Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin and Ceylon. William Stirling, brother of ROBERT JOHN STIRLING ROBERT JOHN STIRLING , was born in 1840 or 1841. In 1856 he was articled to his father, JOHN STIRLING [2] JOHN STIRLING [2] . After serving as an assistant in the office of Sir THOMAS DEANE THOMAS DEANE , he started work as a draughtsman on the staff of the Board of Public Works on 1 October 1857.(1) Between 1863 and 1897 he was a frequent exhibitor of architectural designs at the Royal Hibernian Academy.(2) He also exhibited several architectural designs and landscape sketches at the Irish Exhibition in London in 1888. He exhibited far more prolifically at the Dublin Sketching Club, showing well over 250 landscape sketches between 1876 and 1898.(3) He entered many architectural competitions over a long period; his designs for Rathgar Wesleyan manse and school (1880) and Newry town hall (1890) were both selected, but only the former was executed. His son John Muir Stirling, CE, was in partnership with him circa 1898-1900.

The Directory of British Architects states that Stirling 'occasionally' assisted WILLIAM FOGERTY WILLIAM FOGERTY . The statement is perhaps supported by fact that the design for the William Smith O'Brien mausoleum which Fogerty exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1866, was 'drawn and coloured by W. Stirling' and that, after Fogerty's death in 1878, Stirling succeeded him as honorary architect to the Orthopaedic Hospital, Usher's Island.(4) The Directory also states that he was surveyor to Pembroke Township, 'Clowday' (Clontarf?) Township and Rathdown Union.

Stirling's frequent changes of address - see below - may indicate restlessness of temperament or a failure to achieve soundly-based success in Dublin, for whatever reason. On the evidence of the directories, he appears to have attempted to establish branch offices in Belfast in the mid 1870s, in Dundalk in the later 1880s and in London circa 1900. The Directory of British Architects even proposes the possibility that he might be the person of the same name who exhibited architectural designs at the Royal Academy in 1885-1888, 1892 and 1894 from three different London addresses.(5)  The Irish census of 1901 records him as living in Grosvenor Place, Rathmines, Dublin with his wife, Margaret Isabella, and daughter of the same name, but in 1907, when he was in his late sixties, he left Ireland for India. In January 1908 the Irish Builder announced that he was 'at present professionally engaged in Bombay' but would shortly leave 'to take up a responsible position in Calcutta'.(6) The Calcutta post may not have materialized, for in 1911 the Irish Builder reported that Stirling had moved to Colombo having 'previously been in Bombay ever since leaving Ireland several years ago'.(7) He was ensconced in the Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, in 1912, after which he disappears from view.

Stirling's pupils and assistants included EUGENE ADOLPHE LOGIER. EUGENE ADOLPHE LOGIER.

RIAI: elected student, 17 December 1863;(8) elected fellow, 16 January 1868, having been proposed by THOMAS DREW THOMAS DREW , WILLIAM JOHN WELLAND  WILLIAM JOHN WELLAND and JAMES HIGGINS OWEN JAMES HIGGINS OWEN ;(9) his design for an organ front wins bronze medal for best sketches of Class of Architectural Study, 20 February 1868;(10) exhibits design for villa at conversazione, December1869;(11) not on list of members after 1901.
RIBA: elected licentiate, 24 June 1912, having been proposed by RUDOLF MAXIMILIAN BUTLER RUDOLF MAXIMILIAN BUTLER , WILLIAM ALPHONSUS. SCOTT  WILLIAM ALPHONSUS. SCOTT and THOMAS JOSEPH BYRNE THOMAS JOSEPH BYRNE .
RSAI: elected member, 25 Jul 1893.(12)
Society of Architects: member, 1885.

Addresses: Work: 93 Harcourt Street, 1866; Abbey Street Lower, 1869; Brunswick Chambers, 179 Great Brunswick (Pearse) Street, 1870-1879 (and Belfast, 1875-76); 107 St Stephen's Green, 1879(13)-1887(and Dundalk, 1886-1889); 111 Grafton Street, 1888-1889; 3 Molesworth Street, 1890-1896; 27 Molesworth St, 1896;(14) 7 Grafton Street, 1897(15)-1899; 4 College Green, 1900-1906(16) (and London, 1900).
Home: 3 Eldon Terrace, 1863; Castle Cottage, Rathgar, 1865; 103 Rathgar Road, 1866; 13 Corrig Avenue (Sydenham Terrace), Dun Laoghaire, 1867(17)-1875; 14 Plevna Terrace, St Mary's Road, 1882-1884; 9 Belgrave Park, Rathmines, 1888-1889;  117 Grosvenor Place, Rathmines, 1901; Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, 1912.

See WORKS, BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the entry on Stirling in Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 (RIBA, 2001), II, 706-7, which is based on his RIBA nomination papers of 1912, Thom's directories and RHA Index, III, 187.

(1) Jones transcripts from Board of Works records; according to the Directory of British Architects he did not join the staff of the Board of Works until 1866.
(2) See Works for identified buildings; unidentified designs were as follows: designs for a church and a monument (1865, no. 455,456,461, both noted in DB 7, 1 May 1865, 11) and a design for a branch of the National Bank (1897, no. 500).
(3) See Ann M. Stewart, Irish Art Societies and Sketching Clubs(1997), II, 683-685.
(4) IB 21, 15 May 1879, 156.
(5) See Graves, IV, 264.
(6) IB 50, 11 Jan 1908, 5.
(7) IB 53, 4 Mar 1911, 129.
(8) RIAI council meeting minutes, 26 Nov 1863, 8; general meeting minutes, 17 Dec 1863, 134.
(9) RIAI council meeting minutes, 10,19 Dec 1867, 97,216; general meeting minutes, 16 Jan 1867, 218.
(10) RIAI council meeting minutes, 20 Feb 1868, 104; general meeting minutes, 19 Nov 1868, 225.
(11) IB 12, 1 Jan 1870, 4.
(12) JRSAI 23 (1893), 331.
(13) Irish Times, 13 Aug 1879..
(14) Irish Times, 30 May 1896; IB 38, 15 Jun 1896, 137.
(15) Irish Times, 19,21 Aug,18 Sep 1897.
(16)   IB 48, 15 Dec 1906, 1008.
(17) See note 8, above.


44 work entries listed in chronological order for STIRLING, WILLIAM


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Building: CO. CORK, CORK, BISHOP STREET, CATHEDRAL OF ST FINN BARRE (CI)
Date: 1862
Nature: Competition entrant. Design exh. RHA 1863.
Refs: RHA 1863, Nos. 464,467,468,472,496

Building: CO. CORK, COBH, RUSHBROOKE, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1863
Nature: WS competition entrant? Exhibits design for a church at White Point, Queenstown, at RHA 1864..
Refs: RHA 1864, nos. 407,416

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, PARK ROAD, BETHEL CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1864
Nature: Proposed new church. WS one of 16 competition entrants. Design exh. RHA.
Refs: RHA 1864, no. 459;  Irish Times, 30 Jan 1864;  General Advertiser, 6 Feb 1864; DB 6, 1.15 Apr 1864, 53,61,70

Building: CO. LIMERICK, LIMERICK, BAKER'S PLACE, CLOCK TOWER (TAIT MEMORIAL)
Date: 1866
Nature: Competition entrant. Design exh. RHA 1866.
Refs: RHA 1866, no. 531

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, CROFTON ROAD, ROYAL HARBOUR BOAT CLUB
Date: 1870
Nature: Tenders for club house invited Feb 1870. FS laid 20 Apr 1870 by Earl of Longford. Contractor: J. Cunningham, Dalkey (£600). Wings under construction, Jul 1870.
Refs: Irish Times, 29 Dec 1869,12 Feb,27 May,2 Jul 1870, 6 Apr 1871;  IB 12, 15 Feb,1 May,1870, 45,110

Building: CO. WICKLOW, WICKLOW, PRESBYTERIAN MANSE
Date: 1870
Nature: Tenders for erection of manse for Rev. George McCaughey invited, Jun-Jul 1870.
Refs: Irish Times, 23,24 Jun 1870.

Building: CO. TYRONE, STRABANE, MOUNT ST JOSEPH, CONVENT OF MERCY
Date: 1870-71
Nature: New wing for female orphans to be built. Designed by William Harte with William Stirling. To cost £1,800. Builder: M.McClelland, Derry.
Refs: IB 12, 1 Nov 1870, 256(illus.); IB 13, 1 Apr 1871, 85; Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979), 494

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NORTH STRAND ROAD (& ANNESLEY PLACE), SANE'S PROVISION MERCHANTS
Date: 1870ca
Nature: 'Gin palace' at junction of North Strand Rd and Annesley Pl. designed by 'Lanauze & Stirling' (probably Charles Lanauze and William Stirling)
Refs: IB 13, 1 Feb 1871, 37

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET LOWER, NO. 041 (ENGLISH & SCOTTISH LAW LIFE ASSURANCE ASSOCIATION)
Date: 1871
Nature: New premises. Builder: Cockburn & Son. Carving by C.W. Harrison.
Refs: IB 13, 15 Feb 1871, 40(illus., drawn by J.L.R[obinson])

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, ?, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Date: 1873
Nature: Competition entrant. Design for proposed church, at estimated cost of £4,000.
Refs: RHA 1873, no. 328; 1874, no. 280; IB 15, 1 Apr 1873, 95

Building: ENGLAND, DULWICH (LONDON), EMMANUEL CHURCH
Date: 1874
Nature: Competition entrant. Designs exh. RHA, 1874.
Refs: RHA 1874, nos. 271,278

Building: CO. WICKLOW, WICKLOW, GLEBE HOUSE
Date: 1874
Nature: New glebe house. Contractor: K. Edwards?
Refs: Set of contract drawings, signed and dated June 1874, in Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, GH/24, see RCB Librabry - Architectural Drawings, https://archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org/items/show/4660 (last visited, Mar 2017).

Building: CO. DUBLIN, CASTLEMOATE HOUSE (CLOGHRAN)
Date: 1877
Nature: Substantial enlargement of existing house in progress, for Christopher M. Dodd.  Architect: 'Mr Stirling' (William, or Robert John?)
Refs: Irish Times, 3 Sep 1877.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, EDEN QUAY, IRISH MERCANTILE CLERKS' ASSOCIATION
Date: 1880
Nature: Adds. & alts.
Refs: Irish Times, 15 Dec 1881, 3.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BRIGHTON ROAD (RATHGAR), METHODIST MANSE
Date: 1880
Nature: WS's design for manse, next to, and school, behind, Methodist Church selected in competition. In course of completion, May 1880. Also proposed spire for church designed by T. Holbrook, and opened, unfinished, in 1874.
Refs: RHA 1880, no. 488; IB 22, 1 May 1880, 131 (illus. in suppl.); D. Weir, Rathgar Methodist Church (1974), 33-38

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BRIGHTON ROAD (RATHGAR), METHODIST SCHOOL
Date: 1880
Nature: WS's design for manse, next to, and school, behind, Methodist Church selected in competition. In course of completion, May 1880. Also proposed spire for church designed by T. Holbrook, and opened, unfinished, in 1874.
Refs: RHA 1880, no. 488; IB 22, 15 Mar,1 May 1880, 83,131 (illus. in suppl.); D. Weir, Rathgar Methodist Church (1974), 33-38

Building: CO. WATERFORD, WATERFORD, CORK ROAD, HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY GHOST
Date: 1880-84
Nature: Competition entrant? Exhibits 'Design for proposed buildings for a Charitable Insitution in Waterford' at RHA 1881.
Refs: RHA 1881, no. 586

Building: CO. DUBLIN, LOUGHLINSTOWN, RATHDOWN UNION WORKHOUSE
Date: 1881
Nature: Works at same.
Refs: Irish Times, 8 Sep 1881. 9 Mar 1882..

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GRAFTON STREET, NO. 111
Date: 1881
Nature: Rebuilding. Contractor: P. Monks (£1363-12-0).
Refs: IB 23, 15 Feb 1881, 63

Building: ENGLAND, BIRKENHEAD (LANCASHIRE), TOWN HALL
Date: 1881
Nature: Competition entrant. Design exh. RHA 1883.
Refs: RHA 1883, no. 554; ?repr. IB 27, 15 Mar 1885, 88(illus.)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CIRCULAR ROAD SOUTH, DONORE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH & MANSE
Date: 1881
Nature: New church in Early English style to accommodate 500 persons dedicated 29 Jul 1881; also 12-room manse costing about £1,000.. Sundry additions to church in contemplation, to be carried out when new funds come in. Contractor: J. & W. Beckett. (Now Dublin Mosque, 2013.)
Refs: RHA 1881, nos. 582,593;  Irish Times, 30 Jul 1881, 7;  IB 23, 1 Aug 1881, 233; 26, 1 Nov,11 Dec 1884, 323,359(illus.);  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005),634.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KILDARE STREET, NATIONAL MUSEUM
Date: 1881-82
Nature: Unselected competition entrant in first competition. Design exh. RHA 1882.
Refs: Design exh. RHA, 1882, nos. 628,632

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GREEN LANES (CLONTARF), PAROCHIAL HALL
Date: 1882
Nature: New parochial hall being erected on site adjoining schoolhouse.. Contractor: G.F. Tyrrell, 25 Fitzgibbon St. Formally opened, 21 Dec 1882.
Refs: IB 24, 1 Jun 1882, 170;  Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 24, no. 156[7] ), 30 Dec 1882, 982.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CRAMPTON COURT, NO. 015 & 16, BILLIARD ROOMS
Date: 1883
Nature: Tenders invited for rebuilding same, Aug 1883.
Refs: Irish Times, 28 Aug 1883.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, EXCHEQUER STREET, NO. 011-25 (PIM BROS FURNITURE WAREHOUSE)
Date: 1883
Nature: Works at same. Builder: W. & A. Roberts.
Refs: IAA, PKS B11/39, A07, p.168 (Feb 1883)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GRAFTON STREET, NO. 108 (H.L. BARNARDO)
Date: 1883
Nature: Works at same (rebuilding?). Builder: Moyers.
Refs: IAA, PKS B11/43 and A0, p.122 (May,Dec 1883)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GEORGE'S STREET SOUTH GREAT, NO. 075-88 (PIM BROS.)
Date: 1883-84;1889
Nature: Rebuilding, 1883. Builder: W. & A. Roberts. Estimated cost £6900. Extension, 1889.
Refs: IAA, PKS 0636, B11/39, B12/16, A07, p.156 (Jan1883-Nov 1884); RHA 1889, no. 405

Building: CO. DUBLIN, CARRICKMINES (NEAR), HOUSES (2)
Date: 1884
Nature: WS prepares plans for 2 proposed labourers' cottages 'in the vicinity of Carrickmines' for Rathdown Union Board of Guardians.  Proposed scheme rejected because of excessive costs, 'the law and other costs being double that requried for the erection of the two cottages...It was the decided opinion of the majority of the board that the Act in question [Labourers' Dwellings Act] was rendered inoperative by the network of costly conditions by which its action was embarrassed, and in all probability a course will soon be adopted for simplifying and cheapening the working of an Act intended to do much good...'
Refs: Irish Times, 13 Nov 1884.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COOMBE, ST LUKE'S CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1884
Nature: Extensive improvements, including new pews, pulpit, reading desk & lectern, tiling of chancel and passages, addition of N porch, &c.. Cost over £1,500. Contractor: Ambrose Hartley, Longwood Ave.
Refs: IB 26, 1 Dec 1884, 359

Building: CO. LOUTH, DUNDALK, JOCELYN STREET, PRESBYTERIAN LECTURE HALL, SCHOOL & TEACHER'S RESIDENCE
Date: 1884-1885
Nature: About to be built in Oct 1884. Contractor: Samuel Parks & Son. Cost £1,000.
Refs: IB 26, 1 Oct 1884, 287; George Henry Bassett, Louth County Guide and Directory (1886), 273

Building: CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, DISPENSARY
Date: 1885-6
Nature: New dispensary. Plans prepared 1885. Tenders invited Jul 1886.
Refs: Wicklow Newsletter, 9 May 1885, 10 Jul 1886;  Irish Times, 18 Nov 1886.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CLONTARF, CHURCH
Date: 1889
Nature: WS exhibits 'design for a church proposed to be erected in Clontarf' at RHA. (Perhaps for Presbyterian Church, Clontarf.)
Refs: RHA 1889, no. 404

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, DAWSON STREET, NO. 001 (MORRISON'S HOTEL)
Date: 1889
Nature: Alts., involving construction of business premises in Nassau St frontage. Builder: Stephen Adams. Architect: 'Mr Stirling'.
Refs: IB 31, 15 Jun 1889, 159

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BASIN LANE, HOUSES (006)
Date: 1889
Nature: 6 workmen's houses recently erected for Mr Goff, Newbridge.
Refs: IB 31, 15 Jun 1889, 159;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005),663.

Building: CO. DOWN, NEWRY, TOWN HALL & MUNICIPAL OFFICES
Date: 1890
Nature: WS winner of first competition under motto 'Anchor'.. 11 architects competed. Adjudicator: G.C. Ashlin. 'None of the designs submitted were carried out, and the competition fell through'.
Refs: RHA 1892, no. 489; IB 32, 1 Mar,1 May,1 Jun 1890, 63,112,138; 33, 1 May,15 Dec 1891, 98,280

Building: CO. LEITRIM, CARRICK-ON-SHANNON, RECTORY
Date: 1890-91
Nature: New rectory. Old glebe house (q.v.) sold in 1886. Tenders invited, Feb-Mar 1890. First occupied, 20 Oct 1891.
Refs: Architect 43, 28 Feb 1890, suppl.p.1; IB 32, 1 Mar 1890, 63;  Clergy of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh (Ulster Historical Foundation, 2008), 287. 

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PEARSE STREET, QUEEN'S ROYAL THEATRE
Date: 1893
Nature: Alts. & imps. including construction of new proscenium wall, new seating &c. For Ellis Jones.  Re-opened 31 Jul 1893. Contractor: M. Kiernan, Talbot St. Clerk of works: Carr. Estimated cost about £2,000.
Refs: IB 35, 15 Apr, 1 Aug 1893, 97,171;  Irish Times, 20 Nov, 1 Dec 1894;  Freeman's Journal, 12 Aug 1908.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PEARSE STREET, QUEEN'S ROYAL THEATRE
Date: 1893
Nature: Alts. & imps. including construction of new proscenium wall, new seating &c. For Ellis Jones.  Re-opened 31 Jul 1893. Contractor: M. Kiernan, Talbot St. Clerk of works: Carr. Estimated cost about £2,000.
Refs: IB 35, 15 Apr, 1 Aug 1893, 97,171;  Irish Times, 20 Nov, 1 Dec 1894;  Freeman's Journal, 12 Aug 1908.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CORNMARKET, NO. 001-2 (WINSTANLEY MEMORIAL HALL)
Date: 1894-1895
Nature: New parochial hall for St Audoen's parish, built with legacy from Alderman Winstanley and further funds from his widow. Consists of large hall to accoomodate about 380 persons and six rooms.  In course of erection, May 1894.  Opened, 30 Jan 1895. Contractor: R. Good, Gt. Brunswick St. Estimated cost £2,500.
Refs: IB 36, 1 May 1894, 177;  Irish Times, 31 Jan 1895;   RHA 1896, no. 421, repr. in IB 38, 15 Jun 1896, 137(supplement).

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GOLDEN LANE, BOILEAU & BOYD
Date: 1895
Nature: Large 3-storey building over basement just completed; 'fitted up with the newest machinery for the purpose of grinding paints, &c.'. Builder: H. & J. Martin, Grand Canal St.
Refs: Irish Times, 14 Mar 1895; IB 37, 15 Mar 1895, 80.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NASSAU STREET, NO. 029 (EMPIRE RESTAURANT)
Date: 1896
Nature: Improvements  including new billiard room and smoking room for proprietor, Mr McEnteggart. 
Refs: Irish Times, 18,19 Sep 1896.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KEVIN STREET UPPER, NO. 001-011 (IVEAGH FLATS)
Date: 1896a
Nature: 4-storey block of flats to accommodate over 1,000 persons. Erected with money from Guinness Trust Building Fund. Cost: £32,000.
Refs: Irish Times, 29 Apr 1896.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, OTRANTO PLACE, HOUSE
Date: 1906
Nature: Semi-detached villa in progress. Builder: G. Hanley, Sandycove.
Refs: IB 48, 15 Dec 1906, 1008

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, MARLBOROUGH STREET, ST THOMAS'S PAROCHIAL HALL
Date: 1929ca
Nature: New hall adjoining church.
Refs: IB 71, 21 Aug 1929, 765

Author Title Date Details
Stirling, William 'The new town hall, Newry' 1891 Letter to editor, in IB 33, 15 Dec 1891, 278