Sir, - There are increasing numbers of demands for high-rise buildings in the city of Dublin, and therefore we may forget a principle known to our forefathers. It is that no building should exceed in height, the width of the street to the north of that building.
Dublin is a very northerly city, lying roughly 55 degrees north. Without the benefit of the Gulf Stream we would be very cold indeed. At our latitude the sun casts long shadows, even in mid-summer. Any high-rise building would mean that the streets and buildings to the north would never be in the sun. Consequently they would become damp and moss-covered and forever dreary places in which to live. Our ancestors knew this and maintained Dublin as the pleasant low-level city it is today. - Yours, etc., Dermot C. Clarke,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.