Sir, - An American firm of architects has designed immense glass skyscrapers for the site directly across the Liffey from the Custom House, one of Dublin's (and Ireland's) greatest architectural treasures. In the illustration for the article about the subject (May 7th) the Custom House is reduced to the size of a dinky toy by these huge buildings.
A spokesman for the architects draws an analogy between developments in Dublin and the city of Chicago, where they have designed a skyscraper, but, given the great size of that metropolis, with its veritable forest of huge skyscrapers and no 18th century core that I am aware of, Chicago is hardly a good model for us.
Having admitted that Dublin is "a horizontal city" this spokesman would be on surer ground, and should, if he wished to make an accurate comparison, have drawn our attention to Washington DC, an outstanding example of "a horizontal city". There, they prize their beautiful capital with its large blocks of low-rise buildings so much, that skyscrapers are banished to the outer space beyond the Potomac in the state of Maryland. Liberty Hall was an aberration and a disaster. It should not be claimed as a precedent for future developers. - Yours, etc., M. M. Ireland,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.