Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin. Robert Donnelly, son of Robert Donnelly of Holywood, Co. Down, was born in 1877 and educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast. He served his pupilage with JOHN JOSEPH MCDONNELL  JOHN JOSEPH MCDONNELL of Belfast and was then an assistant in the offices of JAMES ST JOHN PHILLIPS  JAMES ST JOHN PHILLIPS in Belfast and FREDERICK BATCHELOR  FREDERICK BATCHELOR in Dublin.(1) In about 1906 he entered into partnership with JAMES MOORE. JAMES MOORE. (2) Both partners served in the Great War: Moore joined the Royal Engineers in 1916, followed by Donnelly in 1917.(3) At about the same time they formed an association with CYRIL KEEFE CYRIL KEEFE , who was also serving in the war, and JOHN JOSEPH ROBINSON. JOHN JOSEPH ROBINSON. (4) After the war the four men practised together from American Chambers, Sackville Street, until 1925, when Keefe and Robinson set up their own practice in Merrion Square, leaving Donnelly, Moore and W.S. KEATINGE  KEATINGE in the Sackville Street office. The partnership of DONNELLY MOORE & DONNELLY MOORE & amp; KEATINGE  KEATINGE lasted until 1937, when the three architects went their separate ways. By 1943 Donnelly had formed a new partnership with D.L. MARTIN. MARTIN. (5) Donnelly was engaged in public housing schemes in Galway, Cobh, Blackrock, and and Wexford.(6)

Donnelly died in 1948, leaving a widow, daughter of Herbert Kennedy, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, who eventually emigrated to New Zealand, and at least one child, a daughter.(7) Writing in the RIAI Year Book for 1949,(8) J.J. Robinson paid tribute to his 'strong personal character and his firm convictions as an Architect, designer and Constructional Engineer', praising the skill and courage manifest in 'his fine qualities as a designer in what is now the "old school" and his daring use of reinforced concrete'. Donnelly's partnership with Martin having come to an end before his death, his practice was bought by GEOFFREY HENRY GEOFFREY HENRY , who ran it under the name of Donnelly & Henry although there was no longer any connection with the Donnelly family.(9)

AAI:(10) member, 1903; winner of Institute Prize and Travelling Studentship, 1904; hon. sec., 1907-9;  gives lecture on 'Architecture and the Public', 21 November 1921.(1)
RIAI: elected member, 1922;(11) fellow, 4 Apr 1946 (proposed by ALFRED E. JONES ALFRED E. JONES , VINCENT KELLY  VINCENT KELLY and WILLIAM HENRY HOWARD COOKE WILLIAM HENRY HOWARD COOKE )(13)
RIBA: passed preliminary examination for qualification as probationer, June 1901;(14) student, 1902.(15)

Addresses:(16) Work: 19 Nassau Street, 1907-1912; 36 Nassau Street, 1913-1917; 11 Fleet Street, 1918-1919; American Chambers, 14-15 O'Connell Street Lower, 1921-1936; 63-64 O'Connell Street Upper, 1937-48.
Home: Lower Martello Terrace, Holywood, Co. Down, 1901-1902;(17) 64 Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, 1904;  19 Sydney Avenue, Blackrock, 1911; Wandera, Dublin Road, Sutton, 1945-48.

See WORKS.

For the purposes of this database all works executed between 1906 and 1915 are listed under DONNELLY & DONNELLY & amp; MOORE; all works between 1916 and 1925 under DONNELLY MOORE KEEFE & DONNELLY MOORE KEEFE & amp; ROBINSON ROBINSON ; all works between 1915 and 1933 under DONNELLY MOORE & DONNELLY MOORE & amp; KEATINGE KEATINGE ; all works after 1943 under DONNELLY & DONNELLY & amp; MARTIN. MARTIN.



References



(1) Information about Donnelly's early life and career is from E. Macdowel Cosgrave, ed., Dublin and County Dublin in the Twentieth Century (1908), 266, which also has a portrait photograph of him.
(2) Before this he may possibly have worked for a while for Dublin Corporation, as Jones has a reference to 'Robert Donnolly' as a building surveyor for Dublin Corporation, taken from IB 43, 27 Feb 1901, 641.
(3) Rolls of honour in AAI Green Books, 1916-1919.
(4) Confusingly Keefe and Robinson in 1912 had taken on the work in hand of the civil engineer George T. Moore, so that their practice was already been known as Moore, Keefe & Robinson. Was James Moore related to George Moore, and was this the reason for the association? (5Information about Donnelly's various partnerships is inferred from notices of works in IB and RIAI lists of members.
(6) According to J.J. Robinson's obituary in RIAI Year Book (1949), 25, he was 'Town Planning architect for Wexford'.
(7) Information from Geoffrey C.F. Henry in telephone call of 9 May 1995.
(8) See note 6, above.
(9) See note 7, above.
(10) Information from AAI Green Books.
(11) Irish Times, 22 Nov 1921.
(12) JRIAI (1923), 4.
(13) Jones files, citing RIAI minutes?
(14) RIBAJ 8 (1900-1901), 435.
(15) RIBAJ 10 (1902-3), 81.
(16) Information from AAI and RIAI lists of members and Thom's Directories unless otherwise stated.
(17) See notes 13 and 14, above.


14 work entries listed in chronological order for DONNELLY, ROBERT


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Building: CO. WICKLOW?, NEWCASTLE, CHURCH (PROPOSED)
Date: 1907a
Nature: -
Refs: Design for proposed church exh. Irish International Exhibition 1907, 382

Building: CO. DUBLIN, BLACKROCK, HOUSES
Date: 1909
Nature: Housing scheme in vicinity of Prince Edward Terrace for Blackrock Urban District Council.
Refs: Freeman's Journal,  1 Jul,26 Nov 1909.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, ?, HOUSES
Date: 1915
Nature: RD and John Joseph Robinson appointed architects 'respectively' for 2 artisans' dwellings schemes.
Refs: IB 5;7, 28 Aug 1915, 377

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BALDOYLE, RACECOURSE
Date: 1919
Nature: Reinforced concrete grandstand.
Refs: Biography of RD in Irish Times, 21 Jun 1934;  Paul Larmour, Free State Architecture:  Modern Movement architecture in Ireland, 1922-1949 (Kinsale: Gandon Editions, 2009), 8,11(illus.),12.

Building: CO. WEXFORD, TAGHMON, DISPENSARY RESIDENCE
Date: 1936
Nature: -
Refs: IB 78, 11 Jul 1936, 617

Building: CO. TIPPERARY, TEMPLEMORE, FACTORY
Date: 1937
Nature: Architect 'Mr Donnelly'.
Refs: IB 79, 30 Oct 1937, 966

Building: CO. WEXFORD, WEXFORD, TOWN HALL
Date: 1937
Nature: New. With E.J. Morris. Tenders invited Dec 1937.
Refs: IB 79, 17 Apr,11 Dec 1937, 361,1107

Building: CO. WEXFORD, KILLENAGH, DISPENSARY RESIDENCE
Date: 1937
Nature: New.
Refs: IB 77, 23 Jan 1937, 85; 83, 5 Jul 1941, 332

Building: CO. CARLOW, CARLOW, DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUM
Date: 1937-38
Nature: Adds. & alts.
Refs: IB 79, 3 Apr 1937, 313; 80, 5 Feb 1938, 113

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ABBEY STREET MIDDLE, NO. 098-101 (ADELPHI CINEMA)
Date: 1937-39
Nature: With William R. Glen. On site of old Plaza. Builder: E. Stone & Sons. Opened 13 Jan 1939.
Refs: IB 79, 11 Dec 1937, 1101; 80, 17 Sep,1 Oct 1938, 788,840; Sean Rothery, Ireland and the New Architecture 1900-1940 (1991), 187; Eve McAulay, 'The Temples of the new Entertainment': the architecture of the Irish picture house', Irish Arts Review Yearbook 14 (1998), 172,173(illus.).

Building: CO. WEXFORD, WELLS, DISPENSARY RESIDENCE
Date: 1937-41
Nature: New.
Refs: IB 77, 23 Jan 1937, 85; 83, 5 Jul 1941, 332

Building: CO. WEXFORD, NEW ROSS, TECHNICAL SCHOOL
Date: 1938-39
Nature: Extension.
Refs: IB 80, 29 Oct 1938, 919; 81, 27 May,23 Dec 1939, 462,1027

Building: CO. WEXFORD, BALLINADAGGIN, DISPENSARY
Date: 1942
Nature: -
Refs: IB 84, 28 Feb 1942, 96

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NORTH BULL ISLAND, ROYAL DUBLIN GOLF CLUB
Date: ?
Nature: Named by J.J.Robinson as one of RD's principal works.
Refs: Obituary of RD by J.J. Robinson in RIAI Year Book 1949, 25