Talking Squares

Christchurch Cathedral as seen from the Quays. Ink drawing on paper. For sale. Comes matted with a 5 x 7 inch window to fit in a 8x10 inch frame. $29 plus $4 shipping within US, or $9 shipping elsewhere. Visa and Mastercard will work.

I wish Stephenson had been let finish his Civic Offices. No I didn't like them much when they went up either but in fairness he was only let do half a job. The front two smaller pillars would've transformed the site - and the damage was already done. Stupid populist Dublin railed against modern architecture not the sin of building on the remains of medieval Dublin. Not enough people cared when it mattered - when it was an excavation site behind hoardings.

And then there was the new sin which nobody expected. Making way for a building project made a view of the cathedral at the same time - except the plan was to hide it again.

But when the view was hidden, the people who disliked the concrete of Stephenson's bunkers (while supposedly loving the Four Courts) persuaded the creation of the cowardly project to hide the buildings that hid the view. Wonderfully Irish. All that was missing was an underground bus station with dancing vikings (financed by Canadians with vision). By then I liked the bunkers and how they had aged. Always have been a sucker for small windows.

So before anybody could utter the term 'civic space', we congratulated ourselves on reinstating the eyeline from Merchants Quay to Essex Quay, but with a peephole   This is that peephole. Please send $29 in a brown paper bag, and tell me how many misty-eyed Catholic expats are currently making pictures of Dublin's ProCathedral?