Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin. Randal Macdonnell was probably a brother of the landscape painter James MacDonnell, who, according to Strickland, was 'a son of Myles McDonnell, who carried on the business of Randal McDonnell and Co., 2 Beresford Place'.(1) By 1850 both Randal and James were living at 41 Mountpleasant Square, Ranelagh, probably with their widowed mother.(2) Randal MacDonnell was admitted to the Royal Dublin Society's School of Drawing in Architecture on 6 November 1845. In 1850 he exhibited elevations and a perspective outline of St Laurence O'Toole's church, North Strand, Dublin, at the Royal Hibernian Academy (nos. 330 and 331), which suggests that he may have been working in the office of JOHN B[ENJAMIN JOHN B[ENJAMIN ?] KEANE. KEANE.



References



(1) W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 58.
(2) Both James and Randal exhibited at the RHA from this address in 1850; The Post Office Directory for1853 lists the householder as Mrs Mary MacDonnell.