Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect and surveyor, of Dublin, Cork and Belfast.  William Butler, son of John Butler, of Tower Lodge, Sandymount, Dublin, was born circa 1849.(1)  From circa 1874 until 1896 her was in partnership with EDWARD GRIBBON  EDWARD GRIBBON as Gribbon & Butler, quantity surveyors. He was the author of a series of articles on the proposed restoration of Christ Church cathedral by GEORGE EDMUND STREET GEORGE EDMUND STREET , which appeared in the Irish Builder in 1871 and were published in book form the same year. Thirty years later, in 1901, he published an illustrated history and description of the cathedral, in which his hostility to Street's work is clearly evident.  This was followed in 1905 by a pamphlet criticising Street's choice of Caen stone for the external details of the cathedral, which, according to an article on the pamphlet which appeared in the Irish Times, were 'now virtually falling to pieces owing to climatic influences'.(2) 

William Butler died at his home in Sandymount at the age of sixty-one on 27 August 1910.(3)  He is probably the 'Mr Butler of Dublin' who was appointed surveyor to take measurements for the building of the towers and spires of St Finn Barre's cathedral, Corl, in 1876.(4)

AAI: committee member, 1872.(5)
RIAI: associate by 1870;(6) submitted drawings and a description of Christ Church cathedral in the Fitzgerald Memorial Prize competition, 1871,(7) and published a folio volume of the drawings, 1874;(8)  elected member, November 1878, but membership cancelled because he did not pay his subscription.(9)
GLFI: William Butler, architect of Sandycove(sic), was a candidate for admission to Lodge 25, Dublin, in 1879.(10)

Addresses:(11) Work: 179 Brunswick Street, 1872-1873;(12) 64 Sackville Street Upper and 8 South Mall, Cork, 1874; 37 Dawson Street, 1875-1882; 54 Harcourt Street 'and Belfast', 1887-1893; 54 Harcourt Street, 1894-1896; 58 Mountjoy Square, 1897-1900.
Home: Tower Lodge, 123 Strand Road, Sandymount, 1870-1875;(13) 'Kingstown', 1879-1882; 125 Strand Road, Sandymount, 1892-1893; 24 Palmerston Road, Rathmines, 1894-1896.

See WORKS and BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY



References



(1) Weekly Irish Times, 10 Sep 1910.
(2) Irish Times, 5 Jun 1905.
(3) See note 1, above.
(4) Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 18, no. 201, 24 Feb 1876, 48.
(5) IB IB 14, 1 Jul 1872, 190. Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 18, no. 201, 24 Feb 1876, 48.
(6) RIAI Sessional Papers 1863-4 to 1869-70, list of members.
(7) IB 13, 1,15 Mar 1871, ?,? (description and drawings reproduced).
(8) Hugh Pagan, Catalogue of Architectural Drawings, no. 17 (1993), item 20.
(9) IAA, RIAI office archives (Acc. 93/136), membership forms 1878-1909 (extremely fragile).
(10) GLFI archives.
(11) From Thom's & Post Office Directories, and Jones's transcripts from Thom's directories.
(12) Butler may have been working in the office of either J.E. Rogers, William Stirling, or J.F. Fuller, all of whom had offices at 179 Great Brunswick St in 1874.
(13) RIAI membership list, 1870, see note 1, above.


3 work entries listed in chronological order for BUTLER, WILLIAM [2]


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SANDYMOUNT, ST JOHN'S PAROCHIAL HALL
Date: 1880-83
Nature: WB prepared designs 'some years ago'. His offer to services gratuitously refused. Select Vestrydecided to ask him for 2 further designs for a hall with 2 classrooms at end. Completed and
opened on 9 Apr 1883. Close to church. 52 x 25 with a convenient classroom in the rere.
Refs: Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 22, no. 11, 13 Mar 1880, 226; 25, no. 173, 28 Apr 1883, 355

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SANDYMOUNT, ST JOHN'S PAROCHIAL HALL
Date: 1880-83
Nature: WB prepared designs 'some years ago'. His offer to services gratuitously refused. Select Vestrydecided to ask him for 2 further designs for a hall with 2 classrooms at end. Completed and
opened on 9 Apr 1883. Close to church. 52 x 25 with a convenient classroom in the rere.
Refs: Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 22, no. 11, 13 Mar 1880, 226; 25, no. 173, 28 Apr 1883, 355

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, NO. 175-177 (NATIONAL BANK)
Date: 1897
Nature: Plans by 'Mr William Butler, of Mountjoy Square'.
Refs: IB 39, 15 Aug 1897, 164

Author Title Date Details
Butler, William Christ Church Cathedral and the Synod Hall.  Observations on the proposed restoration of the Cathedral and suggestions as to the site for the new Synod Hall. Reprinted from 'The Irish Builder'. 1871 Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Co., 1871. (Reprint of articles originally published in IB 13, 1,15 Mar 1871.)
Butler, William Measured drawings of Christ Church prior to the restoration 1874 1874.
Butler, William The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity Dublin (Christ Church): a description of its fabric and a brief history of the foundation, and subsequent changes 1901 London: Elliott Stock, 1901. (Copy in IAA.)
Butler, William 'Mr Bumpus on Italian architecture'
1907 Letter published in  Irish Times, 30 Oct 1907.