Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Engineer, of Kilkenny, London and Waterford. James Francis Reade was born in Kilkenny City on 4 June 1863. He was probably a member of the same family as the Kilkenny building contractors Reade & Son, for it was in this firm that he served a three-year pupilage from April 1879 to April 1882 and continued to work until August 1885. He studied civil engineering at the Royal College of Science in Dublin from October 1885 until May 1888; after completing his studies he was engaged by JOHN GEORGE GAMBLE JOHN GEORGE GAMBLE , Chief Hydraulic Engineer in Ireland, on arterial drainage schemes for the rivers Barrow and Bann. In September 1889 he moved to London to work for Lewis Angell on the West Ham main drainage scheme. It was Angell who proposed him for membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers the following year.

Reade is first mentioned in the Irish Builder on 15 March 1894 as having given a paper on 'The Applications of Water Power' to the Civil and Mechnical Engineers Society.(1) The following September he won the competition for designing a water supply scheme for Kilkenny.(2) He had returned to live in Kilkenny by October 1895 and appears to have remained there until about 1904.  In 1901, while he was still in Kilkenny, he was employed by the American millionaire, Howard Gould, to make survey plans of Kilkenny Castle, so that a replica could be erected as a residence for Gould at Sands Point, Long Island.(3) A second period in London followed. He came back to Ireland in 1909 or 1910, this time to Waterford, where he stayed until his death on 17 August 1927.  He was architect to Athy Urban District Council in 1912, when he designed twenty-one workers' houses for that body.(4)

The Irish Architectural Archive holds detail drawings by Reade for a shopfront in Kilkenny, 1901, in the Carberry Collection, Acc. 85/200.51/1, and for a bay window at Borris Lodge, Co. Carlow, 1925, in the same collection, Acc. 85/200.25/1,2.

ICEI: elected member, 1 January 1920;(5) reads paper, 'Lead poisoning and water supplies', 6 December 1920.(6)
Inst.CE: elected associate member, 3 February 1891.(7)
RSAI: elected member, 1 October 1912;(8) participates in discussion on work at Four Courts, 2 April 1928.(9)

Addresses: 55 Claremont Road, Forest Gate, London E, 1891; John Street, Kilkenny, <=1895->=1900;(10) The Parade, Kilkenny, 1902; 9 Bridge Street, Westminster, <=1904->=1906;(11) 26 Belsize Square, London W., 1908; London, 1909;(12) 28 Barronstrand Street, Waterford, 1910-1926; 61 or 21 Great George's Street, Waterford, 1926-1927.(13)

See WORKS and BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the records of the Insitution of Civil Engineers, London, kindly supplied by Mrs Carol Morgan, archivist.


(1) IB 36, 15 Mar 1894, 73.
(2) IB 36, 15 Sep 1894, 213.
(3) he considerably modified 'replica' was never built in its entirety - only the stable block and offices were carried out -  but in 1905 became the subject of protracted litigation between the Goulds and their American architect, Abner J. Haydel (see newspaper cuttings in Kilkenny Castle scrapbook in IAA, Acc. 77/9.95). The main house was built in a Tudor Gothic idiom in 1912.
(4) Irish Times, 2 Jul 1912.
(5) TICEI 46 (1919-20), 51.
(6) TICEI 47 & 48 (1920-22), 12-38; IB 63, 12 Feb 1921, 89.
(7) Min.Proc.Inst.CE 104 (1890-91), 88.
(8) JRSAI 42 (1912), 351.
(9) JRSAI 54 (1929), ?.
(10) IB 42, 1 May 1900, 356.
(11) IB 48, 5 May 1906, 377.
(12) IB 51, 10 Jul 1909, 437.
(13) Given as 21 in Inst.CE records and as 61 in ICEI lists of members.


13 work entries listed in chronological order for READE, JAMES FRANCIS


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Building: CO. KILKENNY, KILKENNY, WATER SUPPLY
Date: 1894
Nature: JFR wins competition for designing water supply scheme from among 14 competitors. Estimated cost: £21,500. For Kilkenny Corporation.
Refs: IB 36, 15 Mar 1894, 73

Building: CO. KILKENNY, KILKENNY, HEBRON ROAD, UNION WORKHOUSE
Date: 1898
Nature: Proposed new dormitory annexe.
Refs: IB 40, 15 Jul,1 Aug 1898, 109,119

Building: CO. KILKENNY, KILKENNY, PARLIAMENT STREET, BUSINESS PREMISES
Date: 1900
Nature: Tenders invited for rebuilding large business premises consisting of shop & house, Apr 1900.
Refs: Irish Times, 23 Apr 1900;   B 78, 28 Apr 1900, 431; IB 42, 1,15 May 1900, 356,362.

Building: CO. KILKENNY, KILKENNY, SHOP
Date: 1901
Nature: New shopfront for - Crotty.
Refs: Detail drawing, s. & d. 1901, in IAA, Carberry Collection, Acc. 85/200.51/1

Building: CO. KILDARE, ATHY, WATER SUPPLY
Date: 1905-07
Nature: JFR appointed chief engineer, Oct 1905. Works opened, 7 Feb 1907. Resident Engineer: Alfred Burgess. For Athy UDC.
Refs: IB 48, 10 Feb,5 May 1906, 110,377; 49, 23 Mar 1907, 205; B 90, 23 Jun 1906, 717;  TCH Archives: Kilkenny Nationalist, http://archives.tcm.ie/kildarenationalist/2000/03/10/story6639.asp (last visited Oct 2009).

Building: CO. KILDARE, ATHY, HOUSING SCHEME
Date: 1909-1912
Nature: Reade winner of competition, 1909; appointed architect for artisans' dwellings scheme, 1910. 21 houses to be built, 1911 (Contr: H.A. Hamilton, Waterford) and 21 ?more, 1912 (Contrs: D. Carberry and D. Toomey, Athy, & M.J. Sweeny, Portarlington)
Refs: IB 51, 10 Jul,4 Sep 1909, 437,565; 52, 14 May,15 Oct 1910, 326,634; 53, 2 Sep 1911, 598; 54, 6 Jul,3 Aug 1912, 406,458; IA&C 1, 25 Feb 1911, 60;  Irish Times, 2 Jul 1912.

Building: CO. TIPPERARY, CARRICK-ON-SUIR, WATER SUPPLY
Date: 1910
Nature: High pressure water supply fed by lake in gorge of Comeragh mountains. Cost: £7,375. Completion of scheme subject of arbitration between Carrick UDC and contractors, Martin & Co., Drogheda, 1914.
Refs: Building News 100, 10 Mar 1911, 349; 106, 20 Feb 1914, 279; IB 52, 1 Apr,2 Sep,24 Dec 1910, 221,605,792;

Building: CO. CARLOW, TULLOW, HOUSES
Date: 1911
Nature: Proposed housing scheme for district of Tullow.
Refs: IB 53, 21 Jan 1911, 52; IA & C 1, 28 Jan 1911, ?

Building: CO. KILDARE, ATHY, TOWN HALL
Date: 1913
Nature: Improvements.
Refs: IB 55, 24 May 1913, 351

Building: CO. WATERFORD, TRAMORE, SEA FRONT
Date: 1913
Nature: Improvements costing £4,414. Contractor: P. Costen.
Refs: IB 55, 16 Aug 1913, 534

Building: CO. KILKENNY, KILKENNY, DRAINAGE & SEWERAGE
Date: 1913
Nature: JFR plans for scheme costing £22,000 approved by town council.
Refs: Building News 105, 12,19 Dec 1913, 851,887

Building: CO. WATERFORD, WATERFORD, MALL, ADELPHI HOTEL
Date: 1914
Nature: Alts. Contractor: Hearne & Son.
Refs: IB 56, 9 May 1914, 295

Building: CO. CARLOW, BORRIS LODGE
Date: 1925
Nature: Tenders invited for rebuilding of same for Major Kavanagh, Apr 1925.
Refs: Drawing and letter re Insertion of bay window(s)? in IAA, Carberry Collection, Acc. 85/200.25/1,2;  Irish Times, 9 Apr 1925.