Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin. Harry Allberry was born in Liverpool on 8 December 1872, a son of Richard Allberry, mercantile clerk, and his wife Elizabeth, née Downes. His father left home when he was very young, with the result that Harry was brought up by his grandparents James and Ellen Allberry and his two maiden aunts in Islington, London, where he attended the Brewers' School. He served his articles in the office of Banister Fletcher & Sons, and studied at King's College School of Architecture, where he passed with distinction and was awarded gold, silver and bronze medals in architecture and building construction. Allberry came to Ireland in 1896 to work for WILLIAM HAGUE WILLIAM HAGUE . He then became managing assistant to WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL  WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL and subsequently worked for A. Guinness and Co. In 1901 he entered the Board of Works as an assistant surveyor;(1) serving first in the midland counties,(2) in the Cork district in 1903-4, and in the Dublin district from 1904 until 1909, when he was promoted to First Class surveyor.(3) In 1913 he became assistant Principal surveyor at the Board's Dublin headquarters, with duties including the charge of Phoenix Park and of Belfast City.(4) During the First World War, in 1917, he was seconded to the Ministry of Munitions in London.(5) He was appointed deputy principal architect to the Board in 1921.(6) After his retirement in 1935,(7) he went into private practice and was briefly in partnership with RAYMOND JAMES KAVANAGH RAYMOND JAMES KAVANAGH , from 1938-1940.(8)

Allberry was a regular contributor to the Irish Builder from about 1900 until his death, most of his contibutions before his retirement from the Office of Public Works being anonymous. He was editor from 1935 until 1941,(9) continuing to write under the names of 'Oculus' and 'Questant'. He was architectural editor from 1950 until his death.(10).

Allberry died on 23 October 1952. Short in stature, he is described as prompt, punctual, cheerful, youthful in appearance, and interested in people. He never lost his London accent. 'This accent of his', wrote JOHN O'GORMAN  JOHN O'GORMAN in the Irish Builder on Allberry's death, 'was a constant reminder that, wherever he happened to be, there was also a corner of a foreign land that was forever England, a corner filled with all the English virtues, and perhaps a few of the English imperfections.'  While he was working in Cork he had married Elizabeth Roche, daughter of Edward James Roche, proprietor of Roche's Hotel, Glengarriff, Co. Cork, on 12 October 1907.(12) She survived him, as did his son and two daughters.(13) The son, Edward Cecil Allberry (1909-1984), became a distinguished physicist in England;  one of their daughters, Hilda, became secretary of the Ireland-USSR Society.

AAI: founder member and committee member of resuscitated association, 1896; hon. sec. of building construction class, 1898;(14) hon. sec. 1899-1900,(15) 1912-14; joint vice-president, 1903-4;(16) president, 1905-6;(17) provided annual award for measured drawings known as Downes Bronze Medal, to mark his year of office as president, 1905;(18) president again 1914-15.(19)
RIAI: elected member, 1898; fellow, 1913 or 14;(20); on council 1909-1950; hon. sec. 1919-21; vice-president 1922, 1933-4;(21) president 1935-7;(22) 1st Hon. Sec. of Board of Architectural Education, 1922;(23) active member of various committees including joint committee with RSUA;  resigned 1942.(24)
RIBA: associate, 1901; active in organization of RIBA conferences in Dublin in 1931(25) and 1939.
Institution of Professional Civil Servants: first president.

Addresses:(26) Work: 14 Molesworth St, 1938.
Home: 10 Leinster Sq. Rathmines, 1898-1904; 5 Villiers Rd, Rathgar, 1915; 3 Neville Rd, Rathgar, <=1933-1941; 24 Whitebeam Ave, Clonskeagh, 1942->=1949.

See WORKS and BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

All information inthis entry not otherwise accounted for is from the biographies of Allberry in Dictionary of Irish Biography; AAI Green Book (1914-15), 9-12; JRIAI (1935), 11-12 (by R.M. Butler); IB 76, 15 Dec 1934, 1065, and from the obituaries in RIBAJ 60 (1952-3), 70; IB 94, 8 Nov 1952, 1047-8 (by John O'Gorman, repr. in RIAI Year Book (1953, 18-20). Photographs of Allberry appear in AAI Green Book (1914-15), 8; IB 56, 7 Nov 1914, 613; 74, 27 Feb 1932, 200; 76, 15 Dec 1934, 1065; 77, 12 Jan 1935, 10; 94, 8 Nov 1952, 1047;  Architect & Building News 126, 19 Jun 1931, 379;  Weekly Irish Times, 25 Jul 1931 (group photograph at unveiling of memorial to Dr Goerge Coffey);  JRIAI (1935), frontispiece, and 'Architecture Yesterday and Today', supplement to Irish Times, 21 Jun 1939, 28.


(1) IB 43, 30 Jan 1901, 606.
(2) IB 44, 15 Jan 1903, 1558.
(3) Board of Works Records.
(4) IB 55, 10 May 1913, 301.
(5) IB 59, 28 Apr 1917, 207.
(6) IB 63, 5 Nov 1921, 726.
(7) IB 77, 9 Feb 1935, 90, 9 Mar 1935, 174.
(8) IB 80, 22 Jan 1938, 49.
(9) IB 77, 12 Jan 1935, 10.
(10) For a discussion of Allberry's contributions to IB, see Rothery, 103-108.
(11) IB 50, 4 Apr 1908, 198.
(12) According to a notice of his death in IB 50, 4 Apr 1908, 198, Edward James Roche had practised as an architect for many years in England 'where he was associated with several buildings of considerable importance'.
(13) The son, Edward Cecil Allberry (1909-1984), who won a gold medal and Moderatorship in Experimental Science at TCD and a research scholarship at Cambridge(IB 74, 22 Oct 1932, 933), became a distinguished physicist in England.
(14) IB 40, 15 May 1898, 74.
(15) See note 1 above.
(16) Irish Times, 22 Apr 1903.
(17) IB 47, 4 Nov 1905, 765; AAI Green Book (1906), 51; IB 49, 20 Apr 1907, 294.
(18) IB 47, 25 Mar 1905, 185.
(19) IB 56, 7 Nov 1914, 613.
(20) JRIAI (1914), 7.
(21) JRIAI (1934), 7.
(22) IB 76, 29 Dec 1934, 1114, 1120; 77, 20 Apr 1935, 306;
(23) IB 79, 6 Mar 1937, 207.
(24) RIAI Year Book (1943 & 1944), 10.
(25) IB 73, 4 Jul 1931, 600 (portrait photo).
(26) From Thom's Directories and RIAI and AAI membership lists.


9 work entries listed in chronological order for ALLBERRY, HARRY


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PEARSE STREET, NO. 153-154 (DEPARTMENT OF POSTS & TELEGRAPHS)
Date: 1925
Nature: Adaptation of office block fronting Pearse St and site adjacent to Westland Row station (formerly occupied by Burke's Distillery and before that by Meade's building works) to providef Sorting Office, Postmen's Office and Returned Letter Branch for General Post Office. Work carried out in 4 months by direct labour for Office of Public Works.
Refs: Irish Times, 5 Mar 1925(illus.)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KILDARE STREET, LEINSTER HOUSE (DAIL EIREANN)
Date: 1928-29
Nature: Oireachtas restaurant 'of very elaborate character', consisting of domed dining room with teak panelled walls and enriched plaster ceilingwith kitchens, also smaller dining room, bar, lounge, foyer, kitchens, &c. tenders invited, Jun 1928.  Contractor: Kenny & Sons, Harcourt Rd..
Refs: Jones file A22, refs. not given;   Irish Times, 14 Jun 1928;   IB 71, 2 Mar 1929, 173

Building: CO. CORK, BALLYVOURNEY, COLÁISTE NA MUMHAN
Date: 1933
Nature: Extension. With T.J. Byrne. Contractor: John Kearns & Son. Estimated cost: £63,804.
Refs: IAA, PKS 0187, A09 (May 1933)

Building: CO. CARLOW, BAGENALSTOWN, TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIUM
Date: 1936
Nature: -
Refs: IB 78, 25 Jul 1936, 665

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CATHAL BRUGHA STREET, NOS. 011-12 (SACKVILLE PRESS)
Date: 1936
Nature: Extension
Refs: IB 78, 19 Sep 1936, 853

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, TRINITY STREET, NO. 010-12 (PHOENIX ASSURANCE CO.)
Date: 1936
Nature: Improvements
Refs: IB 78, 12 Dec 1936, 1131

Building: CO. DUBLIN, STILLORGAN, HOUSE
Date: 1937
Nature: -
Refs: IB 79, 6 Feb 1937, 129

Building: CO. DUBLIN, STILLORGAN ROAD, [WHITE'S CROSS], NEW PARK
Date: 1937
Nature: Design(?) for New Park, exh. RHA.
Refs: RHA 1937, no. 248

Building: CO. LOUTH, ARDEE, ST BRIGID'S MENTAL HOSPITAL
Date: 1949
Nature: Repairs & alts, with Kavanagh
Refs: IB 82, 27 Apr 1940, 282

Author Title Date Details
Allberry, Harry 'Architectural Education in Ireland'
1902 Letter to editor of  Irish Times, 17 Oct 1902, published in Irish Times, 22 Oct 1902.
Allberry, Harry 'To the profession'(poem) 1905 IB 47, 30 Dec 1905, 947.
Allberry, Harry [President's inaugural address to AAI] 1905 AAI Green Book (1906), 9; IB 47, 21 Oct, 4 Nov 1905, 733,762
Allberry, Harry [President's inaugural address to AAI] 1905 AAI Green Book (1915), 14; IB 56, 7,21 Nov 1914, 612,634.
Allberry, Harry 'Cinderella 1919 IB 61, 19 Apr 1919, 182.
Allberry, Harry 'Rough quarries, rocks and hills about Bangor slate quarries' 1923 IB 65, 1 Dec 1923, 914.
Allberry, Harry 'The Housing (Building Facilitiies) Act, 1924' 1924 IB 66, 17,31 May,28 Jun 1924, 429,473,565.
Allberry, Harry 'Civic Institution of Ireland' 1924 IB 66, 4 Oct 1924, 857.
Allberry, Harry 'Reconstruction of the Custom House' 1925 IB 67, 21 Mar 1925, 222.
Allberry, Harry 'Reconstruction of the G.P.O.' 1925 IB 67, 4 Apr 1925, 262.
Allberry, Harry 'Reconstruction of the Four Courts' 1925 IB 67, 7 Mar, 25 Jul 1925, 169,617.
Allberry, Harry 'A new aspect of the housing problem' 1925 IB 67, 21 Feb 1925, 145.
Allberry, Harry 'Great undertakings: a visit to the Shannon Scheme' 1929 IB 71, 8 Jun 1929, 496.
Allberry, Harry 'Architects to Confer'(outline of RIBA Conference programme 1931 IB 73, 6 Jun 1931, 490.
Allberry, Harry 'The British Architects' Conference, Cambridge 1933' 1933 IB 75, 1 Jul 1933, 54.
Allberry, Harry [President's inaugural address to RIAI] 1934 JRIAI (1935), 13.
Allberry, Harry 'The Drawing Board Postulalnt' 1935 Article in AAI Green Book (1936), 35-39
Allberry, Harry 'A speculative indiscretion' 1938 JRIAI (1938), 25.
Allberry, Harry 'President, portraits and messenger boy' 1939 IB 81, 13 May 1939, 385.
Allberry, Harry 'A Dublin doorway' (poem) 1939 IB 81, 28 Oct 1939, 895.
Allberry, Harry 'A register of engineers: a comprehensive measure' 1942 IB 84, 6 Jun 1942, 208.
Allberry, Harry 'Saving historic buildings: a plea for preservation' 1942 IB 84, 23 May 1942, 189.
Allberry, Harry 'Engineers and registration' 1943 IB 85, 16 Jan 1943, 30.
Allberry, Harry 'Planning building operations' 1944 IB 86, 26 Feb 1944, 84.
Allberry, Harry 'National Planning Exhibition' 1944 IB 86, 22 Apr 1944, 161.
Allberry, Harry 'Philosphy and Practice: the Handbook of National Planning' 1944 IB 86, 20 May 1944, 200.
Allberry, Harry 'Professional propaganda' 1944 IB 86, 12 Feb 1944, ?.
Allberry, Harry 'Architectural Education: R.I.B.A.'s Special Committee Report' 1946 IB 88, 29 Jun, 7 Sep 1946 382,560.
Allberry, Harry 'American Colonial Architecture: Dublin exhibition' 1947 IB 89, 4 Oct 1947, ?.
Allberry, Harry 'Humble Regency architecture' 1947 IB 89, 8 Feb 1947, 86.
Allberry, Harry 'Dublin' 1947 B ?, 6 Jun 1947, 548-550.
Allberry, Harry 'Office stool or atelier' 1949 JRIAI (1949), 16.
Anon. 'The success of the conference in Dublin: Mr Harry Allberry's work' 1931 IB 73, 4 Jul 1931, 600.
Anon. 'Architects' Conference in Dublin' 1931 AJ 73, 24 Jun 1931, 886.