Thursday 26 February 2015

Public and Private Realms: Kate O'Brien's Reflections on Limerick City


"I have been asked to write a few words about Limerick as I remember it. But I don’t remember Limerick. I see it. I am still alive, and Limerick grows and lives before my eyes. And I have been lucky in being able to return to this dear place. Limerick, again and again, over the years. From where I stand now in life, far on- I look around, and I think it is perhaps regrettable that one was not lucky enough to stay in Limerick to live here always"[1]

Last weekend saw the Limerick Literary festival in honour of one of her most famous and talented writers Kate O’Brien limerickliteraryfestival.com. I attended the ‘French convent’ that Kate was educated in making her name familiar to me for a long time. As a teenager she gained considerable credibility with me for having two of her novels banned in Ireland ‘Mary Lavelle’ (1936) and ‘The Land of Spices’ (1941).  A pioneer she spoke out against the old repressions of  the New State under the strict moral guidance of the Catholic Church. Her heroines were the commentator of the middle class world O'Brien herself grew up in.

Kathleen Louie Mary O’Brien was born on 3rd December 1897 at an address at Ború House Mulgrave Street (NIAH record here). She became Laurel Hill Convent School’s youngest boarder at just 5 years of age after the death of her mother. After her second level education O'Brien received a county council scholarship to read French and English in UCD. Upon graduating in 1919 she moved to England where she worked as a free-lance journalist for publications such as The Sphere. This journal which ran until 1964 targeted British citizens living in the colonies. In 1922 she traveled to the US with her sister Nance and her brother-in-law Stephen O’Mara as his assistant on a fundraising campaign for the new Irish State. The writer then moved to Spain later that year to work as a governess in Bilbao for ten months.  Her time in Spain resulted in her 1937 book ‘Farewell Spain’ which was banned in Franco’s Spain and the author was forbidden access to the country until 1957 with the intervention of the Irish Ambassador to Spain[2]. O'Brien then moved to London continuing as a freelance writer returning to Ireland to holiday with her family in places such as Kilkee, Glin and Foynes. Kate returned to live in Ireland in 1950 buying the property ‘The Fort’ in the harbour village of Roundstone, Co. Galway. It was in this area that Marconi successfully sent the first trans-Atlantic wireless message in 1907. In 1965 O'Brien once more settled in England where she died on 13th August 1974.


Photo credit Mark Humphrys web
Fiercely proud of the city of her birth O'Brien dedicated her Irish travel book ‘My Ireland’ to ‘Limerick, my dear native place.’ O'Brien did not shy away from politics and even applied this viewpoint to the architecture of her home town. She did not care for a narrowly nationalist outlook or tolerate the physical evidence of a militaristic, defensive attitude, hating the remains of the Norman keeps, of city walls and castles and her dislike even extended to the Treaty Stone. Politics entered her family life with her brother-in-law Stephen O’Mara becoming Mayor of Limerick after the murders of Michael O’Callaghan (1920) and George Clancy (1921). O'Mara inherited the family home Strand House in 1909 which stood in the grounds on O’Callaghan Strand at the end of Sarsfield Bridge. His father Stephen O’Mara Snr was the Director of O’Mara’s Ltd Bacon Curers and the Claremorris and Donegal Bacon Companies. 
Photo Credit: Declan Hassett Limerickwalkingtours
Strand House would witness one of the most enigmatic scenes in the story of the modern Irish State. On 5th of December 1921 Eamon de Valera, Dick Mulcahy and Cathal Brugha were down in Limerick reviewing troops of Volunteers while Treaty negotiations reached a climax in London. They were guests at Strand House the morning when the “future of Ireland had just been decided, he (de Valera) would not come to the telephone when invited to do so.[3]’Stephen O’Mara Junior moved out of Strand House in the 1940s donating the site to the Limerick Corporation provided it was used to build a new town hall. Stephen O’Mara moved to nearby New Strand Hall, Ennis Road where he died in 1959. Limerick Corporation did not use the Strand House site for a new town hall. Instead they sold the site to Jurys Hotel in the early 1960s and gave the money to the O’Mara family. Jurys Hotel remained there until the 1990s when it was demolished and redeveloped as the ‘The Strand’ Limerick (apartments) and the Strand Hotel. No trace of Strand House remains.In 1957 O'Brien was asked to write a reflection on her home town which gave her an opportunity to cogitate on the physical characteristics of the city;

"...I think that ours is a very beautiful city. Actually, I’ll chance my arm and say that I think that, purely on urban and architectural merits, it is the most beautiful city in Ireland, and I only wish that we could have more protected our beautiful O’Connell Street. But façades hardly matter. What really matters is the line of the conceived street. And in Limerick we have superb 18th century lines still."
I think if Kate was in Limerick today she would approve of the Public Realm Enhancement Scheme of recent years with John’s Square, William Street, Bedford Row and Thomas Street. Although there has been considerable recent investment there is still more work to be carried out to create a coherent public realm framework. The city centre should be enhanced for the benefit of the pedestrian over the car driver creating public spaces to linger in rather than as thoroughfares.
"What I would like to praise in our present Limerick is the lovely, flowering park- I only wish we could carry its idea down to the waterside, and make our great river front a place of peace and pleasure. There should be benches, and flowering trees along the Shannon Banks. If I were rich, if I was ever a real best seller, I’d like to make the embankments of our river a source of rest and pleasure to Limerick.Above all things I praise the beauty of Limerick. Our city is not only a beautiful piece of 18th century town planning, but it is also now clean and orderly and without under offence to the past it has managed to play fair with the exactions of the 20th century. I never come towards it, by train or car, without delight. St John’s great spire rises up, most exquisitely. And I am reminded that I was baptised under its shadow. St Mary’s Norman tower argues, but friendly, with our Puginesque triumph. But Limerick spread out as we move in. And it is a dear and beautiful city. I am always happy when I’m there, and I am very proud to be able to say that I am from Limerick."
Strand Hotel Complex. Photo credit: Neil Warner
Warner Corporate Photography web



[1] Kate O’Brien ‘Limerick as I remember it’ (March 1957) Féile Pádraig Official Programme.
[2] Pamela Cahill “Farewell Spain’ by Limerick writer Kate O’Brien” in ‘From the Shannon to the Ebro: the Limerick men who went to fight Franco,’ (Limerick, 2014), pp.93-97.
[3] Dev, the phone call and the Treaty, Etienne Rynne, Limerick Leader, 15 Dec 2001. 


Sunday 15 February 2015



I was inspired by the fact that it was the Valentine's weekend for my post today. Meditating on the victims of my little sniper Cupid I was reminded of two first encounters I had took place at train stations: one was Tralee and the other Galway. These grey stone buildings up and down the land are the embodiment of Victorian ideals- regularity, uniformity, formality. They are ironically the most romanticised of buildings associated with such insuppresible emotions: expectation, nervousness and excitement. Some of my favourite films have a train scene Brief Encounter, Dr Zhivago and Some Like it Hot. When you stop and think about it a train station is just a large waiting room for the conveyance of people from A to B. It is not really a place of action but of anticipation. An interchange of greetings and farewells. It is what Marc Augé in his book 'Non-Place: An Introduction to Supermodernity' refers to as "non-space." I like to think of Limerick Train Station as a liminal space between action and non-action, the Georgian and the Victorian city, the commercial district and residential areas, and old Limerick and a new Limerick. 


Recent events such as the City of Culture year have given Limerick a more confident perspective. No longer is the train and bus terminals a place to say goodbye to family or friends but as a place of welcome. This handsome building on Parnell Street is sadly sitting in a tired part of the city full of chippers, pubs and off-licences. I could never understand why funds were not invested in this area during the boom years as it gives visitors their first impression of our city. One saving grace is that People's Park is nearby as a reward for the traveler after their journey. It is therefore great news for Limerick regarding the proposed development of a new public plaza, taxi rank and car set down area to the front of the station building. 

The Limerick Railway Station building itself was opened on the 28th of August 1858 replacing an earlier, temporary station some 500m further east, which had operated from 9th of May 1848. The Station was originally known simply as the Limerick Railway Station until 1966 when it was named after Cornelius Colbert, the County Limerick man executed following the Easter Rising. This station is unusually located as it was custom to locate such a structure centrally within a city. Aristocratic and middle class interests prevented it from being constructed in the more fashionable parts of the city and so it was therefore built at the edge of the Victorian part of the city.[1] Its architect was English architect and surveyor Sancton Wood (1815-1886)[2]. who also designed the Old Kilkenny Railway Station, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, and Heuston Station, Portlaoise Station, and Thurles. 

Within the site of the Station there is the terminus building, sheds, and a hard surface car park to west and north of the site and bus station termini to south all enclosed from Parnell Street by original limestone plinth wall supporting steel railing, c.1990. The building itself is a compact, detached seven-bay, two-storey over partially concealed basement. The structure is faced with fine carved limestone detailing in a restrained Classical style. The terminus building consists of a two-bay, two-storey breakfront ends which flank an arcaded entrance front which is reached by a series of steps. The roof is hipped with pan-tiles which give it a corrugated effect and shoulders rendered chimney stacks are just visible behind parapet wall. Coursed rubble limestone walls to south-facing elevation of train shed with limestone ashlar Doric pilasters which become painted and partially rendered limestone ashlar piers, internally to the east. Colbert Station is a protected listed structure and by extension, the protection includes the parking areas on all sides of the building as well as the Bus Station to the south.  
Image taken from www.buseireann.ie/news
The long overdue redevelopment to start within the first quarter of this year is estimated to cost €16.9 million. Phase One (€2.5million) redevelopment prepared by Iarnród Éireann in collaboration with Bus  Éireann, Limerick City & County Council and the National Transport Authority funded by the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport through the Regional Cities Funding Allocation for 2015 will see the existing car park area removed, the existing derelict petrol station and Council Depot will also be demolished along with the train station's toilet block. This will make way for A new bus station is proposed to the Northern side of the existed train station building. This will be a double height public concourse with ground and first floor office areas. The offices link at first floor level to the existing train station building.
Maser, Draw Out Project.
Image taken from drawout.ie
Phase Two will be marked by the new plaza in front of the station consists of a limestone paved area of 3,350 sqm together with feature lighting, landscaping, bench seating, bicycle parking and associated street furniture and fittings. A new ramped and stepped entrance will be formed to access the proposed new bus station. The proposed taxi rank and car set down consist of an area of 1275sqm of paving with tree planting, benches, shelters and bicycle parking. 
Image taken from www.buseireann.ie/news
Phase Three will see change to the interior of the station with the opening of the area to three central bays that would include repositioned retail units, relocation of the ticket office and new stone flooring. A new surface level car park is proposed to the south eastern area of the site in addition to new car parking adjacent to the train station building on the southern side. Part of the plans will see 264 new bicycle parking spaces located in the new rear car park, the new plaza and the new taxi rank  and set down area. You can read more about the planning permission here

With such provisions for bicycle parking we will now have the look of a city that has been designated as one of the three centres to be the First Smarter Travel Demonstration Areas. A joint initiative by Limerick City and County Council and the University of Limerick given €9 million to spend over 5 years to roll out a wide range of measures and interventions, targets at encouraging people to use sustainable modes of transport and to engage in transport planning. This redevelopment is the creation of a major transport hub allowing people to leave the car at home. More importantly for the passengers, staff and residents living nearby this will make Colbert Station and attractive place to meet and linger. I use this station regularly and at the moment it is not a place that I would kill time  or stay after meeting friends. Hopefully this scheme will rejuvenate Parnell Street, Davis Street and other streets that approach the station marking a new phase for Limerick as a city that can welcome every new visitor or old friend with confidence. Passengers can step off the train, hop on a bicycle and explore the city. Colbert Station can depart the in-between space it inhabits to become the perfect place for perfect first encounters. 

I'd like to thank Gregg Ryan the Heritage & Conservation Manager for Irish Rail for providing information on the redevelopment for this blog post. 



[1] Judith Hill, The Building of Limerick, (Dublin, 1991), p. 168.
[2] The Irish Architectural Archives, Dictionary of Irish Architects & Builders.