Plans to demolish the St Stephen's Court building at Stephen's Green have been dubbed a "disgrace".
The building was the host of the 24-hour Starbucks Cafe for many years in the city centre before it closed last year. The 20th century building has a distinctive portico at the entrance which also sheltered the cafe's outdoor area.
Dublin City Council have approved plans to replace the building with a new 21,000 square metre office development which includes an arts facility, retail space and public courtyard. The development is set to be seven storeys high.
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Architectural historian Emma Gilleece branded the plans a "disgrace" and called for the decision to be reversed. She told 98FM: "There's architectural merit to this building, that's case number one.
"But even, number two, the real cost is the materials, the energy, the labour, and the transport of materials to replace this building. If we really are committed to the climate crisis, this is not the way to go around it - demolishing a perfectly sound building that could be retrofitted and adapted for re-use."
She added: "If we keep knocking mid-20th century buildings at this rate, we'll won't have anything to show in the city for the 20th century... This is the most vulnerable in Irish architecture. This is the equivalent of in the 1960s when we were demolishing Georgian architecture."
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