Building Tour
Irish Life Centre
Andy Devane
Block A, Abbey Court, Lower Abbey Street, Abbey Street Lower, North City, Dublin
Tour Dates & Times
- Friday 14 October:
- 2pm – 2.45pm |
- 3pm – 3.45pm |
- 4pm – 4.45pm
Join a tour of Irish Centre Life with access to safefood office with an exclusive roof garden view.
The Irish Life Centre on Lower Abbey Street is bold, full of corporate confidence, but also respects its surroundings in scale and material and steps back from the street to open a public plaza. It is a unique building within the city of Dublin, yet easily falls into the background as we hurry around the back of the Custom House toward Busáras, Connolly Station, and beyond
The practice behind the design of the Irish Life Centre was RKD Architects and its lead architect was Limerick-born Andy Devane (1917 – 2000) with the main contractor John Sisk & Son. The brickwork, use of white aggregate for the arches, and tinted glazing are similar to Devane’s Stephen Court building on St Stephen’s Green. A graduate of UCD School of Architecture in 1946, Devane was awarded the Taliesin Fellowship and left Ireland for the United States to study under Frank Lloyd Wright until 1948. The influence of these two years under the American master can be seen throughout Devane’s career.
The tour will be lead by architectural historian Emma Gilleece.
Meeting point: Lobby at Block A, Abbey Court, Lower Abbey Street
Accessibility Information
Entrance to the offices at Abbey Court are on the first floor of the Irish Life complex.
There is step access to Abbey Court from the main Irish Life plaza on Abbey Street.
Lift access is also available from the main Irish Life plaza on Abbey Street. The safefood office is located on the fourth floor of Block A, Abbey Court.
Access to the office is via lifts located in the lobby of Abbey Court or via a stairwell behind the bank of lifts. Exiting the lifts on the fourth floor, the safefood office is on the same level with no further steps.
