Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Stained glass manufacturer, of Dublin. According to Thomas Bell's Essay on Gothic Architecture (1829), the churches at Ballynagall, Co. Westmeath, and at Collon, Co. Louth, had stained glass 'from the factory of Mr Lowe of Dublin, whose execution of this department of art is highly creditable'.(1) 'Mr Lowe' is Edward Lowe, listed in Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1828 as a 'metal sash maker' of 11 Marlborough Street. The family business had been established at 4 Anglesea Street, Dublin, in 1780 by Joseph Lowe, 'from the Patent Metal Sash Manufactory, London'.(2) Edward Lowe has appeared in Wilson's Dublin Directory by 1823 and remains with the same description and address until 1830. The street number changes to 10 Marlborough Street in 1831; by 1839 there is an 'Edward J. Lowe, old established patent sash and stained glass manufactory' at this address. Edward J. Lowe, who may represent a younger generation, continued in business until at least 1853, his address having changed to 13 Marlborough Street by 1847. Shaw's Pictorial Directory for 1850 indicates that the business had been divided, with the sash window works, now owned by John McWeeney, at 9 and 10 Marlborough Street, and Edward Lowe's glass works at No.13. In 1847 Edward Lowe won a silver medal for a stained glass window at the Royal Dublin Society's exhibition.(3) He eventually went blind. He was admitted to Simpson's Hospital at the age of sixty-eight in May 1852 and died there on 15 July 1857.(4) The directories continue to show Edward Lowe, glass stainer, working at 10 Portland Place in 1857 and 1858, but he is no longer listed by 1863.

See WORKS.



References

Information in this entry unless otherwise accounted for is from the incomplete series of directories in the IAA, viz. Wilson's Dublin Directory 1823-1831, The Post Office Directory 1839, 1844,1853,1857, Pettigrew & Oulston's Dublin Almanac 1847 and Thom's Directory 1858. Dr Nessa Roche has further details about the Lowe glass business.

(1) pp. 247-248.
(2) Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 1-3 Aug 1780 (information from Nessa Roche).
(3) Information from Nessa Roche, citing Mary Boydell files.
(4) Christopher Ryan, Simpson's Hospital (Ballinteer Family History Society, 2000), 50,95.


2 work entries listed in chronological order for LOWE, EDWARD *


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Building: CO. LOUTH, COLLON, CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1829a
Nature: Furnished with stained glass by Mr Lowe, Dublin.
Refs: Thomas Bell, Essay on Gothic Architecture (1829), 247-8; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 219;  photograph of windows in Claude Costegalde & Brian Walker, The Church of Ireland: an illustrated history (2013), 124.

Building: CO. WESTMEATH, BALLYNAGALL, CHURCH (CI, PORTNASHANGAN PARISH)
Date: ?
Nature: Church next to Ballynagall House furnished with stained glass by Mr Lowe, Dublin
Refs: Thomas Bell An Essay on the origin and progress of Gothic Architecture in Ireland (1829), 247-248