Fitzwilton House

Fitzwilton House,(now demolished), Cumberland Road, Dublin; circa 1972.

Wee story behind Fitzwilton House on Cumberland Road, Dublin 2: if I remember correctly it was a winter morning in January 1972, I was 17 years old and I decided to go up on the roof of where we lived in Dublin before I went to school. 

I took my Canon camera - not a fancy SLR (Single Lens Reflex - the type professionals used) as I could not afford that but instead a much cheaper version, a (second-hand) rangefinder ‘Canonet’. 

I had time to take just two pictures: the one of Fitzwilton House itself - a marvellous example of brutalist architecture and the second, to the right of Fitzwilton House where you see a protruding element of the office block but the photo is focused mainly on the distant Dublin mountains with an urban winter scene evident.

And then off I dashed to school after taking these two photos 52 years ago. 

It was only years later I learnt that way back in the 1950s, Canon had devised a way of duplicating the quality of a Leica camera lens but selling their Japanese cameras at a much cheaper version than their German rival: apparently, my inexpensive Canonet was of this type. No doubt about but I’ve come to realise that a decent camera lens makes a huge difference. 

Fitzwilton House, originally built in the mid-1960s, and yes, I can remember that quite a number of detached private houses were torn down in preparation for the construction of this hard-edged block of visual spite that was behind where I lived with my family at the time. We had even known some of the families living in these now-vanished residences. Nearby was Lad Lane where the well-known author, Mary Lavin, lived with her three daughters in a mews house. https://www.dib.ie/biography/lavin-mary-a4702

It was late 1965/early 1966 and a big Irish anniversary was coming up: the half-centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising that took place in Dublin when Ireland was still under British rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising

The Easter Rising (or revolution) was planned and put into action by a group of prominent Irish political figures and activists who decided that recourse to arms would encourage Britian to relinquish its hold on its oldest colony: Britain had enjoyed a dominant role in Irish affairs since the 12th century. 

The debris from the flattened houses on Cumberland Road opposite the former Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club remained in situ for some time. I recall seeing film crews turning up and it was obvious that filming was taking place on what was in essence a building site. Curiosity got the better of me so I went to get a closer look at what was going on. Getting there was easy as I lived just around the corner at the time in Fitzwilliam Place and from our back window we could see what was going on in our back yard, as it were. In two shakes of a lamb's tale, I was standing beside the film scene looking on with avid attention.  

There was hectic activity in progress and many vehicles around. Lots of people milling about and I recognised some famous faces from Irish stage and TV of that era, Ray McAnally being the most notable. There was lighting and sound equipment, big movie cameras and wiring seemed to be everywhere. It looked like chaos to me. From my perspective as a 10-year old, I figured they were filming scenes from a war zone and from the uniforms the 'soldiers' were wearing the period appeared to be the First World War. I asked one of the people there which part of that Great War was being filmed and I was corrected as it was an Irish TV production about the Dublin 1916 Easter Rising. I later learnt they were filming scenes from the Irish TV production of 'Insurrection' which was broadcast later that year, 1966. 

I watched 'Insurrection' when it was shown on the nation's only television channel then, Teilifίs Éireann (later RTE) and I recognised immediately the scenes shot in Cumberland Road. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1908819/

After that Fitzwilton House went up and it remained in existence for just over a half-centenary when it too was demolished and replaced with a more modern version of hard-edged block of visual spite. 

From youth, such a momentary heavenly sight,

helped to preserve a lifelong, inner light.