Up His Street
It boasts the largest cathedral crypt – 63.4 metres long – in Ireland and Britain, constructed in the 1170s. Above ground, Christ Church Cathedral in the heart of historic Dublin is medieval as reimagined with fervent vigour in Victorian times. The cathedral was declared structurally unsafe in the early 19th century. That was enough for English architect George Edmund Street to revive the building or rather complex of buildings with great gusto from 1871 to 1878. Distiller Henry Roe of Mount Anville stomped up the cash, all £230,000 of it. The cathedral’s founder, Hiberno Norse King Sitric Silkenbeard, would’ve no doubt raised an eyebrow or two.
The north porch? Chop. Quire? Chop. Tower? Rebuild. South nave arcade? Rebuild. Baptistry? Add. Flying buttresses? Add lots. Chapter house? Build. Synod hall? Build. For those tourists who make it up Dame Street away from the discombobulating temptations of Temple Bar, the cathedral and its environs – not least St Werburgh’s Church of Ireland – are a place of repose and reflection. 
