THE Georgian house on Dublin's quays where James Joyce set his most memorable short story, The Dead, and the late John Huston made his last film has been boarded up after being extensively damaged.
"What has happened is horrific," said Mr Michael Smith, chairman of An Taisce's Dublin planning group. "The front windows have been smashed, the elaborate fanlight and most of the interior woodwork stolen, and the building is now just a wreck.
"As well as being one of the finest surviving Georgian houses on the Liffey quays, this represents the devastating loss of a great literary landmark, and at the same time we're being bombarded with glossy brochures for the developer's Smithfield scheme across the river."
But Mr Terry Devey, of Heritage Properties, denied the damage to 15 Ushers Island was as bad as An Taisce claimed. "The important elements of it - the staircase, ceilings and the lantern light - are still there. And we have secured it to prevent anyone getting near them.
"All of the windows, front and back, were actually broken by the fire brigade to let smoke out after a small fire was lit in the basement by vandals. The fire brigade also broke the front door to get in and it was boarded up by the corporation. But as far as we know the fanlight is still there."
He said plans for a complete restoration of the house would be unveiled later this month. "It's been a very difficult building to deal with. It has taken us two years to sort it out properly and get the plans right. But Heritage Properties will be restoring it faithfully."
It was a condition of Dublin Corporation's 1993 permission for the adjoining Viking Harbour residential scheme that Heritage had to restore the house. Mr Devey insisted, however, that this requirement was "illegal" because 15 Ushers Island was not part of the development site.
The company has now turned its attention to a much larger scheme for the two acre former Jameson distillery site in Smithfield, where it plans to build more than 200 apartments. A total of 148 units, valued at £12.5 million, were sold off the plans at the end of March.
Meanwhile, two other important 18th century houses in Capel Street - owned by Dublin Corporation - have been partially gutted by a property developer in spite of a specific planning condition requiring the retention and repair of their decorative plaster ceilings.
The corporation bought the two houses, numbers 96 and 97 Capel Street, in the mid 1980s. They were to be demolished for a road scheme which has since been, abandoned. Their condition deteriorated steadily, despite repeated representations from An Taisce and others.
According to Mr Smith, An Taisce received assurances that provision would be made for their restoration when the property was offered for sale. "However, despite very advanced conservation proposals from suitable bidders, the corporation entered into a deal with another developer."
This developer - Mr John Bourke, of St Michael's Close, Dublin - received a favourable planning decision to convert the houses into "a rabbit warren of 17 apartments and two commercial units", he said. But before permission was actually granted, two of the main ceilings were "smashed up".
Mr Brian O'Rourke, of McCrossan O'Rourke, the developer's architects, said this should, not have happened. He explained that the two houses were full of rubble and, with the corporation's agreement, a contractor was engaged to clean them out. Unfortunately, he had also unwittingly taken down the ceilings.
Ironically, this happened on the same day that organisations with an interest in conservation including An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society and the Office of Public Works were meeting the corporation to discuss how the Planning Acts should be enforce in Dublin.
"What these acts of destruction demonstrate is that, despite illusions and public relations to the contrary, the wreckage of Dublin's historic fabric is continuing on a weekly basis," Mr Smith said. "They also illustrate once again the corporation's complete inertia on planning enforcement."
Following complaints by Cllr Ciaran Cuffe (Green Party), the two Capel Street houses were inspected by the City Architect, Mr Jim Barrett. He has recommended that a restoration expert approved by him should be employed by the developer to replace the destroyed ceilings.
