Down Memory Lane - A Journey through Cork's Past and Present
by Claire Watson (Features Editor)
Cork is a city where the past flows through the present. The modernity of skyscrapers poke through the cracks of historic facades, to create this beautiful, timeless city. Just a stroll to the shops or through our central parks can take you back in time. The contemporary styles are contrasted in the city’s limestone walls and sandstone bricks in brilliant shades of white and red.
Cork is an island. Surrounded by two channels of the River Lee, it was once a Viking settlement. In the Middle Ages this settlement was developed into a city, when Prince John of England gave Cork its charter. This development saw walls being built to enclose the city. They were built deep into the marshlands as a form of protection. Today, the remains of these walls lie beneath our feet, and are currently under excavation. At the entrance of Bishop Lucey Park, we can still see the layered stones that once outlined our city.
The channels that surround Cork were fed through the city in canals, that have since been paved over. Once a Venice-like City, canals ran along our city like veins, aiding in navigation, flood control, and defence. These canals lay where the Grand Parade, Grattan Street, and Corn Market Street now stand. Since Cork’s beginnings, the formation of the city has undergone great changes, but a remnant of one of these canals flows along French’s Quay today.
Despite these great changes, Cork’s oldest inhabited building still stands today. Skiddy’s Almshouse was built in 1719, and still sitting in Shandon, the building was once a place of refuge for the elderly poor. Now, after a series of restoration projects, it is a housing complex.
In comparison to Cork’s newest building, which will be completed in 2023, the almshouse is a small stone building that hides beneath Cork’s skyline. The Prism is planned to tower over Parnell Place, on the opposite side of the river. Its aesthetics are inspired by New York’s Flatiron, and CGI rendered images anticipate a sparkling, silver tower that will light up Cork’s quays. Its purpose is to bring 6,000 sqm of office space to the city. There is a visual chasm between these buildings, and across the city’s waters, there’s an even greater gulf between these building’s purposes. Cork is currently faced with a housing crisis, one that office spaces cannot fix.
Much of Cork’s southside is being renewed by the construction of hotels and office blocks. There’s often a fear that we will lose our familiar city under these developments, but examining maps from the 18th century shows us that Cork’s history is still radiating through our streets.
Cartographer Charles Smith illustrates Cork in the Ancient and Present State of the City and County Cork, dated to 1750. This work is a treasure trove of information of Cork’s locations that captures those that have been lost to time, and those that are as familiar to us as our own faces.
On Smith’s map we can easily find Paul’s Street as it breaks into French Church and Carey’s Lane, in the top, left-hand corner of the map. As it did in the 18th century, Lavitt’s Quay still wraps around this spot of culture, home to the Opera House, the Crawford Art Gallery, and a safe-haven for the alternative goths and rockers of the early 2000s.
The Crawford Art Gallery illustrates the many changes that have transpired throughout the city’s life. On King’s Dock, the gallery sits in Emmet’s Place. Originally constructed in 1724, the building acted as Cork’s custom house until the 1830s, when it was given to the Royal Cork Institution, a cultural organisation inspired by the Royal Society of London. If you are ever looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon pop into the Crawford and follow the tour that inspired this article.
On Smith’s map, we can still trace a path from Paul’s Street to Bandon Road, a journey many citizens and students take today. In the bottom right corner of the map, is an illustration of St. Finbarr’s Cathedral. Here, Smith highlights the Mardyke and a street that leads to Gillabbey. The map captures Cork well, but all that’s missing, in this little corner, is an illustration of our University College Cork, which is just a century away.
Though the Aula Maxima was built in the 1850s, it is haunted by the styles of the Middle Ages, symbolising the era of Cork’s birth. The jutting dormers, the arching windows, the interior’s spine of wooden beams are all key elements of Gothic Revival. Though it may seem like a dusty building to current students, it’s fascinating how architects of the 1840s and 50s were already looking backwards for inspiration. [URBAN MYTH]
Forward a century, and the campus’ buildings are stripped of these dainty points and silver bricks. The Kane is constructed, and with it Brutalism is brought to UCC. The true beauty of this building is not its concrete walls, beige panels, and liminal hallways, but its folklore. In student life, the Kane is somewhat of an infamous structure. From the uranium in the basement, to the absence of toilets, there’s many legends surrounding this building. This building favours practicality over aesthetic, and in doing so became the set of the Backrooms.
A decade later, students are taught that Brutalism isn’t all bad with the arrival of the Boole. Hard geometric structures, opposing angles, and a contrast of stone; the Boole feels like a pocket dimension, accessible only to students and staff. The library powerfully contrasts with its 19th century neighbours. On a rainy day, I’d recommend making the climb to the top floor to watch the water cascade down the windows. With the giant Sequoias obscuring the view, you’ll feel transported into the kind of fantasy world that’s only found in books.
A similar effect can be found on the way down into the Boole Lecture Theatres. As the ivy stretches across the entrance, and the stairwell opens up into a bright display of the campus’ foliage, the building nods its head towards eco-brutalism.
All these buildings are perfectly juxtaposed to the newer Glucksman, O’Rahilly Building (Or the ORB, as it’s most commonly known), and the Hub.
Deconstructvisim tears apart the formality of architecture, and lets freedom go wild. Freedom of form, of space, of use. UCC hosts a whirlwind of architectural styles that take us backwards and forwards through time, but the Hub captures the aesthetics of Cork, in one beautiful project. Long before the Hub came the Clarendon building. Built in the 1850s, the structure hosted the School of Medicine and Department of Anatomy. Rather than leave a building derelict, the Hub was expanded upon and the historic facade of the Clarendon was split apart, to form a modern, deconstructivist structure designed to be a sanctuary for students. The pale stone of the Clarendon is contrasted with a modern build that towers from behind. Inside, walking through the Hub can feel like marching up and down the magical staircases of Harry Potter, as the building's bending structures give way to something that feels structurally impossible. Here, the past effortlessly blends into the present to create a world that exists outside of time.
Cork is a beautiful, timeless space. The city’s development refuses to devour its past, and instead it strives to allow history to reach its hand out to the future. How often, as we wander down the streets of Cork, do we imagine people of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, or Victorians in our place? In a city like Cork which has been colonised, burned, and reclaimed it can be exciting to know that our footprints line up with Cork’s original inhabitants.