Liberty Hall

'Liberty Hall' tells the story of one of Ireland’s most iconic yet underrated and often ignored buildings. In hearing from the architect and other parties, we discover how a few small changes had a hugely negative effect on a simple design. I finished the documentary in 2009 and it was broadcast on RTE1 on May 11th 2009 at 20:30 picking up 189,000 viewers.

I decided to make the documentary a few years previously during a visit to the building during Open House Dublin, SIPTU who own the building had just announced they were to knock and replace the building and hundreds of people turned out to get what they thought might be a last chance to get inside it. I had always liked the building but I had thought I was in a minority until seeing the crowds that day. After a bit of research I found some photos and footage of the building how it was when originally built and this made me want to show its original intentions to everyone!

Related News Items

7th March 2011

Sadly Des Rea O'Kelly the Architect of Liberty Hall died on Febuary 18th. Below is a nice obituary from the Irish Times:

8th October 2010

I will be giving tours of Liberty Hall again this year as part of the excellent Open House 2010 programme.

'Liberty Hall' will also be screened as part of the weekends events, it will be on...

23rd March 2010

We (DoCoMoMo) made an observation on the planning application on the proposed Liberty Hall replacment, below is an Irish Times article covering it:

2nd October 2009

I'll be giving the tours of Liberty Hall for this years Open House on the mornings of the 10th and 11th, lots of other great events taking place for the weekend so be sure to check some out!

24th September 2009

Playhouse was a fantastic project that turned Liberty Hall into a giant screen that screened short animations submitted by the public, you can see a video of it here.

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19th May 2009

After its broadcast on RTE1 Liberty Hall has recieved a couple good reviews in the Sunday Times and the Sunday Business Post.

28th April 2009

Liberty Hall will be broadcast by RTE 1 at 20:30 on Monday the 11th of May 2009, it will be available on the RTE Player for 3 weeks after.

16th November 2008

The 10th Annual Magners Irish Film Festival, Boston
Date: November 16th (Sunday) 2008
Venue: Harvard Film Archive (Theatre Two)

7th November 2008

Waterford Film Festival 2008
Date: November 7th (Friday) 2008
Venue: Greyfrairs Art Gallery - Greyfrairs Street Waterford

7th October 2008
3rd July 2008

BlackBoxBelfast.com
Thursday, 3rd July 2008

1st July 2008

I wrote the Building of the Month Article for the 20th Century Society in the UK, was great to have Liberty Hall covered by such a promenent organisation:
The Twentieth Century Society -...

9th April 2008

I wrote an article for the Dubliner Magazine as part of a campaign they are running to Save Liberty Hall!