Visit creative studios and co-working spaces as part of Open House Dublin, including The Grainstore, Arran Street East, the fumbally exchange, The Digital Depot, Henry J Lyons Architects, Chocolate Factory Dublin Creative Community and The Tara Building!
FUMBALLY EXCHANGE
The four-storey building on Dame Lane was the second phase of a printworks complex for the prominent and successful Hely’s Stationers. Celebrated in fiction in James Joyce’s Ulysses, Hely’s were famous for their production of propaganda posters during World War I. The building was constructed in 1906, to a design by Batchelor & Hicks, using an innovative reinforced concrete system known as the ‘Hennebique System’. After several years use as offices for a telecommunications company the building fell into disuse. In 2013 the not-for-profit collaborative movement, Fumbally Exchange, acquired the building and transformed it into a multi-use, co-working and event space and exposed the original Hennebique structure. Open on Saturday 14 October from 11.00am – 5.00pm.
THE GRAINSTORE
This 19th century building was a former store for grain used in whiskey production by Roe’s Distillery. The George Roe Distillery had the highest output of any distillery in the world at the time, around 1886. This solid limestone building also has earlier ties to the Four Courts Marshalsea a debtor’s prison. Located between the wall remains of the Four Courts Marshalsea and what is now the Digital Depot building, the Grainstore is of great architectural merit. In its newly refurbished state, The Grainstore offers visually impressive, bright & spacious contemporary office units in The Digital Hub, Ireland’s largest enterprise cluster for technology, digital media and internet companies and is open on Friday 13 October from 4.00pm – 6.00pm.
THE DIGITAL DEPOT
The Digital Depot is on the site of the old Roe’s Distillery, later the Dublin Whiskey Distillery. Guinness Brewery purchased the Dublin Whiskey Distillery site in the 1950s and built a Printing Works for the Brewery. The Printing Works would have been responsible for all printing needs of the brewery, from internal booklets and stationary, to the hundreds of thousands of bottle labels that would have been produced every year. Now, Digital Depot is one of several building that make up The Digital Hub campus. The Depot building is home to almost thirty digital media companies with flexible enterprise space created specifically to meet the demands of the digital industry. Visit on Saturday 14 October from 11.00am – 5.00pm and Sunday 15 October from 12.00pm – 5.00pm.
HENRY J LYONS STUDIO
51–54 Pearse Street forms part of a 10,000 metre squared city centre mixed use development at Pearse Street, Dublin 2. The building accommodates the design studios of Henry J Lyons Architects within a new 6 storey building to the rear of a terrace of Georgian Buildings (protected structures) organised around a new centre light filled atrium, which provides a dramatic articulation between the protected structures and the contemporary open plan accommodation. Stop by on Saturday 14 October from 11.00am – 5.00pm.
ARRAN STREET EAST
Arran Street East is a renovation and fit out of an 18th Century Dutch Billy building in Dublin’s Market quarter, which now serves as a pottery studio. Reflecting the simplicity of the Arran Street East aesthetic, the palette of materials introduced is restrained and muted. Black steel-framed glazed screens fill the openings to the South and East. This industrial language is also used to separate the retail and production space, allowing light and views into the working studio. Visit on Saturday 14 October from 11.00am – 5.00pm.
THE TARA BUILDING
The Tara Building is a creative hub on Dublin’s Tara Street. Formerly a long-term disused office block, the site has been reinvented over the last year, with a bold mural by Maser covering the facade and interior space comprising of a co-working floor, gallery and event space, screen printing studio, serviced offices and rooftop garden. Having been vacant for a considerable period before being brought back into use, it’s original architect is unknown and rumours are rife as to its former use. Find out more by visiting on Saturday 14 October from 11.00am – 5.00pm.
CHOCOLATE FACTORY CREATIVE COMMUNITY DUBLIN
Henry Williams, a confectioner, and Robert Woods, a merchant, formed Williams & Woods in the mid-1870’s, on the site of the present-day Parnell Street Cinema, then Simpson’s Hospital. Through the latter part of the 1800’s the property extended northwards along Kings Inn Street. In 1908 a fire destroyed the building and in 1910 the new building, one of the first reinforced concrete structures in Dublin, now known as the Chocolate Factory was completed, custom-designed around the jam-making process. Along with this, the factory produced a variety of chocolates & sweets, such as Toblerone & Silvermints. In 1975, Williams & Woods re-located to Tallaght. Having served a variety of uses since 1975, primarily as a File Storage facility, the building became the Chocolate Factory in 2011, and is now home to a variety of creatives in studios spread over 5 floors, including architects, furniture designers, photographers, film-makers, painters & fashion designers. Open on Saturday 14 October from 10.00am – 5.00pm.
Open House Dublin (OHD) invites Dublin’s citizens to explore their city as when buildings not usually accessible to the public and buildings of architectural merit open their doors over the weekend of October 13th – 15th
All architectural tours are provided by expert guides, with free admission. For full details check out openhousedublin.com The weekend is organised by Irish Architecture Foundation.
