Ard Ri Hotel Waterford, taken in January 2010
The saddest aspect of the decline of this building is the potential it has to great. Frustrating planning systems, vandalism and now a lack of finance keeps the question mark hovering. I photographed the building early this year after I was given permission to access. It was a surreal experience. I knew the images had the potential to spark intense local debate which I did not want to be the centre of. Unsurprisingly, the profile of the building has been called into question with the Tall Ships Festival looming; this seems like the right time to release them to local press. Here is a closer look at some of those images…
The third photo shows the majesty of the location. A shame that when looking up it is an eyesore on the landscape. A site like that deserves being returned to nature until such a time as someone with money and the right plans gets to it.
you need to go back up there man and take more pics, and while yer at it why not photograph room 420? thats where its at man
what a eye sore i stayed in waterford this weekend in the granvile hotel and every time i came out of the hotel all i could see was what looked like a bombed hotel from belfast back in the 70 / 80
Whats the story with room 420?
Details please.
Nice pics Shane.
Very Sad, how very sad !!!!!! At one time The Ard Ri was the hotel to be seen, now it is a sad state. Maybe someone will save it,!!!!!!!!!!!!
dq
just goes to show the good job done by our city councillers and td’s in the past decade.
waterford city is decaying.
our most important asset , the quay front is a car park.
o’connell st area is a disgrace not to mention the north quays.
waterford has huge potential but has not been served well by its leaders.
get the finger out and realise waterfords potential
I never stayed there myself but always remember looking up at it wondering what it would have been like. The rooms must have had spectacular views of the city. I’ve always loved Waterford. Galway and Waterford were my prefered locations for weekends away. Waterford has huge potential, I was at the sproi festival this weekend and had tons of fun. We brough two friends from spain and they loved the whole feel and the fact it was so family friendly, the commented that there is nothing like that in their area back home. The festival is a real asset to you.
Hey, I’m doing a little piece on the derelict sites in waterford, you can see it here waterford derelict sites what should be done was wondering if I can use a couple of your pictures, as I think they are great. I would add a credit for them.