Frank McDonald
@frankmcdonald60.bsky.social
Former Irish Times Environment Editor and author of several books, including A Little History of the Future of Dublin. Interests include climate, housing, architecture, politics and Palestine.
If you're in the vicinity of @dculibrary.bsky.social, please pop in to see an exhibition selected from the archive material I've donated. It relates to my first book, The Destruction of Dublin (1985), and the Dublin Crisis Conference I helped to organise in February 1986. A blast from the past!
November 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
If you're in the vicinity of @dculibrary.bsky.social, please pop in to see an exhibition selected from the archive material I've donated. It relates to my first book, The Destruction of Dublin (1985), and the Dublin Crisis Conference I helped to organise in February 1986. A blast from the past!
Visiting Notre-Dame de Paris for the first time since it was restored so beautifully, the excerpt below from its vivid 14th century carved timber choir enclosure caught my eye. It shows King Herod and the apocryphal massacre of the innocents, and I thought of the mass murder of children in Gaza ...
September 26, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Visiting Notre-Dame de Paris for the first time since it was restored so beautifully, the excerpt below from its vivid 14th century carved timber choir enclosure caught my eye. It shows King Herod and the apocryphal massacre of the innocents, and I thought of the mass murder of children in Gaza ...
Delighted and relieved to report that An Coimisiun Pleanala has refused permission to Davy Real Estate vehicle DTDL Ltd for the proposed replacement of St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre with an over-scaled office development masquerading as a 'rejuvenation' of the 1988 building beloved by many ...
July 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Delighted and relieved to report that An Coimisiun Pleanala has refused permission to Davy Real Estate vehicle DTDL Ltd for the proposed replacement of St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre with an over-scaled office development masquerading as a 'rejuvenation' of the 1988 building beloved by many ...
Look out for my critical piece in this weekend’s Irish Times about the terrible tower on Tara Street that has photobombed itself into almost every important vista in Dublin city centre. I’ve named everyone involved in this misconceived project and likened it to a sci-fi portal of darkness …
July 19, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Look out for my critical piece in this weekend’s Irish Times about the terrible tower on Tara Street that has photobombed itself into almost every important vista in Dublin city centre. I’ve named everyone involved in this misconceived project and likened it to a sci-fi portal of darkness …
Very glad to report that An Coimisiun Pleanala has firmly refused permission for the development of a two-storey house in the grounds of Tallon House, Golf Lane, Foxrock, home of Ronnie Tallon, Ireland's pre-eminent 20th century architect, and his wife Nora, who together created its unique landscape
June 26, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Very glad to report that An Coimisiun Pleanala has firmly refused permission for the development of a two-storey house in the grounds of Tallon House, Golf Lane, Foxrock, home of Ronnie Tallon, Ireland's pre-eminent 20th century architect, and his wife Nora, who together created its unique landscape
As a subscriber to @independent.ie, I recoiled when i got this email flyer today. Really, they shouldn't be supporting Amazon when there are so many Irish retailers that need the business.
May 29, 2025 at 10:44 AM
As a subscriber to @independent.ie, I recoiled when i got this email flyer today. Really, they shouldn't be supporting Amazon when there are so many Irish retailers that need the business.
Wonderful wisteria framing the entrance to @tcddublin.bsky.social School of Botany, aptly enough …
May 1, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Wonderful wisteria framing the entrance to @tcddublin.bsky.social School of Botany, aptly enough …
My piece in this weekend's @irishtimes.com on Uisce Éireann's superb new sewage treatment plant in Arklow, Co Wicklow, designed as a piece of civic infrastructure by Clancy Moore Architects working with consultant engineers Arup and Ayesa ...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
April 5, 2025 at 1:59 PM
My piece in this weekend's @irishtimes.com on Uisce Éireann's superb new sewage treatment plant in Arklow, Co Wicklow, designed as a piece of civic infrastructure by Clancy Moore Architects working with consultant engineers Arup and Ayesa ...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
Trump won't like this at all ...
April 3, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Trump won't like this at all ...
Sad that Dublin stands to lose one of its few remaining civilised public hoses when Peter's Pub is sold after being owned by the Keogh family for nearly 50 yeas. Its setting is also threatened by a massive hotel block next door planned by Eamon Waters, approved by DCC and now under appeal to ABP.
March 15, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Sad that Dublin stands to lose one of its few remaining civilised public hoses when Peter's Pub is sold after being owned by the Keogh family for nearly 50 yeas. Its setting is also threatened by a massive hotel block next door planned by Eamon Waters, approved by DCC and now under appeal to ABP.
Before and after in the Oval Office, which has been given a Trump Tower treatment with this ghastly gilded decoration on its mantelpiece ...
March 12, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Before and after in the Oval Office, which has been given a Trump Tower treatment with this ghastly gilded decoration on its mantelpiece ...
Great to see French architect Anne Lacaton winning this award. The renovation of 1960s social housing slabs at Le Grand Parc, Bordeaux, by Lacaton & Vassal deservedly won the Mies Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 2019, and I was honoured to be a member of the jury that awarded it ...
March 3, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Great to see French architect Anne Lacaton winning this award. The renovation of 1960s social housing slabs at Le Grand Parc, Bordeaux, by Lacaton & Vassal deservedly won the Mies Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 2019, and I was honoured to be a member of the jury that awarded it ...
Martyn Turner nails it in today's @irishtimes.com ...
February 7, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Martyn Turner nails it in today's @irishtimes.com ...
Given that its Solstice Day, here's a photo of my long shadow on granite paving in front of RCSI on St Stephen's Green and another of the low winter sun flooding in through our south-facing windows in deepest, leafiest Blackrock. So uplifting every time ...
December 21, 2024 at 1:21 PM
Given that its Solstice Day, here's a photo of my long shadow on granite paving in front of RCSI on St Stephen's Green and another of the low winter sun flooding in through our south-facing windows in deepest, leafiest Blackrock. So uplifting every time ...
Popped in earlier to 18 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin Civic Trust's restored shopkeeper's house on the Liffey, to find Karin O'Flanagan presiding over a pop-up shop selling a range of antiques, homewares and bric-a-brac. Drop in to see it for yourself. It's really lovely ...
December 12, 2024 at 4:01 PM
Popped in earlier to 18 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin Civic Trust's restored shopkeeper's house on the Liffey, to find Karin O'Flanagan presiding over a pop-up shop selling a range of antiques, homewares and bric-a-brac. Drop in to see it for yourself. It's really lovely ...
Watch out for my piece in @irishtimes.bsky.social on Tuesday 10th about how a modernist house in Foxock, designed by Ronnie Tallon as his family home, & rated as nationally important, is in danger of having its landscape compromised by the new owners' plans to build a two-storey house in the grounds
December 9, 2024 at 11:27 PM
Watch out for my piece in @irishtimes.bsky.social on Tuesday 10th about how a modernist house in Foxock, designed by Ronnie Tallon as his family home, & rated as nationally important, is in danger of having its landscape compromised by the new owners' plans to build a two-storey house in the grounds
This is what replaced Boston’s original City Hall in 1969 - the worst ever advertisement for Brutalism in architecture …
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
December 7, 2024 at 1:03 AM
This is what replaced Boston’s original City Hall in 1969 - the worst ever advertisement for Brutalism in architecture …
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
The first Doors of Dublin poster came out in the 1970s, if I’m not mistaken, and played a role in rehabilitating the city’s Georgian heritage. This more recent version is from irishcalenders.ie
December 2, 2024 at 11:01 AM
The first Doors of Dublin poster came out in the 1970s, if I’m not mistaken, and played a role in rehabilitating the city’s Georgian heritage. This more recent version is from irishcalenders.ie
Curiously omitted from this collection is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's truly iconic Barcelona Chair (1929) ...
December 1, 2024 at 12:04 PM
Curiously omitted from this collection is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's truly iconic Barcelona Chair (1929) ...
It's quite incredible that there is no discussion or even any mention in Ireland's general election campaign of the runaway growth of already-dominant Dublin compared to the four "second-tier" cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Will nobody address this elephant in the room?
November 18, 2024 at 11:30 AM
It's quite incredible that there is no discussion or even any mention in Ireland's general election campaign of the runaway growth of already-dominant Dublin compared to the four "second-tier" cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Will nobody address this elephant in the room?