Truck brings the house down at Olympia Theatre

IT had been standing for over a century but yesterday the famous cast iron and glass canopy at the front of Dublin’s oldest surviving theatre came crashing down.

The Olympia Theatre canopy, which has sheltered hundreds of thousands of theatre-goers and passersby since it was built in the late 19th century, was wrecked after being hit by a truck.

No one was injured in the crash, which happened at about 8.30am yesterday. Gardaí said the truck driver was reversing back on to Dame Street from a side avenue when it hit a supporting pole.

The canopy is protected and will have to be replaced. MCD, the concert promoters that own the Olympia, said it had been planned to take down the structure and rebuild. This work was due to begin in January.

Robert Matthews, for MCD, said the price for the work, originally set at over €100,000, will be revised. “It is a very expensive job involving lots of skilled man hours,” said Mr Matthews.

However, savings have been made on bringing it down.

Workmen spent the morning clearing the rubble from the pavement in front of the theatre as gardaí directed traffic around the work site.

It is not clear what elements of the original structure can be salvaged.

Mr Matthews said the plan had been to take the structure down piece by piece, send it to the Scottish foundry that made it in the middle of the 1890s, have it renovated and then brought back. The original drawings for the piece are still at the foundry.

Erected shortly after the 1897 closure of Dan Lowrey’s Star of Erin Theatre of Varieties, the structure was made of cast iron and stained glass.

But Mr Matthews said the show will go on, with Jackson Browne, the former Eagles band member, playing the Olympia tonight.

Expect some old favourites such as ‘Under the Falling Sky’ or even ‘Shaky Town’.

He’s sure to bring the house down.