Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect and engineer, of Dublin. Thomas Colbourne is listed in Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1819-1830 and Pigot & Co.'s City of Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory (1824) as an architect at 17 Camden Street Upper. Colbourne was one of the engineers employed by the Grand Canal Company: he designed the company's hotel at Portobello in 1805 and was in charge of its colliery at Doonane from circa 1808 until 1810.(1) In 1812 he was employed on re-roofing the main aisle of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin,(2) and in 1814 he exhibited a design for a wooden bridge at the Hibernian Society of Artists, Dublin.(3) In the same year he and RICHARD RICHARDS  RICHARD RICHARDS submitted a design for the new gaol at Roscommon; the design was passed over in favour of one by RICHARD MORRISON RICHARD MORRISON , but Colbourne and Richards were chosen instead as contractors for the building.(4) They were also contractors for Colebrooke, Co. Fermanagh, designed by WILLIAM FARRELL  WILLIAM FARRELL in 1820.(5)

See WORKS.



References



(1) Ruth Delany, The Grand Canal of Ireland (1973), 135,149.
(2) Liam Price, ed., An Eighteenth Century Antiquary (1942), 119.
(3) IALE 1, 136; the exhibit was numbered 254.
(4) A.M. Rowan, ed., The Architecture of Richard and William Morrison (1989), 148-9.
(5) A. Day, P. McWilliams & L. English, eds., Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland 4 (1990), 7.


7 work entries listed in chronological order for COLBOURNE, THOMAS


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PORTOBELLO HARBOUR, HOTEL
Date: 1805-07
Nature: New. For Grand Canal Company; masonry for Mr Wilson at new Hotel, Portobello, measured by Bryan Bolger 1807.
Refs: Bolger MSS NA/PRO 1A 58 126,127; Ruth Delany, The Grand Canal of Ireland (1973), 135.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PATRICK STREET, ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1812
Nature: Re-roofing.
Refs: Liam Price, ed., An Eighteenth Century Antiquary (1942), 119.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SKINNER'S ROW, ENGLISH SCHOOL
Date: 1813
Nature: Design for same, with entrances from Skinner's Row and Derby Square.
Refs: Plans, s. & d. 1813, in Erasmus Smith Archives, Danum, Zion Rd, Dublin 6

Building: CO. GALWAY, GALWAY, COLLEGE ROAD, GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Date: 1813-15
Nature: TC executant architect. (Richard Morrison paid for plans in 1810)
Refs: No 3 Registry Book of the Governors of Erasmus Smith Schools (1793-1822)

Building: CO. ROSCOMMON, ROSCOMMON, COUNTY GAOL
Date: 1814-1817
Nature: TC and Richard Richards submit unselected design but are appointed contractors instead.
Refs: A.M. Rowan, ed, The Architecture of Richard and William Morrison (1989), 148-9

Building: CO. FERMANAGH, COLEBROOKE PARK
Date: 1820
Nature: New house. C & R contractors. Architect: William Farrell.
Refs: Indenture between Thomas Colbourne of Camden Street, Dublin, and Richard Richards of Roscommon, builders, and Henry Brooke of Colebrooke, for the building of a new house at Colebrooke, to be finished by 1 January 1823, for £9,700: 0: 0d., to the satisfaction of William Farrell, architect, and bond of indemnity from Thomas Colbourne, Richard Richards and John Murphy to Henry Brooke. [20 June 1820] in PRONI, Landed Estates Courts rentals, D3004/B/8; (see PRONI e-catalogue) ; A. Day, P. McWilliams & L. English, eds., Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland 4 (1990), 7; Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979), 200-201.

Building: CO. TIPPERARY, TIPPERARY, ABBEY SCHOOL
Date: 1820ca
Nature: Designed by TC and Francis Johnston. (Destroyed by fire Nov. 1941.)
Refs: JCHAS 1960, 40.