Dublin Spire rises about O’Connell Street on October 15, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland.

Ian Ritchie, a modern architect most famous for the so-called Spire of Dublin — a metal spike erected in the Irish capital — is mulling a proposal along similar lines, which he describes as “a refracting, super-slender reflecting crystal to heaven” or a “beautiful contemporary tracery of glass crystals and stainless steel” — i.e. a featureless glass and steel spire.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

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