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Contemplation On Built Heritage In Ireland: Between Destruction And Preservation, Rumiko Handa

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

This paper will examine the fate of several buildings in Dublin, Ireland, constructed during the British rule. The decision between destruction and preservation of such buildings naturally rested heavily on the governments' political attitudes after the Irish independence of the 19205. For example, while the City Corporation let many Georgian row houses fall to vandalism and/or destruction, the Office of Public Works recovered a number of buildings as part of a national built heritage. For example, the former Royal Hospital now serves as the Irish Museum of Modem Art. A number of questions arise, however, concerning architectural signification, which bear …