Recreation in Kingstown

Town Hall, Kingstown

The Town Hall building was completed in 1880 and the cost was estimated at £13,000. The material used for the project was local granite and limestone with red and yellow dressings of sandstone. The town hall displays many of the characters of a Venetian building including circular pierced balconies and the coloured stonework. The building was completely refurbished in 1989 to meet fire standards and to combat dry rot. In 1997 the new County Hall was opened. It consisted of the new office buildings, the old Town Hall Post Office and the Harbour Masters Office. It is 90,000 square feet.

Image acquired from The Collectors' Shop, Blackrock.

Town Hall, Kingstown
Image acquired from The Collectors' Shop, Blackrock.

Town Hall, Kingstown

The Town Hall building was completed in 1880 and the cost was estimated at £13,000. The material used for the project was local granite and limestone with red and yellow dressings of sandstone. The town hall displays many of the characters of a Venetian building including circular pierced balconies and the coloured stonework. The building was completely refurbished in 1989 to meet fire standards and to combat dry rot. In 1997 the new County Hall was opened. It consisted of the new office buildings, the old Town Hall Post Office and the Harbour Masters Office. It is 90,000 square feet.

Image acquired from The Collectors' Shop, Blackrock.

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The Pavilion Theatre and gardens was erected in 1903 and provided an opportunity for people to be entertained or to relax with friends. Sadly the Pavilion, in all its splendour was burned down in 1915 and never managed to recover its former glory. The images on postcards from this era seem more poignant today, as a reminder of how much places change overtime.

An excerpt taken from the Irish Builder and Engineer in 1903 describes the progress of the development. The Pavilion is 'assuming good proportions' and 'adds much to the attractiveness of the township'. The Pavilion, on completion, housed a selection of rooms including tearooms, smoking and reading rooms. The ladies' and gents' reading rooms were kept separate.

By 1920 permission was granted for cinema performances and the theatre became known as the Pavilion Picture House. Cinema became very popular during the 1930s and plans were soon made to renovate the Pavilion. Work commenced in 1939 but yet again, in 1940, the building was destroyed by fire.

Five months later the cinema was reopened and remained a cinema until 1974. A few years later it was reopened, this time reverting to its original status as a theatre.

The end came in 1984 when it was closed because it did not conform to fire safety standards. Finally the building was completely demolished and today a completely new theatre exists, albeit vastly different from its predecessor. It is part of a complex containing restaurants and apartments

Dun Laoghaire Town Hall is a perfect example of combining the old and the new. The postcard dates from about 1907 and shows the striking design by J.L.Robinson. Local granite and limestone was used and sandstone ornamented the building. Work began in 1878 and the building was completed in 1880. The design incorporates many Venetian elements, like for example, the arched windows and the coloured stonework.

There were assembly rooms and a dance hall in the building also, as evidenced by the message on the front of a postcard of the Town Hall. The current refurbishments began in 1989 to make the building accessible to disabled people and to make it compliant with health and safety regulations. The County Hall as it is known today combines the Town Hall and the old Post Office next door.