It's room with a view as spot of make-do-and-mend turns iconic tower block into high-rise art over city
Housed in one of the remaining iconic tower blocks of north Dublin, it will be demolished next month to make way for a new town centre. Welcome to Hotel Ballymun - an arts project based on the 15th floor of the Thomas Clarke Tower that has lured southsiders across the river, keen to see how the area has been utterly transformed.
The beds are cobbled together from kitchen chairs and mattresses, but there are spectacular views from Tallaght to Howth. And while there mightn't be en suite bathrooms, the room rate is discretionary with a 'suggested' fee of ?50.
The most bohemian hostelry in Dublin, it boasts nine double bedrooms and two singles but is only open until April 18 next because it's due to be demolished next month.
The brainchild of artist Seamus Nolan, Hotel Ballymun is a temporary arts project that includes short-stay hotel rooms.
Facilities include a disco room, a reading room, a garden room, and a glass-panelled burnt room (bedroom which was set on fire). All the fittings are made from discarded furniture left behind by former residents and include a chair made from books, beds made from an old armchair, and a bedside table made from an old video player, a stool and some glass.
Flats have been knocked into each other to make the hotel, and thankfully, it includes a working lift.
"It's blown away the impression that Ballymun was a no-go area," said project manager Paul McAree.
"I think it's brilliant," said Tanya O'Callaghan, who lives nearby and works in the hotel. "It's very artistic and the view is spectacular. You'll never see anything like this again." Others aren't so convinced.
"This is my old flat, I was the last tenant here," Jane Thompson said. "It's an awful shock to come back and see what they've done."
- Paul Melia
