Hoosta Magazine

U2 frontman Bono and fellow band member The Edge have won a four-year legal battle to reshape their famous Dublin hotel, the Clarence Hotel, into a futuristic landmark.
The new landmark, created by British architect Lord Norman Foster, will more than triple the number of its rooms to 166 and features a massive, floodlit glass roof atrium – dubbed “the flying saucer”.
There will also be 26 suites, a spa, conference and banqueting facilities, new restaurants, cafes and shops.
Bono and The Edge said in a statement that the verdict was “great news for Dublin and for Temple Bar in particular.”

Their opponents said, however, that the decision demonstrated the exceptional political clout wielded by Dublin’s most famous musical sons.
“We would obviously condemn the decision. It undermines national legislation on architectural heritage because of the number of protected sites being demolished,” said Ian Lumley, an officer with An Taisce, Ireland’s heritage-protection organization.
Lumley said Foster’s grandiose design was “a very impressively conceived scheme but in the wrong place. This would not be allowed in areas of comparable sensitivity in any other European countries.”

Built in 1852, The Clarence had last been refurbished during the late Thirties in the Arts & Crafts style originating from when the hotel was first built. By the Seventies, while still retaining a sense of Old World charm and dignity, it was past its prime. At the same time, the ranks of the original clientele, once drawn primarily from the clergy, judiciary and vistors from the provinces, were swelled by the artists, musicians, writers and designers who began to make the Temple Bar area their own. Among the regulars were two members of the rock group U2, Bono & The Edge, whose fond recollections of their youthful haunt led them to assemble a consortium of Irish investors and purchased the hotel in 1992 with a view to restoring it to its former glory. To realise their vision, the owners assembled a team of professionals from both Ireland and abroad. The result of their collaboration, guided by the owners’ directive that the design respect the country’s quintessential Irish heritage and character. A hotel like The Clarence is inevitably a personal vision, and for the owners, The Clarence is where they would choose to stay when visiting Dublin - a hotel that is at once simple but elegant, unpretentious but luxurious, that is modern but also embodies the best of traditional Irish hospitality.

The Clarence Hotel
6-8 Wellington Quay
Dublin 2
Ireland
Phone: +353 1 407 0800
Fax: +353 1 407 0820
Email: reservations@theclarence.ie

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