St Stephen's Green Formal Analysis

Formal Analysis- St. Stephen’s Green- Kevin White- 15340846.

One cannot appreciate the uniqueness of St. Stephen’s Green or ‘The Green’ until you enter either one of its four main entrances or one of the nine or so gateways scattered around the oblong shaped park. While originally commonage, (dating back to as early as the thirteenth century) in the 1660s, St Stephen’s Green (when it was formed) was the largest urban square in the world. Nowadays it is only the ninth largest, at 110,000 square metres, however, as a bystander, this size is not easily recognised. The perimeter is extensively covered in both trees and shrubbery, this not only adding colour to The Green but also prohibiting a bystander to see to the other side of the park or
A ten-foot tall bronze statue of Wolfe Tone is backed by a wall of monolith granite columns (nicknamed locally as ‘Tone-Henge’) , whose gaps mimic the ones that are found between the black iron railings that normally surround the park. All that is written on the base of the statue is “Wolfe Tone” followed by the dates “1763 – 1798” but thanks to a poster located in the centre of the park advertising all of The Greens monuments more information about the Wolfe Tone monument and its creator is available. He is simply described as “an Irish patriot who died in prison in 1798” while we learn that this monument for him was designed in 1967. After walking into St Stephen’s Green through this entrance, you are then greeted by another sculpture by Edward Delaney. It is simply entitled Famine and depicts a small group of three people. One figure feeds another while the third raises its hands up to the sky. To the right of this monument stands a map of the park which details all features of the park while also informing us how the park was “laid out in its present form from 1877-1880”. This coincides with the ‘St Stephen’s Green Act’ of 1877 whereby “the Green was taken out of the hands of the Commissioners of the Green and Dublin Corporation in order to be remodeled by Sir Arthur Guinness and placed under the management of the Office of Public Works
It was a rectilinear open promenade made to “suit members of a social elite who wanted to see and be seen”. However these smaller walkways were built on necessity and not for any aesthetic reasons; “it (the new park with all walkways) was designed to bring classes together without insistence on close contact”. While it was the case when the Green was originally opened, the centre is no longer just a way to get to the other side but a hub for the people. As you approach from the East towards the centre, you pass the largest of the green areas that the park has to offer and a playground, a sign that the park is no longer just a promenade but a place to stop and of which to take