Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin, active from 1792 or earlier until 1844 or later. Edward Parke, who appears to have been the son of ROBERT PARKE ROBERT PARKE ,(1) succeeded the latter as superintending architect for the erection of the extension to the Irish House of Commons in 1792.(2) He enjoyed the patronage of John Foster, then Speaker of the Commons, who later commissioned him to design farm offices at Oriel Temple, his house at Collon, Co. Louth. Foster must also have been behind the choice of Parke as architect of Dundalk court house in 1813 and would almost certainly have contributed ideas to the design.(3)

Parke was admitted a Freeman of the City of Dublin as a member of the Corporation of Carpenters by Grace Especial at Easter 1795.(4) Like Robert Parke before him, he was architect to the Dublin Society.(5) He was also architect to the Linen Board for many years(6) and to the Trustees of the Royal Exchange.(7) As late as 1844 he appears in the Post Office Directory as architect to the Commercial Buildings Company, a post which he had held for over forty years(8) and presumably since the construction of the Commercial Buildings to his designs in Dame Street in 1796-9. The date of his death is not known.

Parke was a subscriber to Humphrey's Irish Builder's Guide (1813)(9) and to William Stitt's The Practical Architect's Ready Assistant; or Builder's Complete Companion(Dublin, 1819).

The Irish Architectural Archive holds a sheet of survey plans of the Linen and Yarn Halls illustrated with a perspective view of the entrance front of the Old Hall drawn by Parke in 1816.(Acc. 2002/185).

Addresses:(10) 31 William Street, 1794-1804; 3 William Street, 1805-1807; 50 William Street, 1808-1809; 59 William Street, 1810-1812; 48 William Street, 1813-1814; 11 Great Brunswick Street, 1815-1839 (but 148 Great Brunswick Street, 1837) 11 Great Brunswick Street and Haddington Road, 1844.

See WORKS.



References



(1) JHCI, 15, ccccix, and 16, lxxxix ff. (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(2) E.McParland, James Gandon: Vitruvius Hibernicus (1985), 204.
(3) PRONI, Foster/Massereene MSS, D/207/28/640 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44); for other letters from Parke to Foster among Foster/Massereene MSS. in PRONI, see D/207/28/634. D/207/29, T/2519/4/1289; see also 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), 312.
(4) 'An alphabetical list of the Freemen of the City of Dublin, 1774-1824', The Irish Ancestor XV (1983), Nos. 1 & 2, 98. The fact that he was admitted by Grace Especial may imply that he was not a Dubliner and was not a son of Robert Parke.
(5) J. Turpin, A School of Art in Dublin since the Eighteenth Century (1995), 121 (where he is wrongly called Robert Parke),123.
(6) In 1829 he was said to have been architect to the board for nearly forty years. NA/SPO CSORP 1829/9067; for Parke's accounts with Linen Hall, 1800-1808, see Parliamentary Papers 1808, IX (E.McP).
(7) Wilson's Dublin Directory 1810. In 1829-33 William Parke is named as the holder of this post.
(8) He is named as the Company's architect in Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1802.
(9) IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44.
(10) From Wilson's Dublin Directory and The Post Office Directory for 1839, p.450, and for 1844, p.596.


19 work entries listed in chronological order for PARKE, EDWARD


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, PARLIAMENT HOUSE
Date: 1787-1793
Nature: Supervises completion of work on House of Commons after death of Robert Parke.
Refs: Accounts, 1793-4, in PRONI Foster/Massereene MSS. D562/7523 (see PRONI E-catalogue); Dublin Penny Journal 1 (1832), 192(illus.); E.McParland, James Gandon: Vitruvius Hibernicus (1985), 204; JHCI 15, ccccix; 16, lxxxix (E. McP.)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, TOWNSEND STREET, WESTMORELAND LOCK HOSPITAL
Date: 1792
Nature: Attr. to 'B. Park' by Wright.
Refs: G.N. Wright, Historical Guide to Dublin (2nd ed., 1821), 255

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, MERRION SQUARE, NO. 001?
Date: 1792
Nature: Work for 'Mr Day' (i.e. Robert Day, MP?) in Merrion Square recorded in Wide Street Commissioners minutes'. (Day lived at No. 1, Merrion Sq. and moved to No. 5 in 1810.)
Refs: Wide Streets Commissioners minutes, 13 Jul 1792 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44).

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PATRICK STREET, ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1792;1805
Nature: EP asked to report on fabric and prepare plans and estimates for repair of same.
Refs: Mary Hanna, The National Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Patrick, Dublin:  Conservation Plan (St Patrick's Cathedral, 2006), 16,17,24

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KILDARE STREET, CLUB HOUSE (OLD)
Date: 1795
Nature: Works ordered by him measured by Bryan Bolger, 1795.
Refs: Bryan Bolger MSS, NA/PRO 1A/58/128 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GLASNEVIN ROAD, BOTANIC GARDENS
Date: 1796-1804
Nature: Various work at same, for Dublin Society.
Refs: Royal Dublin Society proceedings (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44).

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, DAME STREET, COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
Date: 1796-99
Nature: FS laid 29 Jul 1796. Simple 7-bay, 3-storey granite building. Demolished, 1973.
Refs: APSD, P, 51, citing Whitelaw, Warburton & Walsh, History of Dublin (1818),I, 234; II, 987; elevation dated 1796 in Dublin City Archives,Wide Streets Commissioners maps, 615; see also Dublin City Archives, Wide Streets Commissioners minutes, 15 Jun 1796, for submission of same (information from Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44);  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 387-8.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, FOSTER PLACE
Date: 1804
Nature: EP to be paid by Bank of Ireland 'for some Buildings...in Foster Place'.
Refs: Bank of Ireland minutes, 5 Jun 1804 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BURGH QUAY
Date: 1806
Nature: Unspecified concerns on same.
Refs: Wide Streets Commissioners' minutes, 24 Jan 1806 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. KILDARE, FORENAGHTS (OR FORENAUGHTS)
Date: 1806
Nature: Proposed alts., including addition of Doric portico, for Col. John Wolfe.
Refs: Elevation and and plans in IAA, Forenaghts Collection, 80/33.A1-5 (elevation repr. in D.J. Griffin and S. Lincoln, Drawings from the Irish Architectural Archive (1993), 52)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST STEPHEN'S GREEN, NO. 123 (ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS)
Date: 1806-10
Nature: New college premises on St Stephen's Green in form of Roman temple on podium, also School behind it.
Refs: RCSI MSS. 1805-1809 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44); J.D.H. Widdess, An Account of the Schools of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, 1789-1948 (Edinburgh, 1948), 56 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44); Colin Brennan, 'The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland: an architectural history 1805-1997', unpublished MA thesis, Univeristy College, Dublin, 1997, 7-13;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 484-5.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, HAWKINS STREET, DUBLIN SOCIETY
Date: 1807-1810
Nature: Extension to house new drawing schools, in use by late 1810.
Refs: Royal Dublin Society proceedings (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44); J. Turpin, A School of Art in Dublin since the Eighteenth Century (1995), 121

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, STEEVENS'S LANE, STEEVENS'S HOSPITAL
Date: 1808
Nature: Work at same.
Refs: Parliamentary Papers 1808, VII (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BOW LANE, ST PATRICK'S HOSPITAL
Date: 1811
Nature: Proposed repairs and improvements to 6 water closets, 1809. Repairs, 1811.
Refs: Estimat, signed by E.P. and dated 14 Apr 1809, in St Patrick's Hospital Archives, F/7;  M.J. Craig, 'Swift's Heirs' in The Legacy of Swift: a Bi-centenary Record of St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin (Dublin, 1948), 19

Building: CO. LOUTH, ORIEL TEMPLE (COLLON)
Date: 1812ca
Nature: Farm offices, for John Foster.
Refs: PRONI, Foster/Massereene MSS., D.562/12,985, T.2519/4; A.P.W. Malcomson, John Foster: The Politics of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy (1978), 17; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 221

Building: CO. LOUTH, DUNDALK, MARKET SQUARE, COUNTY COURT HOUSE
Date: 1813
Nature: Designs new court house, probably incorporating ideas of John Foster. Dismissed after dispute with Grand Jury overseers, who refused him power to appoint individual craftsmen. Replaced by John Bowden. Contractor: Original contractor: William Moore, Dublin (£16,190.10s); discharged and replaced in 1818.
Refs: PRONI, Foster/Massereene MSS, T2519/4; Christine Casey, 'Courthouses, market houses and town halls of Leinster' (unpublished MA thesis, University College, Dublin, 1982), I, 90-91; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 268-9; 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), 312

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SIR JOHN ROGERSON'S QUAY, HIBERNIAN MARINE SCHOOL
Date: 1818ca
Nature: Parke's plans for adds. at either end (infirmary and usher's apartments) approved, ca. 1818.
Refs: Whitelaw, Warburton & Walsh, History of Dublin (1818), I, 615.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, USHER'S ISLAND, MENDICITY INSTITUTION
Date: 1825ca
Nature: Payments made to EP for work on conversion of Moira House into Mendicity Institution: £150 on 12 Dec 1825 and £76.19s.2d. on 21 Jul 1827.
Refs: 10th Report of the General Committee of the Association for the Supression of Mendicity in Dublin for the year 1827 (information from Aidan O'Boyle)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CORK HILL, ROYAL EXCHANGE
Date: ?
Nature: 'Palisade'.
Refs: Wide Streets Commissioners' maps, NA/PRO 461 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44).