THIS MODERN LOVE

ARCHITECTURAL GEMS OF 20th-CENTURY IRELAND Based on the Popular RTÉ Culture series 100 Buildings

Emma Gilleece

• Publisher: New Island
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General
• eBook ISBN:
  9781835940747

Flat roofs, clean lines, bold ideas. THIS MODERN LOVE travels across Ireland's early- to mid-twentieth?century modernist landmarks - buildings that broke from tradition and imagined a different future. From civic centres and factories to churches, housing and schools, these structures tell a story of ambition, progress and new ways of living.

Together they form a vivid portrait of an Ireland looking outward, embracing international modernism while forging its own architectural voice. Clear?eyed, visually driven and unapologetic, THIS MODERN LOVE invites you to rediscover a built heritage that is still shaping Irish life today.

 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• The capital’s grand central bus station: Busáras, Store Street, Dublin 1
• From former Garda station to city mortuary: Dublin City Mortuary, Dublin 9
• The arrival of the International Style: Chancery House, Dublin 7
• The crystal tower of Eden Quay: Liberty Hall, Dublin 1
• How the Poolbeg Chimneys became a Dublin icon: Ringsend, Dublin 4
• Leading the way: Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment
• Preparing for take-off: Dublin Airport old terminal building, Swords, north Dublin
• Clontarf cool: Kincora Road housing, Dublin 3
• Back to school: MIC dormitory block, South Circular Road, Limerick City
• An American dream: The Irish Estates, Corbally, Limerick City
• Limerick’s monument to industry: The Rank Silo, Dock Road, Limerick City
• Modern meets medieval at St Mary’s: St Mary’s National School, Limerick City
• Brutalist river temple: Bantry Library, West Cork
• A courtyard housing classic: Dundanion Court, Blackrock, Cork
• Sleeping giant: Cork Distillers Bottling Plant, Distillery Fields, North Mall, Cork City
• Château d’eau de Knocknaheeny: Knocknaheeny water tower, Knocknaheeny, Co. Cork
• Machine house: Ardnacrusha power station, Co. Clare
• Corr & McCormick’s house of the holy: Church of Our Lady & St Michael, Ennistymon, Co. Clare
• Daring imagination: St Bernard’s Church, Abbeydorney, Co. Kerry
• Style exchange: Tipperary Education and Training Board, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
• Hospital of horizontality: Nenagh General Hospital, Co. Tipperary
• Tipperary bus station reborn as an arts centre: South Tipperary Arts Centre, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
• Westport’s four-faced liar: Clock tower, Westport, Co. Mayo
• Galway’s dreamy New Docks Workshop, Galway City
• The Galway City Telephone Exchange rings a bell, Eglinton Street, Galway
• The Galway shelters and the bishop’s portholes: Salthill, Galway
• A modernist masterpiece: Our Lady Star of the Sea, Buncrana, Co. Donegal
• McCormick’s and Ireland’s first circular church: St Aengus Church, Burt, Co. Donegal
• Civic pride: Lismore Fire Station, Co. Waterford
• Making Wexford’s main street modern: B. Corcoran’s Menswear, Wexford
• Defending Duncannon: Wexford’s Second World War pillbox, Duncannon, Co. Wexford
• Wicklow’s floating wonder: Goulding Summer House, Dargle Valley, Co. Wicklow
• An ode to joyous architecture: Athy Community Library, Athy, Co. Kildare
• Moccasins, Grasshoppers and Wallabees: Kilkenny’s Boot Factory
• A palace of dreams: Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny City, Co. Kilkenny
• Modernist remnants of a bright future in Longford: Ballymahon, Co. Longford
• A Brutalist classic: The Eavan Boland Library, Trinity College, Dublin 2
• A lovely Leitrim shopfront: Geraghty’s, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim
• For peat’s sake: Derrinlough briquette factory, Derringlough, Co. Offaly
• Shock of the new: Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
• A Dundalk cigarette factory ‘fit for a high king’: Dundalk Institute of Technology, Co. Louth
• The architectural wonders of the roadside garage: Tuite’s, Oldcastle, Co. Meath
• Lighting the way: Lamp standards, Oldcastle, Co. Meath
• Ugliest building in Ireland? Moylurg tower, Lough Key Forest Park, Co. Roscommon
• Concrete communications: Rosleven Telephone Exchange, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
• Guarding Sligo: Lookout post No. 67, Aughris Head, Co. Sligo
• Wellness by design: Cavan General Hospital, Cavan town, Co. Cavan
• Oldest handball alley in County Monaghan? St Davnet’s handball alley, Monaghan town, Co. Monaghan
• Monument to social change: The Braun factory, Carlow town, Co. Carlow
• Civic modernity: Post Office and Telecom Building in Carlow town, Co. Carlow
• Acknowledgements
• Image Credits
• Index