Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Physician and developer of Turkish baths in Ireland. Richard Barter was born in 1802 at Cooldaniel, Co. Cork, and received his medical education at the London College of Physicians. He began his professional career as a dispensary doctor at Inniscarra, Co. Cork.  His interest in Turkish baths was aroused by an account in The Pillars of Hercules (1850) by the Scottish diplomat David Urquhart. He decided to establish a Turkish bath at St Anne's, Blarney, Co. Cork, and invited Urquhart to St Anne's to supervise its construction.   The foundation stone of this, the first Turkish bath in the British Isles, was laid at St Anne's on 7 June 1856.  It did not prove a success, however, and Barter subsequently modified the principles of the bath, developing a hot-air vapourless system, which was based on Roman rather than Turkish practice.   He was a tireless promoter of the new system and was associated with the construction of a series of baths in Ireland.  According to Richard Bushe of the Lincoln Place Turkish Baths, Dublin, writing in 1860, the baths at Bray, Cork, Limerick, Killarney, Lincoln Place and Belfast were all 'erected by his instrumentality, on his principle, and after the designs of [his son] Richard Barter, RHA, sculptor and architect'.(1)  Richard Barter the elder died on 3 October 1870.   See also RICHARD BARTER [2]. RICHARD BARTER [2].

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References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the  Oxford DNB. and from 'The Introduction of the Turkish Bath to Western Europe', a letter from Richard H. Bushe of the Lincoln Place Turkish Baths, Dublin, 21 Jun 1860, published in the Irish Times, 26 Jun 1860.  For the family genealogy, see Rosemary ffolliott and Michael Leader, 'The Irish Barters',The Irish Genealogist III, no. 6 (Oct 1961), 226 (information from Helen Andrews, Dictionary of Irish Biography). 


3 work entries listed in chronological order for BARTER, RICHARD [1] *


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Building: CO. CORK, BLARNEY, ST ANNE'S HILL HYDROPATHIC ESTABLISHMENT
Date: 1844;1870
Nature: Turkish bath erected 1844 under superintendence of David Urquhart (see DNB); partly destroyed by fire, 1861; new bath in 'Classical and imposing style' with cupola and richly decorated rooms, opened, Jul 1870.
Refs: C.P. Roney, Month in Ireland (1861), 74; DB 3, 15 May 1861, 510; IB 12, 15 Jul 1870, 170; Architect 4, 6 Aug 1870, 83.

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, GRENVILLE PLACE, TURKISH BATHS
Date: 1859
Nature: New Turkish baths. 'Grecian' front with arched doors and windows, surmounted by circular lights of stained glass. Opened, 1859.  Contractor: Denis Murray, Cork.
Refs: Cork Examiner, 18 May 1859 (information from Roger Herlihy, Cork, Mar 2011).

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, MAYLOR STREET, TURKISH BATHS
Date: 1863a
Nature: New Turkish baths opened by Dr Barter. Appointments include frigidarium, tepidarium and calidarium. Ventilation obtained through 3 stained-glass windows placed in N wall facing tepidarium.
Refs: DB 5, 15 May 1863, 54