You have surely passed one before and may not have even noticed. Hip-high granite structures, iron gates, white tiled walls lining descending steps underground: the old public lavatories dotted around Dublin. Constructed during Victorian and Edwardian times, when most households didn’t have toilets of their own, these facilities were essential. As more houses were built with private bathrooms and shopping centres, bars and restaurants started to pop up around town, they became increasingly redundant, attracted anti-social behaviour and drug use. When maintenance became unaffordable during recession in 1980s they were permanently closed.
Despite an apparent lack of public toilets in Dublin today, the structures still lie abandoned. Maintenance and safety issues seem to be the killer argument, while discussions about designated injection centres for intravenous drug users have stalled since the elections. But why not use the untapped potential in the meantime? What if Dublin re-engaged with these disused spaces and transformed them to improve links [???] or offer amenities to the public, while preserving their architecture and history? Many units are situated in prime locations and could house a number of different uses, with references from the UK aplenty: The Temple of Convenience, a grubby music bar in Manchester, a stunning one-bed apartment in Crystal Palace London, the Toilet Gallery in Kingston-upon-Thames, a fashionable night club called Cellar Door in Covent Garden, a seafood eatery named Toulouse Restaurant at Westcliff-on-Sea and a public loo transformed into a floral display, near Taff’s Well in Wales, just to name a few. During Saint Patrick Festival in 2015 we asked the public for their own ideas and received many more suggestions ranging from Hammam-style baths to services hubs for street traders.
Evidently, there is no lack of ideas or expressions of interest. There were advanced plans for instance to turn the toilet on College Street into a cafe bar, which were dropped for the Luas Cross City plans however. What is left of the recently demolished structure will now be turned into a technical cubicle. Hopefully remaining lavatories like the one at the junction of Kevin Street and New Street (pictured) can be saved and transformed with vision and imagination.
Do you have another idea for the reuse of Dublin’s former public restrooms? Want to suggest a future topic for our column or even guest-write an article? Get in touch via whatifdublin@gmail.com or @what_if_dublin on Twitter.
Words & Images: What If Dublin Team
