Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect with the Office of Public Works. George William Crowe can perhaps be identified with the person of the same name who was born in Dublin on 4 November 1864 to George Crowe and his wife Adelaide Elizabeth (née Morton),(1) in which case he may possibly have been a grandson of DANIEL CROWE DANIEL CROWE . He served a five-year pupillage with WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL  WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL in Dublin and remained as an assistant in Mitchell's office for a further year.   In 1887 he moved to Belfast where he be became an assistant and  later manager in the office of JOHN LANYON JOHN LANYON . He remained with Lanyon until 1894 when he joined the staff of the Office of Public Works in Belfast.(2)   In1901 or 1902 he moved to the drawing office in the Dublin headquarters. By 1907 his rank was that of assistant surveyor of buildings (second class), and by 1915 he had been promoted to the post of assistant surveyor of buildings (first class). In 1910 he was transferred to Dundalk, presumably as successor to ALFRED KIRK BROWN.& ALFRED KIRK BROWN.& #160; He is recorded as living at 18 The Crescent in the 1911 census.  By that time he had been married to his English wife, Rose, for eight years, but had no children.  He was still in Dundalk in 1930 but was replaced by GARRETT BERNARD JOYCE  GARRETT BERNARD JOYCE the following year.

There are a number of drawings by Crowe in the Office of Public Works drawings collection in the National Archives, most of them for post offices throughout the country, dated between 1902 and 1909; presumably only the drawings for the post office at Clones, Co. Monaghan, which are dated 1917, when he was no longer in the Board's Drawing Office, are actually for a building of his own design. Other drawings by him are for the gates to Lord Iveagh's demesne in Phoenix Park and the public road to the park (1906), the Royal Hibernian Military School (1904-7), the Land Commission in Upper Merrion Street (1908-9), and the Land Registry at the Four Courts (1912-13).

RIAI: proposed for membership by WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL  WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL and seconded by JAMES RAWSON CARROLL JAMES RAWSON CARROLL , 5 November 1894;(3) elected 7 January 1895;(3) resigned, 1929 or 1930.(4)

Addresses: Work:  Northern Bank Chambers, Royal Avenue, Belfast, 1894(5)-1898;) 11 University St, Belfast, 1900-1901; Office of Public Works, Dublin, 1902-1910; District Office of Public Works, Dundalk, 1911-1930.
Home: 18 The Crescent, Dundalk, 1911.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Crowe's application for membership of the RIAI in IAA, RIAI office archives (Acc. 93/136), membership forms 1878-1909 (extremely fragile), from RIAI lists of members and from Thom's directories.

(1)
www.familysearch.org 
(2)
RIAI council meeting minutes, 5 Nov 1894, 316.
(3)
See note 2, above.
(3)
RIAI Council meeting minutes, 21 Jan 1895, 318.
(4)
JRIAI (1931), 16; his name does not appear in the list of members for 1930 in JRIAI (1930).
(5)
See note 2, above.


2 work entries listed in chronological order for CROWE, GEORGE WILLIAM


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Building: CO. ROSCOMMON, BOYLE, POST OFFICE
Date: 1907-08
Nature: Designed by GWC?
Refs: Drawings, signed by GWC and dated 1907-1908, in NA, OPW drawings collection OPW5HC/4/.

Building: CO. MONAGHAN, CLONES, DIAMOND, POST OFFICE
Date: 1917
Nature: Neo-Georgian.
Refs: Elevation by GWC in NA, OPW drawings collection (old ref. E.3.8.);  Kevin V. Mulligan, The Buildings of Ireland: South Ulster (2013), 277.