Joseph Brady

Houses, flats and high-rise

Dublin, 1950-1970

Ruth McManus

During the 20th century, Dublin Corporation transformed the urban landscape of Dublin. Its many housing developments sought to end a housing and public health crisis of immense proportions, the legacy of the nineteenth century. Its early engagement with the housing crisis was tentative and involved mostly small inner city schemes, many of which are unknown to present-day Dubliners. Yet, these schemes were built well and most continue to be lived in and appreciated. This book is a commemoration and an analysis of the early schemes from the 1880s to the late 1920s. These are examined in some detail and the book is comprehensively illustrated with maps, photographs and block plans. Housing policy evolved during this time and the reader will learn that the issues faced and the solutions found remain relevant to the present day. The reader will also meet many of the significant people who shaped the city; people such as Charles Cameron, H.T. O'Rourke and P.C. Cowan. The text ends with a detailed account of Marino and Drumcondra. These schemes, especially the former, represent the culmination of policy development and were seen as models for the future.

Dublin Corporation's First Housing Schemes, 1880-1925

Building Healthy Homes

Using a great variety of source materials, and including a large number of photographs and other images, this book builds a picture of Dublin between 1930 and 1950. While this period is on the edge of living memory, there has not been much exploration of how the city looked and functioned in what was the beginning of a new era. It was the capital of a recently emerged state and it looked to the future with some confidence despite the problems that it faced as a legacy of its past. Dublin was growing in population and spreading out beyond its boundaries, even as the population of Ireland as a whole was slipping into decline. The book shows that the city was complex and interesting, and not all doom and gloom as has sometimes been suggested. For the poor, life was as difficult as it always had been and there was a serious problem with the provision of decent housing; the main focus of Dublin Corporation's activities. The middle classes had a different experience. New suburbs emerged as the city grew and the city center was a bright and vibrant place where shoppers could enjoy the latest international trends in consumer goods. Growth brought its own problems, and readers will learn that Dublin had serious traffic congestion and that the parking controls in the city were even more draconian than today. The book demonstrates the ways in which the capital city survived - and in some ways thrived - during the Emergency, and it shows how Dublin fared as tourism destination. Dublin 1930-1950: The Emergence of the Modern City is the fifth volume in The Making of Dublin City series, which sets out to examine the development of Dublin from its origins to the present day. All books in the series share a geographical perspective, which sees the city in a holistic way, exploring the evolution of Dublin's streetscapes and attempting to understand the complex variety of actors and processes which brought about these changes. (Series: The Making of Dublin City) [Subject: History, Irish Studies, Urban Studies]

Joseph Brady

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