Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Dublin. Charles Hoffe Mitchell, the elder son of WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL WILLIAM MANSFIELD MITCHELL , was born in Co. Dublin in 1875. After attending Bedford School and Trinity College, Dublin, he entered the office of the quantity surveyors EDWARD P. GRIBBON  EDWARD P. GRIBBON and WILLIAM BUTLER  WILLIAM BUTLER as an apprentice but soon decided to take up architecture instead.   He then served a three-year apprenticeship with his father, remaining as an assistant for a further two and a half years. He spent two years as Sir THOMAS DREW' THOMAS DREW' s clerk of works for the Graduates' Memorial Building at Trinity College, Dublin, erected from 1897 onwards. He had returned to his father's office by 1899.   From February 1904(1) he was a temporary assistant surveyor to the Board of Works, employed in the south of Ireland. In the spring of 1905 he and his younger brother, JOHN MANSFIELD MITCHELL JOHN MANSFIELD MITCHELL , were taken into partnership by their father.  Soon after the outbreak of the First World War he received a commission in the 7th Royal Irish Fusiliers,(2) rejoining his brother in practice when the war was over.

Mitchell died at the age of eighty-one in August 1956, survived by a daughter and two sons, one of whom became an architect in England, the other an engineer in Kenya. His obituarist in the Irish Builder describes him as 'extremely shy and retiring' and as having excelled at tennis when he was young. According to family sources, he was more interested in poetry than in architecture, with the result that the burden of running the practice fell more heavily on the shoulders of his brother.(3)

AAI:(4) elected member, 1896; committee member, 1904-1906, 1912-1913; hon. secretary, 1906-1908; vice-president, 1908-1909. RIAI:(5) elected member, 8 December 1904, having been proposed by THOMAS DREW THOMAS DREW , seconded by GEORGE COPPINGER ASHLIN  GEORGE COPPINGER ASHLIN and CHARLES HERBERT ASHWORTH CHARLES HERBERT ASHWORTH ;(6) hon. auditor, 1911, 1920; elected fellow, 1920;(7) hon. treasurer, 1925-1927; member of council, 1928-1934

Addresses: Work: 10 St Stephen's Green, 1905-1907; 2 St Stephen's Green, 1908-1914; 18 South Frederick Street, 1915-1919; 16 South Frederick Street, 1921-28; 6 Merrion Square, 1930-1954; 2 Fitzwilliam Place, 1955-57.
Home(8): Fareham, Silchester Road, Glenageary, 1897-1907; Abbeyland, Killiney, 1908->=1910; Hillview, Sorrento Road, Dalkey, 1912; Willowdale, Glenageary, <=1915->=1925; Seaforth, 14 The Green Road, Blackrock, <=1927->=1928; Elstow, Knapton Rd, Dun Laoghaire, <=1930->=1945; Avoca Cottage, Avoca Arenue, <=1947-1954; Wimborne, Holmston Avenue, Glenageary, 1956.

For works, see works of W.M. MITCHELL & MITCHELL & amp; SONS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the obituaries of Mitchell in RIAI Year Book (1956-57), 37, and IB 98, 8 Sep 1956, 815, and from Thom's directories. Details of his early training and career are from IAA, RIAI office archives (Acc. 93/136), membership forms 1878-1909 (extremely fragile).  He appears in a group photograph of members of council of the RIAI in IB 74, 27 Feb 1932, 200.

(1)
The Office of Works records state that he was a temporary assistant surveyor from 8 Feb 1904 to 31 Dec 1909. His father's office remains his address throughout this period.
(2)
IB 57, 16 Jan 1915, 25.
(3)
Information, in conversation, from Frederick O'Dwyer.
(4)
Jones transcripts from AAI Green Books, lists of officers and members.
(5)
Jones transcripts from lists of officers in JRIAI, unless otherwise stated.
(6)
RIAI annual general meeting minutes, 8 Dec 1904, 397; ; MS addenda to copy of list of members in archives of RIAI (photocopy in IAA).
(7)
JRIAI (1921), 2.