Buildings go up, buildings come down, buildings go up again. And in the meantime, gulls and taggers leave their marks.
Previously: The Verticality Of The Divine
Between Donegall Street and Little Donegall Street, Belfast city centre.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Valerie Armstrong died in July 2016 after being knocked down by a teen on a scrambler motorbike while walking in Colin Glen (BBC). The memorial plaque is on a disused dinghy at Mila’s Lake, near where she was struck.
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Henrik Larsson left Glasgow Celtic for Barcelona in 2004, after scoring 174 goals in 221 appearances (WP), but he replaced Katie Taylor as an inspiration to the kids at Victoria Nursery in the New Lodge. (Her faded right shoulder is still visible in the bottom left corner of the image below; for the whole thing, see School Of Champions.)
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For a trip down memory lane, check out the wide variety of sweets available from Old Time Favourites, including the foam shrimps and bananas painted by Pigment Space (Fb | ig) on the side of the shop in Winetavern Street, Belfast. Painted by street artist MWAK/Pigment Space (ig).
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“The young and the old rallied around/To help fight the forces of the British crown/Unsung heroes too many to name/Defended Unity flats and never sought fame”. Unity flats were built in 1968 to replace the old Carrick Hill but immediately came under repeated attack by loyalists from the nearby Peter’s Hill and Shankill; by 1987 their demolition had been approved but because of difficulty in rehousing residents (Hansard), the new Carrick Hill was not completed until 2009 (BelTel). The flats have a Facebook page, Growing Up In Unity Flats. The plaques shown today are on the side of the newsagents in the new Carrick Hill.
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Work is well under way on the main floors of a new 12-storey student accommodation that will tower over the houses in Stephen Street (in the middle-ground of today’s images); the construction involves Lacuna Developments, Farrans Construction, and Plantavi and is due to be completed in spring 2023. For a timeline of the development, see SkyScraperCity.
The plot along Carrick Hill remains vacant – see Dense for the board (in the second image) calling for traditional family housing.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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London-based artist Fanakapan (ig) specialises in what he calls “balloon graff”. For his trip to HTN2021 he painted shamrock smiley faces. Kent Street car park, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Pirate Santa flag opposite the Con Club on the Newtownards Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The “S”s are “5”s in the Union Bears sticker in the top right corner, to give “5uper Ranger5”, in celebration of Glasgow Rangers’ 55th Scottish League title (see e.g. 55). At home stadium Ibrox, fans “do the bouncy” – which means jumping up and down (youtube) – much like “pogo” dancing or as children do on a “bouncy castle”; hire firm ‘Bouncy Castle Madness’ (Fb) has been advertising heavily in Belfast and their sticker is on the left. The final sticker celebrates the centenary of Northern Ireland, 1921-2021 (see e.g. The Centenary Of Oppression or We Will Take Nothing Less).
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“West Belfast supports the Community Rescue Service (web | Fb | tw) – Thank you for all the work you do for our community.” “West Belfast” in this case means PUL west Belfast, though this tarp is at the very edge of the Shankill, on the railings at the bottom of Lanark Way. A mural to the Service was painted on Northumberland Street (in CNR west Belfast) in November – see Hill Or High Water.
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Extramural Activity 