Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Master builder and TD, of Dublin. James Walter Beckett, a son of the building contractor JAMES BECKETT  JAMES BECKETT and his wife Frances (née Horner) and an elder brother of GEORGE FRANCIS BECKETT GEORGE FRANCIS BECKETT , was born on 5 July 1875(1) and was educated at Rathmines School. He served an apprenticeship with the quantity surveyors Patterson & Kempster before entering the family firm, of which he became head in 1915.  During his long career in the building industry he served as president of the Builders' Federation and, like his father, of the Dublin Master Builders' Association. He was elected to the Dail as a Fine Gael TD for Dublin City South in 1927 and retained the seat until his death, apart from a short interval in 1937. He died at his home, Teac Beag, Gordon Avenue, Foxrock, on 20(?) December 1938 at the age of sixty-three. He was married to Ethel, daughter of Joshua Koehler, and had two sons and two daughters.

Addresses:: South Docks Works, Ringsend, Dublin.(2)
Home: Dereen, Westminster Road, Foxrock, Co. Dublin;  Teac Beg, Gordon Avenue, Foxrock.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise attributed is from the obituaries of Beckett in the Irish Times and the Irish Independent, 20? December 1938 (undated photocopies donated to IAA by Hylda Beckett, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Sep 2000) and from the entry by Pauric J. Dempsey in Dictionary of Irish Biography, ed. by James McGuire and James Quinn, 9 vols. (Cambridge University Press, 2009), I, 403. Another obituary (not seen) is in IB 80, 24 Dec 1938, 1080.


(1) www.familysearch.org.
(2)   For a bird's-eye view of the works, see advertisement in  Irish Times, 9 Apr 1925.


9 work entries listed in chronological order for BECKETT, JAMES WALTER *


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CHARLESTON ROAD (RATHMINES), METHODIST CHURCH
Date: 1865
Nature: Additions. Archs: Holmes & Holbrook
Refs: DB VII, ? ? 1865, 228

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, MEATH STREET (& EARL STREET SOUTH), TENEMENT BLOCK
Date: 1866-68
Nature: Archt: Charles Geoghegan
Refs: IB 10, 1 Feb 1868, 37

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, APPIAN WAY, HOUSES (002)
Date: 1867
Nature: Pair of semi-detached villas for John Sibthorpe Esq, £1,300.
Refs: IB 9, 15 Feb 1867, 51

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, PARK ROAD, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1871a
Nature: Rebuilding. Archt: McCurdy
Refs: IB 13, 1 Sep 1871, 230

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, INCHICORE, METHODIST CHURCH
Date: 1885-86
Nature: Archt: W. Kaye-Parry
Refs: IB 27, 15 Sep 1885, 262; 28, 15 Jan 1886, 29(illus.); design exh. RHA 1886, no. 558

Building: CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, NOVARA ROAD, PAROCHIAL HALL
Date: 1886
Nature: Archt: T.P. Figgis
Refs: IB 28, 1 Feb 1886, 36

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET LOWER, NO. 018
Date: 1886
Nature: New premises. Archt: G.P. Beater
Refs: IB 28, 15 Dec 1886, 325

Building: CO. WICKLOW, COOLLATTIN, CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1888
Nature: Extension of church
Refs: Wicklow Newsletter, 1 Sep 1888

Building: CO. WICKLOW, HOLLYWOOD HOUSE (GLENEALY)
Date: 1892
Nature: Reconstruction of 18th c. interior by J. Beckett & Sons.
Refs: IAA press cuttings (sale brochure)