Windmill Lane was demolished over the weekend. However, some parts of the graffiti walls were saved. The Windmill Lane studios are iconic thanks to a host of musicians who recorded there going back to the 1970s. Van Morrisson, The Rolling Stones and Sinead O’Connor are among the famous acts but the studios were best known for recordings carried out by U2, especially the Joshua Tree album.
The site was bought by Hibernia REIT in May of last year and it now plans to develop residential, office and retail units. The CEO of WK Nowlan REIT Management, Kevin Nowlan, said the developers are aware of the site’s history and plan to “take that into account”.
Over the years fans have visited the site and used graffiti to pay tribute to the bands. It’s understood that part of the graffiti walls will be kept in storage until it is decided where they should be put.
Hibernia REIT says it is considering the following options:
Recreating the wall in the atrium of the new Windmill Lane building as a testimony to the building’s past
Offering the wall to Dublin City Council, the band or any other interested party for reconstruction or reuse in an alternative setting
Giving the wall to a charity so that they can auction pieces of it to U2 fans around the world.
