Development and preservation in Dublin

By 1945, the planned replacement of Georgian Dublin were abandoned and the Viceregal Lodge (renamed in 1938 Áras an Uachtaráin) was restored as a presidential residence.

By the 1980s, road-widening schemes by Dublin Corporation ran through some old areas of the inner city around Christ Church Cathedral.

In 1979 Dublin Corporation developed an office block on an unearthed Viking site Wood Quay.

By the 1990s Dublin Corporation became active in the preservation of the Georgian buildings; among the results was the restoration of City Hall to its eighteenth-century interior (removing Victorian and Edwardian additions and rebuilds), and the replacement of Nelson's Pillar (a monument on O'Connell Street which had dominated the skyline until being blown up in 1966 by republicans) by a new Spire of Dublin, the world's tallest sculpture, on the site of the old Pillar and which could be seen throughout the city.

Most of the buildings were rented by artists, producing a sudden and unexpected appearance of a 'cultural quarter' that earned comparisons with Paris's Left Bank.

Though CIÉ remained nominally committed to its planned redevelopment, the vibrancy of the Temple Bar area led to demands for its preservation.

The result was that the medieval street plan survived, however rents rose sharply, forcing the artists elsewhere.

A 120 m tall tapered metal pole, it is the tallest structure of Dublin city centre, visible for miles.

In June 1999, the art deco, grade 1 listed garage on Fenian Street was illegally demolished by contractors working for the O'Callaghan hotel group.

Following some vocal opposition the developer Noel O'Callaghan reconstructed the Garage after he was ordered by Dublin City Council on threat of a €1,000,000 fine and/or imprisonment.