Architects: Scott Tallon Walker
Interior Access Banking Hours
The Bank of Ireland in Baggot Street is most notable for two things other than its architecture: the amount or Bronze Manganese used in its construction - it used that much that it affected the price on the world market; and the passions it aroused during its constructed. Almost universally loathed by the public and adored by architects, the Bank went to great lengths to build the project against the wishes of nearly everyone.
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Consisting of three blocks, the first of which was started in 1968 and the last completed in 1978, the building is at complete odds with Georgian Baggot Street. The use of the brown coloured cladding and tinted glass helps minimise its impact but the basic impression is of a huge leviathan shoe horned into the street.
The building is un-ashamedly a homage to Mies van der Rohe with its' external steel work and expressionless minimalist façade. Designed by Ronald Tallon of Scott Tallon Walker who was a great fan of Mies, the three blocks are sited around a courtyard complete with bright steel sculpture. The two smaller blocks of fours storeys funnel you towards the main block of eight storeys which is approached via a flight of steps.