Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Monumental sculptor, of Dublin. James Pearse, who was born in London in 1839, was brought to Dublin from Birmingham by CHARLES WILLIAM HARRISON  CHARLES WILLIAM HARRISON circa 1860 to be foreman of his monumental sculpture workshop at 178 Great Brunswick Street.(1) In the early 1870s he formed a partnership with PATRICK J. O'NEILL  PATRICK J. O'NEILL (or Neill). The partnership of O'Neill (or Neill) & Pearse, which had its workshop at 182 Great Brunswick Street, was dissolved circa 1875. Pearse moved to new premises and in about 1878 took his foreman, EDMUND SHARP EDMUND SHARP (2) into partnership. This second partnership was dissolved in 1888, after which Pearse worked on his own. He died suddenly in 1900 in Birmingham while on a visit to his brother.

Pearse married twice. By his second wife, Margaret Brady, whom he married in 1877, he had two daughters and two sons. After his death, the business was carried on for a few years under the name JAMES PEARSE & JAMES PEARSE & amp; SONS by his younger son, the sculptor William Pearse (1881-1916), with some help from his more famous elder son, Patrick Pearse (1879-1916). Both Patrick and William were executed for their part in the Easter Rising of 1916. A collection of material relating to James Pearse, including architectural books, models for his sculptures, and drawings, is in the Pearse Museum, St Enda's, Rathfarnham, Dublin.

Addresses: Work: 182 Great Brunswick Street, <=1874->=1875; 27 Great Brunswick Street, <=1879(3)-1900.
Home: 9 Great Clarence Street, 1874-1875; 5 George's Villas, Sandymount, 1900.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Theo Snoddy's account of William Pearse in Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century (1996), 389, and from an article on Sharp in IB 46, 18 Jun 1904, 372. Two photographs of Pearse are in Pat Cooke, Sceal Scoil Eanna: the story of an educational adventure(Office of Public Works, 1986), 5 & 6.

(1) According to Cooke, op. cit., above, 5, Pearse came to Ireland in the 1850s, but Harrison came to Ireland only in 1859 and did not set up in business until 1860.
(2) Not to be confused with the English architect Edmund Sharpe (1809-1877) and apparently no connection with Alfred P. Sharp, architectural sculptor of 17 Great Brunswick Street, active in the 1870s.
(3) Irish Times, 15 Nov 1879.


11 work entries listed in chronological order for PEARSE, JAMES *


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BERKELEY STREET, CHURCH OF ST JOSEPH (RC)
Date: 1880
Nature: Carving by James Pearse and Earley & Powells.
Refs: Irish Times, 20 Apr 1883, 3.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SANDYMOUNT ROAD, CHURCH OF OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA (RC)
Date: 1880
Nature: JP executes pulpit and altar rail in memory of Rev. Thomas Leahy, PP, to designs by W.H. Beardwood.
Refs: Irish Times, 2 Nov 1880, 8.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BROOKVALE ROAD (DONNYBROOK), ST MARY MAGDALEN ASYLUM
Date: 1881
Nature: High altar in chapel.
Refs: Drawing in W.H. Byrne & Son collection,  IAA.

Building: CO. WESTMEATH, CLONMELLON, CHURCH OF SS PETER & PAUL (RC)
Date: 1884p
Nature: Monument to Rev. James Dowling.
Refs: Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 212

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, NO. 034 (NATIONAL BANK)
Date: 1889
Nature: Sculptural group (Eire go brágh, Hibernia &c.) in tympanum by Pearse with Edmund Sharp.
Refs: Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 413.

Building: CO. KILDARE, CASTLEDERMOT, CHURCH (RC)
Date: 1897
Nature: Altars, reredos (£496) and railings (£45). Architect: G.C. Ashlin.
Refs: Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2

Building: CO. KILDARE, ATHY, CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL (RC)
Date: 1900
Nature: Pulpit. Cost £150.
Refs: Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, JAMES'S STREET, CHURCH OF ST JAMES (RC)
Date: 1902
Nature: Altar rails. Designed by G.C. Ashlin?
Refs: Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2; ; undated design for communion rail in IAA, Ashlin & Coleman drawings collection, Acc. 76/1.68;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 630.

Building: CO. WEXFORD, NEW ROSS, AUGUSTINIAN PRIORY
Date: ?
Nature: High altar and principal side altars.
Refs: Churches of the Diocese of Ferns (Booklink, 2004), 106.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CHURCH STREET, CHURCH OF ST MARY OF THE ANGELS (RC, CAPUCHIN)
Date: ?
Nature: High altar and altar in side chapel (latter donated to St Patrick's Church, Drumalee, Co. Cavan, in 2000.
Refs: Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 245;  Kevin V. Mulligan, The Buildings of Ireland: South Ulster (2013), 198. 

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, THOMAS STREET, CHURCH OF SS AUGUSTINE & JOHN (RC)
Date: ?
Nature: Statues of 12 Apostles adorning pinnacles.
Refs: Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 628.