Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street has been a Dublin institution ever since it opened almost 100 years ago, but now the building is facing a plan to sell the six large stained glass windows in the main coffee hall in a dispute over rent.
image: Talkie_tim, Commons Wikimedia
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… The six windows illustrate the four orders of architecture…
The Astra Herald writes:
…Such is the public’s affection for the grand three-story period cafe that each threatened closure is met with an outpouring of nostalgic horror.
But now the building is facing an existential threat of a different kind over a plan to sell the six large stained glass windows in the main coffee hall in a dispute over rent.
Long considered the jewel in the coffee hall’s crown, they were designed in 1927 by Harry Clarke, who is regarded as one of Ireland’s leading symbolist artists and the country’s finest ever stained glass window artist.
The six windows illustrate the four orders of architecture showing Doric, Corinthian, Ionic and Composite columns adorned and topped by vases of flowers with two other decorative glassworks added to a second wall in a commission by the original Bewley-family owner.
The question as to whether they are windows or decorative panels, which can be removed altogether, is now at the centre of a high court battle….
Mr Justice McDonald told the court he had not been in Bewley’s for 40 years but two weeks ago paid visit to help him make his assessment.
After closing submissions were made in the case on Wednesday, McDonald has reserved his judgement while he ponders whether Harry Clarke’s stained glass windows are windows or not.
For more background see The Guardian
