See RTE and die: it's a world's best building
According to '1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die', RTE's Montrose studios are a significant architectural milestone
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Tuesday November 20 2007
THE drab, box-like buildings at the RTE studios in Montrose in Donnybrook might not be everyone's choice when it comes to picking the most significant architectural achievements in Ireland.
But the studios have made it onto the list of the most important buildings not just in Ireland, but in the world.
In a new book titled '1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die', the RTE headquarters is one of a dozen Irish buildings listed, including expected names like the Custom House, the Marino Casino and Castletown House. But the RTE studios?
The 900-page book, which will be published in London next week, says the buildings covered are the most significant in the world from an architectural point of view.
The publishers say the book is "a visual testament to the beauty, grace, and fortitude of the world's greatest architectural achievements."
Having explored middle age Byzantine and Gothic examples of great architecture such as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and St Paul's Cathedral in London, the book continues through more modern examples like the Chrysler Building in New York and on to splendid contemporary innovations such as Norman Foster's Reichstag parliament building in Berlin.
That Montrose fits into this may seem surprising.
But the book says that when they were built the RTE studios represented "a new level of aspiration for Irish architecture and a visible expression of the Irish state's rhetoric of modernisation".
The buildings, made of steel, concrete and bronze-tinted glass, were designed by architects Scott Tallon Walker.
The book says construction began as the country emerged from the recession a decade earlier in the 1950s and "asserted a new optimism in Irish life".
It also praises the campus layout of the buildings, saying that it has "a pleasing village intimacy".
As well as great public buildings, the book includes some of the world's most remarkable domestic buildings, such as the Mongolian yurt and houses of the American pioneers, as well as railway buildings, concert halls... and gentlemen's clubs.
The other Irish buildings that may surprise include Busarus (but that is well deserved for its art deco style lines) and a church in Donegal (but some of our most interesting architecture in recent decades has been church buildings).
'1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die' will be published by Cassell in London next week and will cost €30 in Ireland.
Ireland's architectural treats
|
Place |
Building |
Architect |
Year |
|
Newgrange |
unknown |
around 3200 BC |
|
|
Kerry |
unknown |
550 |
|
|
Round Tower |
unknown |
1066 |
|
|
Castletown House |
1758 |
||
|
Marino, Dublin |
Casino |
1762 |
|
|
Dublin |
The Custom House |
1791 |
|
|
Adare |
Adare Manor |
Probably James Pain |
1862 |
|
Dublin |
Busarus |
1953 |
|
|
Donegal |
St Aengus's Church |
1967 |
|
|
Dublin |
RTE Headquarters |
Scott Tallon Walker |
1973 |
|
Cork |
Lewis Gluckman Gallery |
O'Donnell Tourney |
2004 |
- John Spain Books Editor
