St. Patrick’s Tower – a new exhibition space in the Digital Hub

St Patrick’s Tower, the distinctive bottle-shaped building near the Guinness Brewery on the grounds of the Digital Hub, is to be upgraded and renovated under plans submitted in December and approved by Dublin City Council.

The application seeks to turn the ground floor of St Patrick’s Tower into an exhibition area, to fit the building with disability ramps and to lay new flooring, among other essential amenities. 

This renovation would give the building a new use beyond storage, but it is not projected to be a new location for attracting tourists.

Rather, a spokesperson for the Digital Hub clarified that the space will be available for use for various purposes by companies at the hub, in addition to local businesses or community groups, such as local schools.

“Scott Tallon Walker have designed what will be an excellent venue for exhibitions, seminars and educational purposes which we look forward to sharing with the community in future,” Fiach Mac Conghail, CEO of the Digital Hub Development Agency, said.

St. Patrick’s Tower was built around 1757 as originally served as a ‘smock windmill’ to power the Roe whiskey distillery.  

A smock windmill is built with sloping sides, something that resembled the smocks worn by farmers in the Netherlands. It was the largest of its kind in the country at that time.

The windmill was largely rebuilt in the 19th century and soon after was redeveloped once more to work on steam power – this is likely when the windmill ‘arms’ were removed from it. Following this, the building was bought by Guinness and repaired. It is recognisable today by its small green roof, topped with a weathervane.   

(22/03/21) This article has been updated with information provided by the Digital Hub.