Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect with the Great Northern Railway. According to the Dublin census of 1911, Thomas Cullimore, born in Dublin circa 1872, was a son of  George A. Cullimore and his wife, Catherine.(1)  After being educated privately, he served his pupilage with CARROLL & CARROLL & amp; BATCHELOR  BATCHELOR from 1892 to 1898 and then worked as an assistant in the office of Sir THOMAS DREW  THOMAS DREW until 1904. In 1904 he entered the architects' department of the Great Northern Railway and remained on the staff until he reached the official age of retirement. He then joined the staff of Harrington & Goodlass Wall Ltd, paint and varnish manufacturers, only to return to the Great Northern Railway, where he remained until his last illness. He was ill for some time before his death in 1953.

An account of Cullimore's pride in, and identification with, the Great Northern Railway is given by his friend, ALFRED EDWIN JONES ALFRED EDWIN JONES (2): 'He was of the opinion that the Great Northern Railway was one of the best, if not the best, operated railways in the United Kingdom at that time. He was particularly pleased and never wearied of speaking to his friends in the Architectural Association of Ireland of the punctuality of the Belfast Expresses that travelled into the Amiens Street Terminus. He often recalled how he stood on the bridges over the railway, with watch in hand, timing these expresses coming in to their destination not one second before, or after, their time of arrival. On one occasion at the AAI rooms…a group of members was gathered around Cullimore listing to him talking about the Great Northern Railway which was his favourite topic. A senior member of the profession strolled over to the group and said "Hullo, Cullimore, how are you?" "Very well indeed," replied Cullimore. "And how is the Great Northern getting on?" "Oh, excellently," said Cullimore. "I thought so, "replied the senior member, "your face, Cullimore, is getting more like an engine every day." Apart from talking about the Great Northern Railway, Cullimore's principal leisure interest was music, and he was a long-term member of his church choir.(3)

AAI: elected member 1899; hon. librarian, 1903;(4) committee member, 1911-1912,1919-1923; hon. librarian, 1912-1919; vice-president 1923-1924.(5)
RIAI: elected member 1924, proposed by JOHN JOSEPH ROBINSON  JOHN JOSEPH ROBINSON and seconded by JOHN CADWALLADER DEWHURST  JOHN CADWALLADER DEWHURST and THOMAS JOSEPH BYRNE THOMAS JOSEPH BYRNE ; on library committee from 1933; hon. librarian, from 1935.(6)

Addresses:(7) 7 St Alphonsus Road, Drumcondra, <=1899-1910; 69 Moyne Road, 1910-1913; 20 Hollybrook Avnue, Sandford, 1913 until death.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Cullimore's RIAI membership application form which is in Jones file C169 and from the obituary in IB 95, 26 Sep 1953, 988, which is reproduced almost verbatim in RIAI Year Book (1954), 23.

(1) George Cullimore's occupation is given as 'Music Business'.
(2) MS account by Jones in Jones file C169. A slightly shortened version appears in Jones's 'Reminiscences of a Dublin Architect', in IB 111, 3 May 1969, 295.
(3) Lists of officers in AAI Green Books.
(4) Irish Times, 22 Apr 1903.
(5) Lists of officers in RIAI Year Books.
(6) Membership lists in AAI Green Books.
(7) See note 6, above.