Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Builder, of Dublin, active from the 1860s until 1911 or later. According to the 1911 census, James Beckett, a Methodist, was born in Co. Dublin circa 1841. The Beckett family believed themselves to be of Huguenot descent, and the fact that James Beckett's father, another James, was a silk weaver tends to support this belief.(1) In the early 1870s James Beckett and his brother William(2) formed the building company of J. & W. Beckett, which became one of the leading contracting firms in Dublin. James Beckett was instrumental in reviving the Dublin Master Builders' Association in 1895 and was its vice-president from 1895 to 1900 when he became president.(3) He was president again in 1909, 1910 and 1911.(4) He died in 1915. He married twice - his second wife was Frances Horner - and had several sons, including GEORGE FRANCIS BECKETT GEORGE FRANCIS BECKETT , JAMES WALTER BECKETT JAMES WALTER BECKETT , who succeeded him as head of the business, and JOHN WALLACE BECKETT. JOHN WALLACE BECKETT.

Addresses: Work: 28 King Street South, <=1874->=1883; 28 King Street South & Ringsend, 1887; Ringsend Road & Barrow Street, <=1896->=1915.
Home: 17 Grosvenor Place, Rathmines, 1883; 7 Kildare Street, 1887; Riverside, Herbert Road, Sandymount, <=1896-1915.




References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Thom's and Post Office directories.

(1) RIAI Year Book (1962), 41; Anthony Cronin, Samuel Beckett: the last modernist (1997), ?.
(2) William Beckett was the grandfather of the author Samuel Beckett.
(3) Building News 105, 18 Jul 1913, 95.
(4) Building News 96, 12 Feb 1909, 270; 97, 11 Feb 1910, 200; 100, 17 Feb 1911, 241.
(4) AAI Yearbook 1919, 9.


3 work entries listed in chronological order for BECKETT, JAMES *


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KIRWAN STREET, HOUSES (DUBLIN ARTISANS' DWELLINGS CO.)
Date: 1879
Nature: 128 dwellings. Scheme laid out by contractor, J. Beckett & Sons.
Refs: IAA, Catalogue of Dublin Artisans' Dwellings Co. Collection, Accs. 0079/026 and 090/035. Appendix 1.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PORTOBELLO, HOUSING (DUBLIN ARTISANS' DWELLINGS CO.)
Date: 1883
Nature: Scheme of 154 dwellings laid out by contractor, J. Beckett & Son.
Refs: IAA, Catalogue of Dublin Artisans' Dwellings Co. Collection, Accs. 0079/026 and 090/035. Appendix 1

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CRAMPTON BUILDINGS (TEMPLE BAR), HOUSING SCHEME (DUBLIN ARTISANS' DWELLINGS CO.)
Date: 1889-1891
Nature: Scheme of 72 dwellings. For Dublin Artisans' Dwellings Co. Contractor: J. Beckett & Sons.
Refs: IAA, Catalogue of Dublin Artisans' Dwellings Co. Collection, Accs. 0079/026 and 090/035. Appendix 1.

Author Title Date Details
Beckett, James 'The building trade in Dublin, 1859-1909' 1909 IB Jubilee Number (1909), 29-34.