Nature: |
New town hall built at expense of Benjamin Whitworth, native of Drogheda and one of wealthiest merchants in Manchester. WJB advises Corporation on drawing up specifications for competition entrants, Jan 1864, and subsequently wins competition. FS laid 24 May 1864.Opened Apr or May 1865. Site given by Mr St George Smith and building by Benjamin Whitworth. Contractor: Thomas Creaser (£2,786). (Sold to a speculator in 1879 as a consequence of Church Act because built on ground leased from the Church of Ireland, see Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 21, no. 246, 1 Sep 1879, 648.)
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Refs: |
Drawing exh. Dublin International Exhibition, 1865, no. 155; DB 6, 15 Mar,1 May,1 Jun 1864, 49,102; 7, 1 Jan,15 Apr,15 May,15 Jun 1865, 6(illus.),110,124,148; B 21, ? ? 1863, 14; 22, 12 Mar,25 Jun,1 Oct 1864, 187,472, 729; 23, 13 May 1865, 340; Freeman's Journal, 25 May 1864; Durham Dunlop (ed.), A Memoir of the professional life of William J. Barre, Esq. member of the Royal Insitute of Architects Ireland: with photographic illustrations selected from his works (Belfast: James Magill, 1868), 32, Pl. 14; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 243, Pl. 12; P.J. Geraghty, 'Urban improvement and the erection of municipal buildings in County Louth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries', County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 25, no. 3 (1995), 307-309
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