Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin, and keeper of the Art and Industrial Section of the National Museum of Science and Art. Thomas Henry Longfield, who lived at 19 Harcourt Street all his life, was probably a son of WILLIAM D. LONGFIELD WILLIAM D. LONGFIELD , who occupied the same house for many years. Where he received his architectural training is not recorded. In the summer of 1869 he exhibited designs for restoring the sides of King Henry the Third's Tomb in Westminster Abbey at the Royal Hibernian Academy(1) and in the autumn of the same year he made a tour of Italy with WILLIAM FOGERTY WILLIAM FOGERTY , leaving London on 15 September. Winter had set in when the friends parted in Munich, Fogerty returning directly to Ireland while Longfield continued his travels to Vienna, Dresden and Berlin.(2) Longfield's drawing of the 'Interior of a Pompeian House, Restored from sketches made at Pompeo and the Museo Nazionale, Naples, in the Autumn of 1869' was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1871.(3) The following year he exhibited three drawings for the 'restoration' of the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey.(4) Longfield was one of the founder members of the AAI in 1872.(5) In 1875, again in collaboration with Robinson, he exhibited a design for Wexford Municipal Offices at the Royal Hibernian Academy(6) and entered the competition for additions to the Royal College of Surgeons.(7) However there is no record of any building having been erected to his designs, and his exhibited and published drawings suggest that his real interest always lay in the decorative arts.(8) He gave up architecture as a profession after being appointed Art and Industrial Assistant at the Science and Art Museum on 25 August 1879. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Keeper of the Museum's Art and Industrial Section on 20 October 1890. Poor health caused him to retire in the summer of 1906;(9) his death from heart failure occurred later in the same year, on 28 October.(10)

Longfield appears to have been unmarried. His library, which included 'many valuable works on architecture, art, archaeology, and general literature', was sold at auction in April 1908,(11) and his private ceramic collection was purchased by the Science and Art Museum in 1909.(12)

AAI:(13) committee member, 1872;(14) hon. secretary, 1873-1874; delivers papers on 'Ornamental Design', 22 January 1874 and 25 February 1875;(15) treasurer, 1875; vice-president, 1876-77;(16) delivers paper on 'Art Museums', 1 February 1877.(17)

RIAI: elected associate, 16 April 1874.(18)
RIA: member by 1896.(19)
RSAI: elected member, 1888.(20)
Society of Antiquaries: fellow by 1896.(21)

Address: 19 Harcourt Street, <=1869(22) until death.

See WORKS, BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

Details of Longfield's later career are from H. Bantry White, 'History of the Science and Art Institutions, Dublin', Museum Bulletin I (1911), 31, which is illustrated with a portrait photograph (information supplied by Mairead Dunleavy).

(1) Nos. 208 and 288; one of these designs was exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year (no. 769) and one at the Dublin Exhibition of Arts, Industries, Manufactures & Loan Museum, 1872 (no. 745).
(2) Fogerty's account of the tour was read to the RIAI on 21 April 1870 and published in RIAI Sessional papers 1863-4 to 1869-70 and IB 12, 1,15 May,1 Jun,1 Jul 1870, 100,115,126,147.
(3) No. 257; also exhibited at the Dublin Exhibition of Arts, Industries, Manufactures & Loan Museum, 1872 (no. 732) and at the Royal Academy, 1873 (no. 1154); some of his measured drawings made on the tour were published IB 15: stairs in a Sienese palazzo, 15 Sep 1873, 246; palisading from the Palatine and ambo from Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, 1 Nov 1873, 293; tomb of Archbishop de Longis at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo (with Fogerty), 15 Dec 1873, 332.
(4) Nos. 344,355,358; one of these was exhibited at the RA, 1879 (no. 1276,1279); see also Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the RIBA, L-N (1973), 49. (notes continued on page 2)
(5) IB 14, 15 May 1872, 149.
(6) Exh. RHA 1875, no. 217; they exhibited two other town hall designs at the same time (nos. 220,221).
(7) See letter from Longfield and J.L. Robinson in IB 17, 15 Aug 1875, 231.
(8) His last drawing to be published in thre Irish Builder was of the arcades in Cormac's Chapel (IB 18, 15 Apr 1876, 109).
(9) Irish Times, 18 Jul 1906.
(10) IB 48, 3 Nov 1906, 869; date of death supplied by Mairead Dunleavy.
(11) IB 50, 4 Apr 1908, 197.
(12) H. Bantry White, op. cit., 34.
(13) From Jones's transcripts from Thom's directories unless otherwise stated.
(14) IB 14, 15 May 1872, 149.
(15) IB 16, 1 Feb 1874, 444; 17, 1 Mar 1875, 70; B 32, 14 Feb 1874, 128; 33, 13 Mar 1875, 237; Architect 11, 7 Feb 1874, 77; 13, 20 Mar 1875, 175.
(16) IB 18, 1 Dec 1876, 112,164,339.
(17) IB 19, 1 Feb 1877, 46.
(18) RIAI council meeting minutes, 5 Jan 1874, 181; general meeting minutes, 19 Feb,16 Apr 1874, 259,260.
(29) Post Office Directory (1896), 93.
(20) JRSAI 19 (1899), list of members.
(21) See note 19, above.
(22) Address from which he exhibited at RHA, 1869.


2 work entries listed in chronological order for LONGFIELD, THOMAS HENRY


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Building: CO. WEXFORD, WEXFORD, TOWN HALL (PROPOSED)
Date: 1875
Nature: Competition(?) design exh. RHA (with J.L. Robinson)
Refs: RHA 1875, no. 217 (see also IB 16, i Jun 1874, 161)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST STEPHEN'S GREEN, NO. 123 (ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS)
Date: 1875
Nature: Entrant (?with J.L Robinson) in competition for design for addition.
Refs: IB 17, 15 Aug 1875, 231

Author Title Date Details
Longfield, Thomas Henry 'On ornamental design' 1874-1875 IB 16, 1 Feb 1874, 444; 17, 1 Mar 1875, 70; B 32, 14 Feb 1874, 128; 33, 13 Mar 1875, 237; Architect 11, 7 Feb 1874, 77; 13, 20 Mar 1875, 175. (2 papers read to AAI 22 Jan 1874 and 25 Feb 1875.)