Sunlight Chambers | |
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![]() Sunlight Chambers in 2017 | |
General information | |
Type | Various |
Architectural style | Italianate |
Location | Parliament Street, Essex Quay |
Address | 20/21 Parliament Street, Dublin 2, D02 TW99 |
Coordinates | 53°20′41″N6°16′03″W / 53.34474°N 6.26742°W |
Construction started | 1900 |
Completed | 1910 |
Client | Lever Brothers |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Edward Ould |
Sunlight Chambers is a commercial office building on the corner of Parliament Street and Essex Quay in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. It was designed by architect Edward Ould in an Italianate [1] style and was named after Lever Brothers' Sunlight detergent brand. [2]
Lever Brothers was founded in 1895 by brothers William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). Together with chemist William Hough, the brothers created a soap that used glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil instead of tallow. The resulting soap was free-lathering. At first, it was named Honey Soap but later became "Sunlight Soap". [3]
In 1899, the brothers leased land opposite Grattan Bridge on the banks of the River Liffey to set up a Dublin branch of their company. They hired Liverpool architect Ould, who had previously designed various buildings for the company's Port Sunlight model village near Liverpool. The Dublin building was designed and constructed between 1900 and 1910 and named after their then-famous soap brand.
In the late 1990s Gilroy McMahon architects restored the building and repainted the exterior in a 'light umber' colour. [4]
Ould designed the building in the Italianate style. This was unusual for the area, [5] which was dominated by genteel Georgian and Victorian architecture that tended to be externally restrained and internally decorative. [6] According to Ireland's National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, the building is marked by distinctive faience panels that depict the history of soap production. While Essex Quay was laid out in the 1720s, Sunlight Chambers is the oldest remaining structure in the riverside area. [1]
The sculptor Conrad Dressler was engaged to design much of the external frieze work on the building.
At almost the same time, Lever Brothers built a branch in Newcastle upon Tyne, which they also called Sunlight Chambers. Although the Newcastle branch was designed in a modified Baroque style rather than an Italianate style, both Sunlight Chambers feature characteristic circumferential friezes.
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, George III, and George IV, who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.
The City Hall, Dublin, originally the Royal Exchange, is a civic building in Dublin, Ireland. It was built between 1769 and 1779, to the designs of architect Thomas Cooley, and is a notable example of 18th-century architecture in the city. Originally used by the merchants of the city, it is today the formal seat of Dublin City Council.
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson. Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895 and acquired Mac Fisheries, owner of T. Wall & Sons, in 1925. Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees. Its brands included "Lifebuoy", "Lux" and "Vim". Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Unie to form Unilever in 1929.
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign, roughly from 1850 and later. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles (see Historicism). The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture, and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.
Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in its soap factory ; work commenced in 1888. The name is derived from Lever Brothers' most popular brand of cleaning agent, Sunlight.
The architecture of Ireland is one of the most visible features in the Irish countryside – with remains from all eras since the Stone Age abounding. Ireland is famous for its ruined and intact Norman and Anglo-Irish castles, small whitewashed thatched cottages and Georgian urban buildings. What are unaccountably somewhat less famous are the still complete Palladian and Rococo country houses which can be favourably compared to anything similar in northern Europe, and the country's many Gothic and neo-Gothic cathedrals and buildings.
Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing styles of architecture in most of Europe for the previous two centuries, Renaissance architecture and Baroque architecture, already represented partial revivals of the Classical architecture of ancient Rome and ancient Greek architecture, but the Neoclassical movement aimed to strip away the excesses of Late Baroque and return to a purer and more authentic classical style, adapted to modern purposes.
Robert William Hudson (1856–1937) was born in West Bromwich, the eldest son of Robert Spear Hudson who had founded a soap-flake manufacturing business. Hudson managed his father's company until it was taken over by Lever Brothers Ltd in 1908.
The Dublin quays refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but two of the names share the same "quay" designation. The quays have played an important part in Dublin's history.
The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire. It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval structures which would have dated back as far as the 13th century. Erected 1716–18, Bluecoat Chambers is supposed to be the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool.
Thornton Manor is a large manor house in the village of Thornton Hough, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. The house was first built in the middle of the 19th century and has been altered and extended in a number of phases since. From 1888 to the end of the 20th century the house was occupied by the Viscounts Leverhulme.
Inverforth House is a large detached house on North End Way at North End on the outskirts of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, NW3. Owned by William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme from 1904 to 1925, The Hill was bought by Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth after Leverhulme's death in 1925, and following was given to Manor House Hospital after Inverforth's death in 1956. Inverforth House was home to the Orthopaedic Society Hospital from the 1950s to the 1980s, and was converted into two houses and seven apartments in the late 1990s.
The Leverhulme Memorial stands to the west of the Lady Lever Art Gallery on the junction of Windy Bank and Queen Mary's Drive, Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It commemorates the life of William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, the businessman who created the factory and model village of Port Sunlight. The memorial was designed by James Lomax-Simpson, and the sculptor was William Reid Dick. It consists of an obelisk with a figure on the top, with a separate group of four figures beside it. The memorial was unveiled in 1930. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
William Owen was an English architect who practised in Warrington, which was at that time in Lancashire, England. His works were confined to Northwest England. Owen is best known for his collaboration with William Lever in the creation of the soap-making factory and associated model village at Port Sunlight in the Wirral Peninsula. Here he designed the factory, many of the workers' houses, public buildings and the church. Later Owen was joined by his son, Segar, as a partner. On his own, or in partnership, Owen designed houses, churches, banks, public houses, an infirmary, a school, and a concert hall.
The City Hall, Cork is a civic building in Cork, Ireland which houses the administrative headquarters of Cork City Council.
Parliament Street is a street located on Dublin's Southside. It runs from the junction of Dame Street and Cork Hill on its southern end to the junction of Essex Quay and Wellington Quay on its northern end where it joins directly onto Grattan Bridge and subsequently Capel Street.
The Montague Burton Building is an Art Deco commercial building on the corner of Dame Street and South Great George's Street in Dublin, Ireland. It was constructed between 1929 and 1930 and designed by architect Harry Wilson.
Sunlight Chambers is a listed residential and commercial building on Bigg Market in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was designed by architects William & Segar Owen in a modified Baroque style and was named after Lever Brothers' Sunlight detergent brand.
Craig y Mor is a house overlooking Treaddur Bay on Anglesey, Wales. The house dates from the early 20th century and has always been privately owned. It is a Grade II listed building.
When Sunlight Chambers was first unveiled, its exotic ceramics and bright terracotta roof stood apart from the Georgian buildings that surrounded it
Dublin's style became more refined, but remained persistently muted and restrained [..] Dublin Georgian townhouses are typically terraced, often forming a square or impressive cliff-like streetscape[ improper synthesis? ]