In a message dated 12/10/98 11:23:29 PM EST, Mary O'Krugman writes:

> I wonder if you could share some thoughts on what's happening to Ireland's
buildings as
> a result of the new prosperity there.  How do the Irish feel about historic
>  preservation? Are their buildings too much a reminder of a painful past
that
>  they would like to plow under, or do the Irish feel they are they worthy of
>  preserving?

In Ireland for ten days, I had the following deep thoughts:

1.  The impulse to facadectomy - "preserving" a house by saving the shell - in
Dublin is still unabashedly strong.  Frequently this takes the form of
building an office block behind a group of rowhouses.  No historian I spoke to
seemed to think this was unusual or exceptional, nor did anyone I met seem to
notice the obvious clues - the uniform windows (and window hangings), the
ironing out of the real age of the building, the processed look the finishes
and structure gets.

2.  The thing everyone must experience there is the highway system.  After
1500 miles on the road, I found only one city (Dublin) with a ring-road and
through-city feeder highway system. While our good old USA spit-size towns
have a thermonuclear class highway system and connectors, in Ireland we didn't
drive across the country "to Dublin".  We drove to Town A, where we navigated
the roundabout in the town square, looking for the little sign to ... Town B.
We repeated that, cross-country, to about Town F or G.

All this was on a 2 (occasionally 4) lane highway with very limited shoulder,
and big truck traffic.

After Town F or G, then we got to Dublin, which has a ring road system which
is fairly elaborate.  But there was no highway into town, only two lane main
roads.   It was startling and wonderful to see a developed country not yet in
the throes of auto-strangulation.  People often complain about our interstate
system and what it has done to our cities.  But I have never heard a clear
alternative articulated - except don't build it.

Those are my two deep thoughts.

Christopher Gray