We speak to the driving force behind the CHIC INTERIORS of the Dublin hotspots such as House and Vintage Cocktail Club ANNE-MARIE O’NEILL, of O’Neill O’Donnell Design Associates, to learn from her twenty years in hospitality interiors
For Ann-Marie O’Neill, a bar or a spot in a hotel should work as well on a Tuesday evening as it does on a Saturday night. Stepping in the doors of Dublin’s newest hotel The Dean, or ducking towards the stairs of the Liquor Rooms on a given weekday evening, she may be onto something — The Dean’s rooftop bar Sophies is so busy that it is notoriously difficult to get into, with reservations sometimes requiring a few weeks’ notice.
The conservatory bar in the back of Leeson Street’s House Dublin, which is located in two combined Georgian houses, is also frequently as busy. Both locations reportedly exercise quite a stringent door policy at times as a result. Part of this, may be due to that fact that as Ann-Marie argues, when planning a venue, a designer must have a very specific and crystal clear idea of the customer they are trying to attract. If the interior is right, the venue will indeed attract exactly this type of customer.
Looking around at the significant group gathered to hear her speak at the Liquor Rooms, which she also designed, Ann-Marie says that her targeted client for the speakeasy-style den was to attract trendy, arty types.
And as the venue for one of Irish Design 2015’s multidisciplinary talks, ‘Cocktails and Design’, which are held on the last Wednesday of each month, she attracted exactly that. Her plan for the award-winning Liquor Rooms was for it to be “rich, decadent and atmospheric”, and a “subterranean den that feels as if you are stepping into a fun and frivolous place”. There was, as with every other venue she’s been involved in, “a lot of thought put into lighting”.
Ann-Marie O’Neill is one of the two main driving forces behind design associates O’Donnell O’Neill, and consequently, the interiors of Dublin’s most popular hotspots such as 37 Dawson Street, The Clarence Hotel’s Cleaver East and going further afield, the hugely popular Platform Pizza in Bray, co Wicklow. She has worked for over twenty five years as an architect, twenty in hospitality design across the island of Ireland, the UK and the US. One of her busiest creations, Sophie’s bar in the Dean Hotel on Harcourt Street, wasn’t planned, though when she wandered out onto the roof at building stage she realised the views would be too good to waste, so the bar was built on a flat roof with windows all the way around the room.
The Vintage Cocktail Club (or VCC for short) is a speakeasy-style venue in Temple Bar based on 1920s America. It is signalled only by the letters VCC and clients must ring the doorbell to be let inside, and the contrasting fabrics and wallpapers and multiple floors were deliberately designed to disorientate customers. When it came to designing 37 Dawson Street, Ann-Marie strived to create intimacy in such a large space, and divided the room into a series of different areas. She frequently goes back to her venues to watch how people interact within them, taking new lessons for future projects.
Similarly, Platform Pizza in Bray, co Wicklow, which is equally difficult to get a table at on any given Saturday evening, is somehow a hit with sullen teenagers and families alike. The bathroom facade is a closet reminiscent of the door to Narnia, and is an extraordinary hit with children. “A good venue should confirm who you feel you are as a person”, states Ann-Marie. Within her brilliantly decked out venues, this sentiment certainly rings true.
Want to see Ann-Marie’s design in person? Check out our selection of five Dublin cocktails you need to try.
Hannah Popham