Living in Dublin

Rating:
Summary: Why Leprecauns are no more in Dublin.
Review: Anyone looking for four leaf clovers, leprecauns and little people should give this book a miss. Welcome to Dublin at the beginning of a new millennium and what a cosmopolitan, affluent, vibrant, colurful capital it has become. Even if the traffic is as chaotic as Tijuana, Robert O'Byrne's beautiful coffee table book with superb photography by Alex Ramsay, is a sneak peek into the New Ireland: and in particular into some of the most beautiful homes in the city.

It would have been easy for O'Byrne to go down the well travelled, tried and tested Georgian route and he does. But he also embraces coverted warehouses which now boast New York style lofts, contemporary minimal cottages, converted mews houses, hotels, bars, restaurants and shop fronts which all point to Dublin, as O'Byrne says, as a work in progress.

The State Apartments in Dublin Castle, refurbished by the then Prime Minster Charlie Haughey are also beautifully chronciled as is the historic Old Library at Trinity College, O'Byrne's Alma Mater.

Dublin's rich literary heritage is also included. The city has been home to George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, Sam Beckett and Seamus Heaney, to name just a few but O'Byrne plumps for the home of contemporary, prize winning author Colm Tobin with it's colorful interiors reflecting that authors on going love affair with Barcelona.The beautiful Georgian interiors of the Dublin Writers Museum in Parnell Square are also included as is the doorway of No. 7 Eccles Street, home of James Joyce's fictional character Leopold Bloom in Ulysses.

The stunning garden of Helen Dillon in the south city suburb of Ranelagh looks so stunning it expalins why visitors flock there from all over the world.

What is particularly interesting about this book is the number of young people who have heavily invested in Dublin city homes, once the preserve of the country's landed gentry, which they have lovingly and imaginatively restored to their original splendour. This is especially true in the case of the country's leading fashionistas Jen Kelly and Louise Kennedy. Kennedy has restored a magnificent Georgian house in Merrion Square which is now her company's flagship while Kelly and his partner are still restoring one of the city's best examples of Georgian architecture which now serves as Kellys salon and home.

As a Dubliner this book fills me not only with pride but also with great hope for the future of my beloved Dublin. Anyone with even a scintilla of affection for Ireland's capital will love this one which makes the ideal gift for the holidays.