Ireland & the New Architecture: 1900-1940

By Sean Rothery

Architecture, like print, is ubiquitous, a part of thefabric of culture which touches every aspect of our lives while reflecting, and articulating, socio-economic change. As the twentieth century draws to a close, the architecture inscribed in its early decades attracts ever-closer scrutiny. The design movements in fin-de-siècle Europe saw manifestations of modernism combine with unprecedented advances in technology and American machine culture, emerging in a ‘new architecture’: Viennese Rationalism supplanted free-form Art Nouveau; Beaux Arts gave way to Le Corbusier; bizarre brick Expressionism of the Amsterdam School coexisted with De Stijl’s bare abstractions. Modern architecture in the form of the International Style of Gropius and the Bauhaus reached its apogee in the early 1930s, but styles scorned by this orthodoxy – Art Deco and stripped Classicism – flourished alongside it and are now being reappraised. Ireland and the New Architecture 1900-1940 is the first comprehensive study of its subject. It describes the pioneering buildings of the period and examines their intellectual scaffolding and the influence of international design movements, demonstrating that Ireland was no architectural backwater, as is often assumed. It looks in detail at the writings and examples of early modernism and the way in which architects of a fledgling Free State went beyond Britain to France, Holland, Scandinavia, Austria, Germany and America for models of new structures in both private and public spheres of building. A generous selection of over two hundred drawings and photographs, along with extended interview material with survivors from the time, give this book unique value. It is both a stimulating work of reference and a survey-guide to Ireland’s position in, and contribution to, the mainstream of modern architecture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Lilliput Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 1989
• ISBN: 9781843513230

Book preview

IRELAND AND THE NEW ARCHITECTURE 1900 – 1940

Sean Rothery

THE LILLIPUT PRESS

F

OR

 

N

UALA

WITH LOVE

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The publication of this book

has been made possible by 

a generous grant from

CRH

plc

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

Abbreviations

Introduction

CHAPTER

1 New Structures

CHAPTER

2 The Influence of the Arts and Crafts

CHAPTER

3 Irish Architectural Journals;  Education for Architects

CHAPTER

4 The Classical Tradition Lives On

CHAPTER

5 Writers and Propagandists

CHAPTER

6 Patronage: The State and the Church

CHAPTER

7 Architectural Jazz

CHAPTER

8 The International Style Comes to Ireland

Epilogue

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Copyright

Acknowledgments

M

Y FIRST THANKS

must go to

CRH

plc and Tony Barry for the support and sponsorship which made the publication of this book possible.

I am deeply indebted to a large number of people for assistance in the research and completion of this work, particularly to Dr Edward McParland of the History of Art Department of Trinity College, Dublin, for his helpful suggestions and his encouragement over some seven years.

The study originated as a thesis for a doctorate and I am especially grateful to Maurice Craig, Kevin B. Nowlan and Andrew Saint for reading this material and offering valuable advice on its conversion into a book.

Special thanks are due to those architects who were involved in the profession during the period under study, and also to their surviving relatives. The following allowed themselves to be interviewed, some at considerable length, and endured with great patience my endless questions: the late Hilda Allberry; Albert Brady; Eoghan Buckley; Professor Byrne-Costigan; Liam Carlin; Patrick Delaney; Olivia Durdin-Robertson; the late Desmond FitzGerald; Tom Kennedy; Matthew McDermott; the late Man McGrath; the late Raymond McGrath; the late Niall Montgomery; Sydney Maskell; the late Brendan O’Connor; Donal O’Dwyer; John O’Gorman; Brendan O’Reilly; Lord Revelstoke; Harry Robson; the late Michael Scott; Paul O’Toole; and the Countess of Wicklow. In addition the correspondence with Charles Light, Noel Moffett and the late Frederick MacManus and his wife was of immense help.

Many people contributed with information, illustrations, and assistance in the task of knitting together the various strands of the story. I would like to thank Sean Belford; Sister Angela Bolster; Martin Burke; Peter Cahalane and the library staff of the College of Technology, Bolton Street; Finbarr Callanan; Sally Chappell; Mary Clarke and the Dublin Corporation Archives; Collins of London for permission to quote from The Letters of Edwin Lutyens (eds Clayre Percy and Jane Ridley); Jim Cooke; David Cottam; Sean de Courcy; Maurice Craig; Declan Cullen; Tom Cullen; Jim Culliton; Morris Curtis and the Central Catholic Library; Patricia Cusack; Gerry Doherty; Laurie Dolan; Pat Flavin; Chris Garde; William Garner; Arthur Gibney; John Graby and the

RIAI

; David Griffin and the Irish Architectural Archive; Jeremy Gould; Daithí Hanly; Nollaig Hardiman and the City of Dublin Public Libraries; Brian Hayden and the

OPW

; Gerry Hayden; Anthony Hanahoe; Neil Hegarty; Michael Hewson and the National Library of Ireland; Anthony Horan; Quentin Hughes; Charles Kelly; Mary Kelly, Julia Barrett and the staff of the library of the School of Architecture in

UCD

; Eddie Keating; Frank Kelsall; Paul Larmour; Mark Leonard; Owen Lewis; Arthur Little; Niall McCullough; Eilish McGuinness; Robert McKinstry; Bernadette McLaughlin; Des McMahon; T. F. McNamara; George Mealy; Noel Moffett; Valerie Mulvin; Edward Murphy; Brian Murphy O’Connor; Aidan O’Connor; Frederick O’Dwyer; John O’Keeffe; Sean O’Laoire; Liam O’Leary; Eugene O’Neill and the priests of Turner’s Cross church; Ed O’Shea of the Projects Office, Guinness; Shane O’Toole; William G. Rattray; Dave Richards; Martha Rowan; Keith Sawyers; Michael Shippobottom; Ann Simmonds; Chris Smeeck and the library of the Delft School of Architecture; Brian Smith; R. G. M. Sutherland; Eithne Waldron and the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art; Peter Walsh and the Guinness archive; E. Whelan and the

ESB

; Jeremy Williams; the library of the Department of Architecture of the University of Nebraska; the Chicago Historical Society; and the library of Trinity College, Dublin.

A number of individuals and organizations were of particular assistance in the assembling of illustrations. These include Dr Paul Larmour; David Griffin and Sean O’Reilly of the Irish Architectural Archive; Julia Barrett and Gerry Hayden of the

UCD

School of Architecture and Library; Peter Walsh and Guinness Ireland Ltd; Eithne Waldron, Pat Lavin and the Hugh Lane Gallery; the Electricity Supply Board; the Institute of Irish Studies; the Northern Building Record Project; Mark Leonard and W. H. Byrne, architects; the Photographic Department of Trinity College, Dublin; and John Gunn, who processed my own photographs with interest and care.

The basic survey work for a number of the specially prepared drawings was carried out by some of my former students in the Department of Architecture, Bolton Street. The relevant illustrations are as follows: 39, Peter Cassidy and Martin Murray; 60, Shane Spring; 61, Brian O’Connor; 127, Colm Delany; 149, Diarmuid Curtin; 150, John Bowe and Jude O’Loughlin; 152, Gary O’Hare; 154, Barry Sheehan; 177, Neil Burke Kennedy. My deep gratitude is due to Liam O’Leary for allowing me extensive use of his valuable and probably unique Film Archives, which are now housed in the National Library of Ireland.

I was helped greatly in the production of this book by the encouragement of my publisher, Antony Farrell, and the expert guidance of my editor, Angela Rohan.

Much of my writing was done in the peaceful environs of Clara, Co. Wicklow and I am grateful to Sean and Rosemarie Mulcahy for the loan of their house. Finally, I owe heartfelt thanks to my wife, Nuala, for her support and her patience during the long period devoted to this work.

List of Illustrations

Note: Where no source is given, the photograph or illustration is by the author or is in the author’s collection.

1 Home Insurance Building, Chicago, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 28 (15 May 1886), p. 147. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5355/16.

2 Bank Buildings, Castle Place, Belfast. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

3 Bank Buildings, Belfast. Rough Sketch Design for general rebuilding, drawing signed by W. H. Lynn and dated 13 October 1880. Northern Building Record Project, Belfast, drawing no. 3, acc. no. 87/3.

4 Bank Buildings, Belfast, elevation of main front, unsigned and no date. Northern Building Record Project, Belfast, drawing no. 2, acc. no. 87/3.

5 Crymble’s music shop, Belfast.

6 McCullagh’s department store, Castle Place, Belfast.

7 Market St Store House, plan.

8 Market St Store House, Guinness archive, Dublin.

9 Market St Store House, interior, Guinness archive, Dublin.

10 Market St Store House, interior, Guinness archive, Dublin.

11 Market St Store House, Guinness archive, Dublin.

12 Malt Store, Robert St/Market St, Guinness archive, Dublin.

13 Market St Store House, Guinness archive, Dublin.

14 Waterford Granary, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 47 (9 September 1905), p. 613.

15 Gate Lodge, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

16 Ormond Hall, Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 41 (1 November 1899).

17 The Bohemian Bar, Phibsboro, Dublin, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 49 (15 June 1907).

18 Arthur Square Development Co. Ltd, Belfast, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 49 (23 February 1907). Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5355/12-13.

19 Inisfall, Lough Allen, in British Architect (22 February 1895).

20 Sunlight Chambers, Dublin. Drawing of front elevation by Grayson and Ould, architects, Liverpool, dated 1 May 1899. Anthony Hanahoe.

21 Sunlight Chambers. Drawing of end elevation and angle elevation by Grayson and Ould, architects, Liverpool, dated July 1899. Anthony Hanahoe.

22 Dallas, Malone Rd, Belfast. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

23 West End Lane Fire Station, Hampstead, London. Greater London Record Office.

24 Killyhevlin, Co. Fermanagh, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 50 (25 January 1908).

25 Farm buildings, Agricultural College, Athenry, Co. Galway, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 50 (8 August 1908). Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5355/7-8.

26 Church at Spiddal, Co. Galway, in Builder (3 December 1904)

27 O’Growney Memorial Tomb, Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

28 Cavan Town Hall, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 52 (9 July 1910), pp. 440-1.

29 Diocesan College, Galway, front elevation.

30 Diocesan College, Galway, plan.

31 Diocesan College, Galway, entrance.

32 Post Headquarters, Power House and Riding Hall, the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, in Charles Harris Whitaker (ed.), Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue – Architect and Master of Many Crafts (New York 1925), plate xviii.

33 Cottages, Leopardstown Rd, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin.

34 Miss Sandes’s Soldiers’ Home, Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare, in Ir. Arch. (25 May 1912), supplement.

35 ‘A Bungalow Residence at Malahide, Co. Dublin (Formerly a Martello Tower)’, in Ir. Arch. (11 March 1911), supplement.

36 Pavilion for Consumptives at the Royal Hospital for Incurables, ground floor plan, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 53 (4 March 1911), supplement. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5355/1-3.

37 Iveagh Buildings, St Patrick’s Park, Dublin.

38 Iveagh Buildings, standard shopfronts.

39 Iveagh Baths, Bride Rd, Dublin, drawing of front elevation.

40 Hill Hall Presbyterian church, Co. Down. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

41 Kilteragh, Foxrock, Co. Dublin, in Builder (23 September 1905).

42 Church of Ireland and Schoolhouse, Giant’s Causeway, Co. Antrim. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

43 Houses in Cushendun, Co. Antrim. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

44 Lambay Castle, Lambay Island, Co. Dublin.

45 Entrance gates, Lambay Castle.

46 Lambay Castle, plan of site, in A. S. G. Butler, The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens (London 1950), vol. 1, plate lii.

47 Kitchen court, Lambay Castle.

48 North side, Lambay Castle.

49 Lambay Castle.

50 Lambay Castle.

51 Irish National War Memorial, Islandbridge, Dublin, sections through central lawn. Drawing signed Edwin Lutyens and T. J. Byrne. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5373/2.

52 Irish National War Memorial.

53 Irish National War Memorial, Book Room.

54 First design for gallery over the Liffey, watercolour by William Walcot. Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.

55 Proposed bridge gallery, drawing by William Walcot. Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.

56 First design for proposed Gallery of Modern Art, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, watercolour by William Walcot. Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.

57 First design for proposed Gallery of Modern Art, watercolour by William Walcot. Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.

58 ‘A Suggestion for a Bridge Gallery of Modern Art for Dublin’, in Ir. Arch. (30 August 1913), p. 383.

59 Cottages in south county Dublin by T.J. Byrne.

60 House in Mount Merrion estate by Jones and Kelly.

61 Proposed University College Dublin elevation to Hatch St, in Ir. Arch. (16 November 1912), supplement. Irish Architectural Archive, Butler coll., ref. no. s/5306/14.

62 Cartoon of R.M. Butler by Harry Robson.

63 Perspective watercolour of Dominican Convent, Muckross Park, Dublin, by Frank Scarlett. Irish Architectural Archive, Butler coll., ref. no. s/5373/11-12.

64 Perspective watercolour of Passionist Noviciate, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, by Cyril Farey. Irish Architectural Archive, Butler coll., ref. no. s/5373/8-9.

65 City Hall, Belfast. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

66 College of Science, Merrion St, Dublin, photograph by F. H. Jerney. Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5373/3.

67 Irish Industrial Village, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 34 (15 August 1892), p. 177. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5355/14.

68 Parnell Monument, Dublin.

69 Parnell Monument, Dublin.

70 Perspective of Clery’s, O’Connell St, Dublin in Ir. Bldr, vol. 60 (11 May 1918).

71 Front elevation, Clery’s.

72 Front elevation, Selfridge’s, London, in AR (June 1909), p. 298.

73 Bolton St College of Technology, formerly Technical Institute.

74 University College, Dublin, Earlsfort Terrace, now National Concert Hall. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive.

75 Proposed campanile, in Patrick Abercrombie et al., Dublin of the Future (Dublin 1922), plate xxxi.

76 Gresham Hotel, Dublin. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/4456/3.

77 Bank of Ireland, Royal Ave, Belfast, drawing by J. V. Downes.

78 Bank of Ireland, Belfast.

79 Cork City Hall, photograph by William Rattray.

80 Government Buildings, Kildare St, Dublin.

81 Rudolph Maximilian Butler. Photograph courtesy Countess of Wicklow.

82 Dundrum Library, front elevation.

83 Gorevan’s store, Camden St, Dublin.

84 Stockholm Town Hall, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1288.

85 Church at Newport, Co. Mayo. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/33/10.

86 Carnegie Library, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow.

87 De Dageraad, Amsterdam South, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1028.

88 ‘A Rural Library at Alassio, Italy’, in Ir. Arch. (5 July 1913), supplement.

89 Manning Robertson. Photograph courtesy Olivia Durdin-Robertson.

90 Temple Hill Housing, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

91 Cartoon of John O’Gorman by Harry Robson.

92 Church at Lusk, Co. Dublin.

93 Raadhuis, Hilversum, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 956.

94 Members of the

AAI

with Walter and Frau Gropius in Dublin, 1936.

95 ‘The Ancient Order of Column Worshippers’, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 80 (12 November 1938), p. 952.

96 Lochner’s pork butcher’s shop in Bray, Co. Wicklow.

97 Maison Suisse, Paris, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1232.

98 Bijenkorf store, Rotterdam, two elevations, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1064.

99 Travel and Transport Building, Chicago Exhibition 1933, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1371.

100 Rockefeller Centre, New York, model, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1350.

101 Insurance office, Dame St, Dublin. Perspective drawing by H. Robson.

102 Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1439.

103 Kilkenny Hospital, model, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1457.

104 Shannon Scheme, Power Station under construction,

ESB

archive.

105 Shannon Scheme, concrete bridge,

ESB

archive.

106 Shannon Scheme, German engineers in front of Power Station,

ESB

archive.

107 Shannon Scheme, general view,

ESB

archive.

108 Painting by Sean Keating of Shannon Scheme. Courtesy Institution of Engineers of Ireland.

109

ESB

Transformer Station, Fleet St, Dublin, drawing by Sean O’Sullivan in Saorstát Éireann Official Handbook (Dublin 1932), p. 157.

110 The Central Hospital, Galway. Sketch elevation of proposed Nurses’ Home and ground floor plan, drawing signed T. J. Cullen, architect, dated November 1933. T. J. Cullen, architects, coll.

111 Proposed hospital for Co. Louth, drawing by T. J. Cullen. T. J. Cullen, architects, coll.

112 Tullamore Hospital.

113 Tullamore Hospital.

114 Hospitals Trust building, Ballsbridge, Dublin. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/961/1.

115 Hospitals Trust building, Ballsbridge, Dublin, interior, stairs hall. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/961/12.

116 Window detail, Hanover St flats, Dublin.

117 Spillbergen Straat, Amsterdam West.

118 Flats, Townsend St, Dublin.

119 Flats, Townsend St, Dublin.

120 Flats, Townsend St, Dublin.

121 Flats, Chancery Place, Dublin.

122 Flats at Poplar Row, Dublin, drawing signed Stevenson, unnumbered. Dublin Corporation Housing Department coll.

123 Dublin Corporation flats, Watling St, Dublin. Drawing signed R. C. Stevenson, dated 1939, in

RIAI

Centenary Handbook (1939), p. 54.

124 McQuiston Memorial School (now School of Music), Donegall Pass, Belfast.

125 Avoniel School, Avoniel Rd, Belfast. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

126 Parliament Buildings for Northern Ireland, Stormont. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

127 Church of Christ the King, Turner’s Cross, Cork. Floor plan.

128 Barry Byrne with model of Christ the King Church.

129 Church of Christ the King, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1546(a).

130 Grundtvig Church, Copenhagen, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1345(a).

131 Church of Christ the King, elevation of church entrance, drawing by Barry Byrne Company, architects, job no. 154, sheet D8, dated 17 November 1928. Murphy O’Connor, architects, Cork, coll.

132 Church of Christ the King, cross-section.

133 Church of Christ the King, interior, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1546(b).

134 Church of Christ the King, front elevation.

135 Church of Christ the King, Cabra, Dublin.

136 Corpus Christi Church, Griffith Ave, Dublin.

137 Corpus Christi Church, side view.

138 Corpus Christi Church, section. Irish Architectural Archive, Robinson Keefe coll., ref. no. s/5373/14-15.

139 Mullingar Cathedral, front elevation, drawing by W. H. Byrne, architects.

140 Kilmore Cathedral, Cavan, longitudinal section, drawing by W. H. Byrne, architects.

141 Kilmore Cathedral, Cavan, ground floor plan, drawing by W. H. Byrne, architects.

142 Kilmore Cathedral, Cavan, perspective, drawing by W. H. Byrne, architects.

143 Our Lady of the Wayside Church, Kilternan, Co. Dublin.

144 St Mary’s Church, Crumlin, Dublin.

145 First Church of Christ Scientist, University Ave, Belfast. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

146 Methodist church, Drimnagh, Dublin, drawing by James Hurd, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 83 (13 September 1941), p. 425.

147 Gas Company Offices, D’Olier St, Dublin, elevation to D’Olier St.

148 Gas Company Offices, elevation to Hawkins St.

149 Femina shop, Wicklow St, Dublin.

150 Gas Company Office and Showroom, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

151 Royal Bank, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

152 Refuge Assurance Company building, Kildare St, Dublin.

153 Post Office, Rathmines, Dublin, front elevation.

154 Cork School of Commerce and Domestic Economy. Photograph by William Rattray.

155 College of Domestic Economy (now College of Catering and Hotel Management), Cathal Brugha St, Dublin. Photograph College of Catering and Hotel Management.

156 Technical School, Marino (Clontarf), Dublin, perspective drawing by Robinson Keefe, architects, in Ir. Bldr, 75th. anniv. issue (23 July 1934), p. 26.

157 Sinclair’s department store, Royal Ave, Belfast. Photograph by Paul Larmour.

158 Burton’s, Dame St, Dublin.

159 Illustration in Ir. Bldr, 75th anniv. issue (23 July 1934).

160 The Duncairn Picture Theatre, Belfast. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

161 Adelphi cinema, Middle Abbey St, Dublin, drawing of front elevation.

162 Theatre Royal, Dublin. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

163 Regal cinema, Hawkins St, Dublin. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

164 Majestic cinema, Lisburn Rd, Belfast. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

165 Tonic cinema, Bangor, Co. Down. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

166 Curzon cinema, Ormeau Rd, Belfast. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

167 Curzon cinema, Ormeau Rd, Belfast, interior. Curzon Cinema coll.

168 Ritz cinema, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 82 (17 February 1940), p. 99. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/5373/6.

169 Theatre Royal, Dublin, interior. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

170 Green cinema, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, interior. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

171 Carlton cinema, O’Connell St, Dublin, perspective in Ir. Bldr, vol. 79 (6 February 1937), p. 103.

172 Savoy cinema, O’Connell St, Dublin, interior. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

173 Savoy cinema, St Patrick’s St, Cork, interior. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

174 Strand cinema, Holywood Rd, Belfast. Liam O’Leary Film Archives, Dublin.

175 Public Libraries, Dublin.

176 Cottages at Cushendun, Co. Antrim, Clough Williams-Ellis, architect, drawing by Frederick MacManus. MacManus coll.

177 Houses at Kincora Rd, Clontarf, Dublin, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1431.

178 Wendon, Glasnevin, Dublin. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/4816/6.

179 Plan of Wendon.

180 A house for Arthur Shields, preliminary sketch design. Drawing by Scott and Good, dated 22 December 1933, drg no. 2/1, Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. c5/633.

181 Geragh, Sandycove, Co. Dublin. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/3736/7.

182 Geragh, interior. Photograph Irish Architectural Archive, ref. no. s/3740/3.

183 Alcohol Factory at Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, perspective drawing by J. D. Postma. J. D. Postma (Junior), architect, Deventer, Holland, coll.

184 Alcohol Factory, Carrickmacross.

185 Retort Houses, Gas Company, Pearse St, Dublin.

186 Retort House detail, Gas Company, Dublin.

187 Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1390.

188 ‘The Evolution of the Ship’, J. V. Downes drawing. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no. 1552.

189 Yacht Club, Whiterock, Co. Down. Northern Building Record Project coll.

190 Perspective of Dermot O’Toole entry for the Dun Laoghaire Bathing Establishment competition, drawing by Thomas Ryan. Courtesy of Paul O’Toole.

191 Dublin Airport Terminal, plans, in JRIBA, vol. 85 (September 1948), p. 501.

192 Dublin Airport, in Ir. Bldr, vol. 87 (28 July 1945), supplement.

193 Dublin Airport Terminal, entrance. Photograph by Bestick Williams.

194 Hamburg Airport, in Architectural Forum, vol. liii (July 1930), pp. 43-7.

195 Airport Project, in AR, vol. lxxii (1932), p. 201.

196 Dublin Airport Terminal, interior.

197 Dublin Airport Terminal, entrance front. Photograph by Bestick Williams.

198 Dublin Airport, view from the air.

199 Dublin Airport, view from the air.

200 Ireland Pavilion, New York World’s Fair, perspective drawing.

201 Ireland Pavilion, New York World’s Fair.

202 Ireland Pavilion, New York World’s Fair, plan. Irish Architectural Archive.

203 Dolphin Bar, Dolphin Hotel, Essex St, Dublin, photograph by J. V. Downes. Downes slide coll.,

UCD

School of Architecture Lib., slide no 1416.

Abbreviations

Introduction

During the past thirty years there have been many buildings erected in Ireland. With a few notable exceptions, not many of them have been such as need awaken our pride. I would be a wealthy man if I were to receive a golden coin for every column that carried no weight, for every arch that bore no burden, in all these buildings. How many men of high character among architects are there not who would scorn to tell a lie, the memory of which would not last an hour, yet are satisfied to tell lies in buildings that will continue for a century?¹

Darrell Figgis, in an address to the Architectural Association of Ireland, 28 March 1922

I

N THE FIRST HALF

of the twentieth century an architecture emerged which was different enough from that of the previous century to be described as ‘revolutionary’ by its detractors as well as its disciples. Denounced by some as bizarre and grotesque, ‘wandering about in dirty lanes and squalid alleys’², the new architecture was hailed by others as logical and rational, and the modern movement as a great and glorious crusade for ‘truth’.

While this style attracted most of the attention, the bulk of new work was still tradition-based, for at least the first half of the century. Gradually, however, even those buildings in essentially historic styles began to respond to the growing demand for simplicity and more direct expression of both structure and function. In retrospect one can extend the term modern architecture to include most of the new buildings of the period, since each was affected, to a greater or lesser degree, by the various avant-garde movements.

The architecture of the first half of the twentieth century in Ireland has received little close attention. Some early individual buildings have been listed and described, notably in the publications of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society,³ but no general study has been made. This period is particularly important since it saw the culmination of many of the avant-garde design movements, and in Ireland, as elsewhere, an examination of the architecture can establish the effects of these international influences.

It has generally been assumed that Ireland was a backwater, unaffected by, and unaware of, the great and often revolutionary design movements in other countries. Emmanuel’s encyclopedia, Contemporary Architects (1980), has only one entry on an Irish architect (Michael Scott) and refers to Ireland’s ‘relative isolation’.

Little effective dialogue with European mainland influences was possible. It is doubtful that Corbusier’s Towards a New Architecture of 1927 would have reached Ireland, or Pevsner’s Pioneers of Modern Design of 1936, not to mention the Architectural Review and in particular its famous essays by Morton Shand or Wells Coates.⁴

A similar assertion of Irish isolation was made much earlier, somewhat surprisingly by the Irish Builder and Engineer, which was the premier Irish architectural journal and indeed the single most important source of information on new movements. A leading article in 1926, stressing the importance of the famous Swedish architect Ragnar Östberg’s visit to Ireland, went on: ‘we are here, to a certain extent, beyond the reach of European culture; we are an outpost, an island beyond an island. The fact is reflected in our art generally and in our modern architecture in particular.’⁵ The implication that Ireland was ignorant of new developments in architecture is certainly belied by the journal’s own considerable contributions to publicizing the innovative trends in both Europe and America. For example, of the works suggested in Contemporary Architects as not reaching Ireland, Le Corbusier’s book was reviewed in the Irish Builder in 1928, just after the first English translation was published; Morton Shand’s essays also attracted comment, and the Architectural Review had been very well known since it first appeared in 1896. It would seem more likely that the writer of the article saw little evidence of the influence of new architecture in Irish buildings of this time.

However, Ireland in this period was, on several fronts, in touch with continental developments. There were important scholarly links with France and Germany, for instance, from the end of the nineteenth century, particularly in the study of languages. Distinguished Celticists of the time included Kuno Meyer, Heinrich Zimmer, d’Arbois de Jubainville and Rudolph Thurneysen; and many Irish studied abroad. There was, and is, fertile interchange with Scandinavia in the study of folklore.⁶  Other connections with European countries were established through Irish literary figures on the Continent. Synge travelled and studied in France, Germany and Italy. George Moore and James Stephens lived in Paris, and James Joyce worked in France, Switzerland and Trieste. Paris and Antwerp were hosts to Irish artists who included Walter Osborne, Paul Henry, Roderick O’Connor, Nathaniel Hone, Mainie Jellet, William Leech and Dermod O’Brien.

With the development of political nationalism in the late nineteenth century, Irish figures returned to the problem of breaking the tie with Britain; an example is Arthur Griffith’s The Resurrection of Hungary, A Parallel for Ireland.⁷ In the economic and industrial field the wide-ranging examination of prototypes for the development of a national electricity supply, described later, demonstrated the desire to look beyond Britain in the shaping of modern Ireland. Given the strength and multiplicity of these links it would be surprising if there were none between Ireland and the Continent in the field of architecture.

In fact Irish architects and commentators were very much aware of the new movements in design between 1900 and 1940. All of the principal architectural journals and most of the pioneer works on modern architecture were available and discussed. More importantly, the visible products of the new architecture – the revolutionary buildings, and those now recognized as milestones of modern architecture – were enthusiastically sought out and visited by Irish architects.

In this study I use the terms ‘rational’ and ‘functional’ as they were adopted extensively by commentators in the early years of the twentieth century to denote certain tendencies in design. The term ‘modern’ was used from the late nineteenth century to describe contemporary building; soon, however, it was to be applied to the architecture of various innovative movements from abroad. The ‘International Style’ refers to the new, white, geometrical architecture of the late 1920s and 1930s, distinguishing it from the numerous other developments which, though concurrent, were more traditionally based.

It is now fifty years since the period embraced by this survey ended. In those first four decades of the twentieth century there were many fundamental changes in Ireland. The foundation of the Free State, half-way through the period, created a climate which encouraged the new architecture. The survival of the historical styles, coupled with the advent of International modernism, produced an architecture which, although it may need another fifty years for proper judgment, can now be appreciated as a direct reflection of its times.

NOTES

1 Darrell Figgis was a poet, playwright and journalist. In 1919 he was editor of the Republic and from 1919 to 1922 was Secretary to the Commission of Enquiry into Resources and Industries of Ireland which was set up by the Dáil. He was a

TD

for County Dublin in the first government of the Irish Free State. Figgis committed suicide in London in 1925.

2 Sir Reginald Blomfield, Modernismus (London 1934), p. 144.

3 Publications of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society include books, monographs, essays, and notably the lists and surveys of towns and areas in the nine counties of Ulster. Buildings of the twentieth century are generally covered in the lists; two books which deal with twentieth-century architecture are Hugh Dixon, An Introduction to Ulster Architecture (Belfast 1975), and David Evans, An Introduction to Modern Ulster Architecture (Belfast 1977). Other books containing some mention of twentieth-century work are: Maurice Craig, Architecture in Ireland (Dublin 1978); Peter Harbison, Homan Potterton and Jeanne Sheehy, Irish Art and Architecture (London 1978); Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland, North West Ulster (London 1979); Paul Larmour, Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide (Belfast 1987). The latter gives a detailed listing and good descriptions of the twentieth-century buildings of Belfast. Lists of buildings of a few Irish towns were compiled by An Foras Forbartha and include the more important buildings from the twentieth century. These publications, all by William Garner, are as follows: Cobh (Dublin 1979); Bray (Dublin 1980); Carlow (Dublin 1980); Kinsale (Dublin 1980); Tullamore (Dublin 1980); Ennis (Dublin 1981); Galway (Dublin 1985); Drogheda (Dublin 1986).

4 Muriel Emmanuel (ed.), Contemporary Architects (London 1980).

5 Irish Builder and Engineer, vol. 68 (11 December 1926), p. 917. The journal was established in 1859 as the Dublin Builder, in 1867 became the Irish Builder and in 1903 the Irish Builder and Engineer.

6 I am indebted to Professor Kevin Nowlan for information on Irish cultural links with continental Europe in the early twentieth century.

7 Arthur Griffith, The Resurrection of Hungary, A Parallel for Ireland (Dublin 1904).

CHAPTER 1

New Structures

Today we are but a pace from the twentieth century with its vista of illimitable possibilities.

T

HUS DID THE

Irish Builder and Engineer, in a leading article entitled ‘Fin-de-Siècle’ on 1 January 1900, signal the end of the nineteenth century. The leader also sounded a prophecy for the future when, after a satirical jibe at ‘fashions’ in domestic architecture, it concluded: ‘And so every man to his taste, in spite of climatic conditions, till we come to the scientific microbe-proof dwelling, made of double layers of glass with gelatine films.’¹

By the beginning of the twentieth century a ‘new’ or ‘modern’ architecture had emerged in the American work of the Chicago School and of Henry Hobson Richardson. The bold new structures with multi-storey steel frames, in particular, caught the imaginations of architects in Europe. During the early years of the century the influence of America, especially Chicago, became apparent even in relatively modest buildings in Ireland.

The World’s Fair of 1893 brought large numbers of European visitors to Chicago. There had, however, been substantial coverage of developments in American architecture in European journals from at least a decade earlier. Leonard K. Eaton, in American Architecture Comes of Age,² points out that between 1875 and 1900 the Builder (London) published over a hundred discussions and illustrations of architecture in the United States. The Irish Builder and Engineer (hereafter described as the Irish Builder) carried more than twenty articles, notes or illustrations of American buildings in the shorter period from 1886 to 1900, as well as many other pieces on American subjects. So European architects who were interested in the new American work found plenty of documentary material in the architectural journals, many of which began publication in the last few years of the nineteenth century.³

An interesting comparison can be made between the coverage of American architecture in the Irish Builder and the Builder. The latter appeared weekly, as against the fortnightly Irish journal, but the two publications were fairly similar in terms of content. Although Eaton has counted the references to American architecture in the Builder from 1875, there were very few in the late 1870s and these were often either trivial or derogatory, dealing with fee disputes, protests about competitions and bad roads. There were only three illustrations of American buildings in the 1876 volume, all of the Philadelphia Exhibition, which was seen as not comparable with ‘our own famous one of 1851’.⁴

A study of the references in both journals between 1886 and 1900 reveals a marked contrast in the quality of the remarks and the type and style of the particular buildings mentioned. The Builder, for example, did not make any serious comment on the new work in Chicago until as late as 1892,⁵ whereas the Irish Builder published in 1886 a full-page reproduction of a perspective drawing, signed by the architect, William Le Baron Jenney, of the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.⁶ Since this historic building was completed only in 1885, the Irish journal demonstrated a very early awareness of the developments in commercial architecture in America. Indeed, apart from the 1892 article, the Builder’s only acknowledgment of this innovative work was a short note on Sullivan’s Transportation Building in 1893,⁷ and a reference to the pioneer factory in reinforced concrete by Ransome in 1898.⁸

The English journal’s reports on American architecture in this period dealt mainly with what it approvingly called ‘picturesque’ domestic architecture. H. H. Richardson was frequently discussed in this context and the great majority of the houses illustrated could be called ‘Richardsonian’ in style: for example, work by McKim, Mead and White, Peabody and Stearns, and Emerson. The Irish Builder paid less attention to Richardson and American domestic architecture, instead devoting many notes and illustrations to the pioneer commercial buildings of Chicago. In 1888 the Irish journal reprinted an article entitled ‘Lofty Building’, which had appeared in the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. This commented on some new Chicago structures:

A glance at the illustrations in American professional journals, notably the Inland Architect published at Chicago … clearly shows that American architects are neither restrained by tradition nor fettered by rules that have been observed by European architects … The July number of the above … gives illustrations of three buildings of pretentious character, the smallest of which, called the Rookery Building, Chicago, has eleven storeys, and rises to … about 130 feet … The Auditorium building … is on a scale quite unprecedented …⁹

The Auditorium Building, completed by 1889, was the greatest building that Chicago