The Iveagh Trust Tenements (1894-1904 by Joseph & Smithem with R.J. Stirling) were part of an interesting series of projects funded by Sir Edward Guinness with an eye to the public good. They’re full of gorgeous details, and we’ll take a broader look at them tomorrow.
For today, here’s some of the beautiful exposed pipework, as pointed out to Built Dublin by David Healy (thanks!). It’s interesting to keep an eye out for how services (like plumbing, wiring, heating, cooling, sprinklers or fire alarms) are incorporated into buildings from any period. Concealing them or tucking them to the side is sometimes more obtrusive than having them tidy and on view, and it can be quite nice to see what’s happening inside anyway – the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, for example, is all about taking its exposed services to the extreme.
Here, the pipework is set out precisely and sits prominently the brickwork, symmetrical enough to indicate care in placing things like the pipes’ supporting brackets but with enough variation that we can deduce exactly where sinks and toilets and drains are inside the flats. The building looks proud of its plumbing, and that’s pretty lovely.
