O'Connell Bridge House, Office building near O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, Ireland
O'Connell Bridge House is a 12-storey concrete and glass tower faced in Portland stone, designed by Desmond FitzGerald. It stands 136 feet tall on the site of the demolished Carlisle House, with a clock and a large advertising space on its north face.
Carlisle House, built in 1779, stood on the site until its demolition in 1962. John Byrne bought the plot for £53,000 in 1961 and built O'Connell Bridge House through his Carlisle Trust, managed by Des Traynor. Completed in 1964 at a cost of 1 million Irish pounds, it opened in January 1965. The Department of the Environment, the main tenant from the start, left in 1999.
The north face carries a clock and a large advertising space that has displayed the names of Guinness, Sony and now Heineken. When the block first opened, the lease on the Guinness sign brought in more revenue than all the office space.
The building is located in a busy downtown area and is easy to reach on foot, but there is no parking available on-site. Visitors should plan to use public transportation or walk to explore the surrounding area.
On 26 November 1972, loyalists planted a bomb outside the rear exit door of the Film Centre Cinema at O'Connell Bridge House, injuring 40 people. The cinema operated from the building's lower levels.
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