Admire the art and architecture.
The Blackrock Library & Blackrock Further Education Institute building on Main Street was recently nominated in the Public Choice category in the Irish Architecture Awards 2015 and is an excellent example of old and new structures blending together.
The complex includes the original Blackrock Town Hall, Carnegie Library and VEC school. There are several protected buildings here, all with decorative façades, from the 1860s and early 1900s.
The modern additions include a glass atrium. The public library here celebrated its centenary in 2005.
Internationally renowned sculptor, Rowan Gillespie, was born in Blackrock in 1953. His work is quite unique and his public creations can be seen in Ireland, Europe and North America.
One of his works can be seen near the Blackrock bypass and Temple Road. Named ‘Blackrock Dolmen,’ it ‘depicts three elegantly elongated figures holding up a large capstone to symbolise the essence of Blackrock.’
It is part of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Sculpture Trail.
Rowan makes much of his work in a purpose-built bronze casting foundry at Clonlea in Blackrock. One of his most famous works is ‘Famine,’ a series of hauntingand emaciated figures on Custom House Quay in Dublin commemorating Ireland’s Great Famine in the mid 1840s.
There are many houses of worship in Blackrock. The Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist on Temple Hill dates back to 1845. The Church of the Guardian Angels, Newtownpark Avenue also serves the local Roman Catholic congregation.
The likes of St. Philip & St. James Church, established in 1824, on Cross Avenue between Booterstown and Blackrock and All Saints Church at Carysfort Avenue serve the local Church of Ireland community.
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church on Mountmerrion Avenue was built in the 1890s and some items in the church, such as the communion table and baptismal font, have been there since the first mass was celebrated in 1899.
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