Did you know Laois County Council HQ has a nuclear war command centre?
The buildings of Portlaoise, some of which have been demolished and others have curious functions, are set to be the subject of Heritage Week event in the Laois county town.
Laois Heritage Society presents Portlaoise Architecture - a Talk by Richard McLoughlin & Máirtín D’Alton as part of the week which celebrates the heritage of Ireland.
"Portlaoise is a fascinating place," says the Heritage Society in its invite.
It continues: "A Plantation town dating from 1557, its planning subsequently became a matter of necessity and responding to circumstances, rather than an act of pure design".
The society says the town is home to buildings by many eminent architects, among whom are James Gandon, Richard Morrison, William Deane Butler, John Sterling Butler, JJ O’Callaghan, Thomas Drew, Michael Scott and local architects like John Delaney, McCarthy O’Hora, and Jason O’Shaughnessy.
The invite says the many curiosities include: a Catholic Church built by the English after the Reformation of Henry VIII, and the 1980s County Hall even incorporates a Command Centre in the event of a Nuclear War.
"Portlaoise has demolished almost as many fine buildings as it has built, in its effort to define itself in its near 500-year-old story," says the publicity note for the event.
If this is enough to whet your appetite, the Heritage Society hope you will join architectural historian Mairtin D’Alton and Conservation Architect, Richard McLoughlin as they describe and illustrate this fascinating story to mark National Heritage Week.
The event, on Thursday, August 17 takes place at 7pm at the Dunamaise Arts Centre on Church St. Eircode: R32 W93P.
For more email: [email protected] or telephone: 057 866 3355
Heritage Week runs from August 12 to 20.