Hotel Metropole, Dublin
The Hotel Metropole (The Met) was a notable landmark hotel in Dublin, Ireland. It was located next to the General Post Office building in O'Connell Street. Originally four Georgian buildings, they were combined to form a unified hotel in a high-french style by architect William M. Mitchell in 1891–93. Various architectural additions and embellishments were included to make the building look more French including a mansard roof with rounded dormer windows. This followed the style other Dublin hotels were adopting at the time including the Shelbourne Hotel and nearby the Jury's Hotel at College Green.
| Hotel Metropole | |
|---|---|
![]() The Hotel Metropole around the year 1900 | |
| Former names | Prince of Wales Hotel |
| General information | |
| Status | Closed and demolished |
| Type | Hotel |
| Classification | |
| Address | 35-39 O'Connell Street Upper, Dublin 1 |
| Town or city | Dublin |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |
| Opened | 1893 |
| Demolished | 1916 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 6 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | William Mitchell |
| References | |
| [1] | |
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The building was badly damaged during the Easter Rising and the remains were ultimately demolished.
In 1922, a neoclassical building, designed by Aubrey V. O'Rourke, was built out of the ruins - The Metropole - and this building included a cinema and a ballroom, as well as a couple of bars and a restaurant, the Georgian Room. The Met closed on 11 March 1972 and the building was sold to British Home Stores who demolished it.[2][3]
The replacement was a modernist nondescript block constructed by G&T Crampton in 1977.[4] As of 2022, the building houses a large Penneys shop.[5][6]
References
- "CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET LOWER, NO. 035-39 (HOTEL METROPOLE) Dictionary of Irish Architects -". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- "Meet Me at the Metropole". Louis Elliman. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- "1922 – Metropole Cinema & Restaurant, O'Connell St., Dublin". Archiseek - Irish Architecture. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- "British Home Stores, O'Connell Street". 12 June 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- http://www.streetsbroadandnarrow.com/2011/06/hotel-metropolepenneys-oconnell-street.html Through Streets Broad and Narrow: Discovering the history behind some of Dublin's well known (and lesser known) streets and buildings (Accessed August 2011)
- http://bridge-it.tchpc.tcd.ie/items/show/214 "The Metropole Cinema, O'Connell Street. c.1923." Lifescapes: Mapping Dublin Lives, Item #214 (Accessed August 2011)
