Four to forget

Extension to Royal Marine Hotel

Extension to Royal Marine Hotel

The main block of this Victorian development designed by John McCurdy survives, albeit in a somewhat truncated fashion. However, in the 1970s, the adjoining terraced houses were replaced by a concrete and glass extension which displays absolutely no sympathy with either the hotel or indeed anything else in Dun Laoghaire.

Garda Station and District Court

Corrig Avenue is a long road lined with a mixture of terraces and semi-detached villas running from Corrig Road to George's Street. At the latter end stand these two new buildings which inadequately attempt to reflect the area's heritage while cramming as many small windows into the facade as possible, leaving it with a miniaturised main door and ridiculously narrow pediment.

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Rosses Court

At the seafront end of Mellifont Avenue, this five-storey (two more than the traditional norm) apartment development suggests what may yet be the fate awaiting the entire seafront: an overly-fussy piece of architecture in which surface decoration is employed to disguise the underlying brutal character of the structure.

Pavilion apartments

This must be one of the worst planning decisions made by the local authority in recent years. Monolithic and monochrome, the two six-storey blocks ignore the pretty stucco facades of Dun Laoghaire, their every aspect is studded with coarse PVC windows. Little more than lumpen bunkers obstructing views of the harbour.