees
only eat nectar and pollen from flowering plants and trees.
As they collect their food they pollinate the plants, allowing
them to reproduce. Towns and cities can provide a diverse
source of forage in gardens, parks, tree-lined streets and
railway/tram sidings if bee-friendly flowers are grown from
early spring to late autumn.
Bees like blue, purple, violet and white flowers best, grown
in large clumps in a sunny, sheltered spot. They do not
like double-headed varieties whose nectar and pollen has
often been bred out. Wild flowers like dandelions, clover
and dead-nettles provide welcome food for our urban
neighbours. And the roof of a garden shed carpeted with
sedum, heathers and lavenders will be a feast. Ivy, privet
and holly are among the most abundant sources of food if
they are allowed to flower.
While skeptics might call it a fad, urban beekeeping and the
rapid growth of the honey business in cities such as London
and New York over the last decade suggests it’s here to stay.
Some say urban bees may actually be stronger than rural
bees thanks to the lack of pesticides sprayed all over their
pollen supply.
Pat Kavanagh at the Airfield Estate in Dundrum says,
“Dublin’s bees are spoiled, because there’s plenty of food
and it’s warmer than you’d expect. There’s a distinct Dublin
honey, it’s treacle-y. The canal banks are perfect for them.
There’s growth, wilderness and they’re not so much in
danger from other animals. Roofs are perfect though, they
love height.”
Starting your own hive is no great challenge. The Irish
Beekeeping Association (irishbeekeeping.ie) offers beginner
courses for budding apiarists, some at concessionary
prices, alongside literature and hive insurance. They’ll even
hook you up with a starter colony once you’ve got a palace
for your queen built.
Wildlife
The dominant species at the moment appear to be magpies
and foxes, and the area is overpopulated with both. The
chatter of the birds during the day and the screeching of
foxes at night are familiar to us all. Only seagulls are as noisy.
It is a bad idea to encourage them: magpies are scavengers
who frequently rob the nests of small song-birds. Foxes
may attack chickens and pets, and are also a more serious
threat, in that their urine and faeces contaminate our gardens
and the latter especially is a dangerous vector of disease.
Clearing fox droppings is nasty work that should be carried
out wearing rubber gloves and hands washed afterwards.
P.O. Box 8411, Ballsbridge Dublin 4.
www.ulsara.ie
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