The Moore Street Business Alliance supports the call by the City Council to add all 1916 buildings including the Moore Street Terrace to the list of protected structures on historic grounds.
The listing should not become a cherry picking exercise on remaining 1916 elements. Where a building contains such features it must be preserved in its entirety to place it in context.
The area should be as near as possible to how it appeared when volunteers held it as the location of their last stand.
The proposed additions do not include the Bottling Stores on the O Connell St side of Moore Lane identified as pre 1916 in the Myles/Shaffrey Battlefield Report. This was the location where 17 volunteers were wounded attempting to cross the intersection with henry Place and a hugely significant corner in the story of the evacuation. It is to be demolished under the Hammerson Plan.
The following should be noted:
The Minister Darragh O Brien: Comment on the High Court Judgment
“Fianna Fáil has worked to preserve the whole of the battlefield site, not just the buildings of 14-17 Moore Street. The street in its entirety is iconic to Dublin, preserving just 4 buildings, while ignoring the rest of the terrace would have been completely inappropriate. Moore Street has great economic potential and we want to see a greater vision for the use of the whole terrace and adjoining lands on North O’Connell Street.
“Fianna Fáil’s proposals are for a redevelopment authority with the power to create and develop a fitting historic quarter.
Eamon O Cuiv TD
Published on: 18 March 2016
Chairman of Fianna Fáil Coiste 1916 Committee Éamon Ó Cuív has called on the Government to accept the decision of the High Court, which has designated the Moore Street area as a national monument. He has also called for assurances from the Government that it will not appeal the court’s decision, and will instead set about acquiring and preserving the site for posterity.
Deputy Ó Cuív commented, “I believe the High Court decision is the correct one. The Moore Street area should now be preserved as an important world battlefield site in conjunction with the GPO, as the Rising signified the beginning of the end of the British Empire.
“We all need to move forward together on this issue and make the necessary resources available for this work. 1916 belongs to no one group in our society; and the way that communities right across the country have taken the commemorations to their hearts aptly demonstrates this.
“Now is the time for action on this matter and I would hope that in the coming days the Government would make a positive announcement of intent to accept the court’s decision and acquire and preserve this whole area.
Historic structures 10 – 25 Moore Street
The Terrace:
No. 10 - pre 1916
No. 11/12 – party wall to both is pre 1916. Original yard to rear.
No. 12/13 - original party wall
No. 13/14 - party wall – National Monument
No. 14 to 17 – the declared National Monument
No 18 Moore Street -
Shaffrey Conservation Report: Ministerial Consent Application
April 2011 for Chartered Land.
2.2 Page 11.
3rd Para. 'It is worth noting that no 18 Moore Street which was leased on the same day in 1759 as no's 15 to 17 was described as derelict in 1916 although a portion of its 19th century façade remains to the first floor at the front'.
No. 19 – party wall to 18
No. 20/21 Original Buildings
No. 22/23 – Original basements
No. 24/25 - Original party wall to rear yards.
Comment
All of the above buildings should be added to the list of protected structures including their curtilage. Where they have been altered they should be rebuilt in context and in keeping with the declared National Monument at 14 to 17/18 Moore Street.
We urge the elected members to vote in favour of these additions to the list of protected structures in the national and public interest.
Note : Cassells on Battlefields of Europe -
The 1916 Rising was the only land engagement of any note in 20th century British and Irish Military History.
Moore Street:
This is the last extant 1916 Battlefield in the City.
The National Museum of Ireland:
The most important historic site in modern Irish History.
Yours Faithfully,
Stephen Troy.
C/o
Troy’s Butchers,
Moore Street,
Dublin 1.