Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, builder and building surveyor of Cork and Dublin. Thomas Anthony, who may have been a son ot THOMAS ANTHONY [1] THOMAS ANTHONY [1] , was born in Cork in about 1798. He may be the person of the same name who was admitted to the Dublin Society's School of Drawing in Architecture on 6 June 1811 and was awarded one of two first class premiums on 15 June 1815.(1) While he may possibly have worked with his father in Waterford in the 1820s,(2) by January 1831 he was in practice as an architect in White Street, Cork.(3)  He appears in a list of Cork architects in the Cork Constitution of 9 June 1831,(4) and he is named as the contractor for St Luke's church, Summerhill, designed by GEORGE RICHARD PAIN GEORGE RICHARD PAIN , in the same newspaper for 7 November 1834. He exhibited at the Cork Society for Promoting the Fine Arts in September 1835.(5)

In about 1840 Anthony's business failed, apparently as a result of his contracting at too low a price to erect the Capuchin Church of the Holy Trinity on Father Mathew Quay, Cork, which was begun in October 1832.(6) After applying unsuccessfully for the post of master in the Dublin Society's School of Drawing in Architecture in 1842,(7) he moved in about 1844 to Dublin,(8) where he practised as an architect, surveyor and measurer and also undertook building contracts. He is named by Stewart Blacker in 1845 as one of a small number of distinguished Dublin architects.(9) He died unexpectedly on 17 Jan 1860 aged sixty-two; in the same month he had placed an advertisement in the Dublin Builder begging 'to inform Architects and Builders that he practises as Measurer and flatters himself [that] a long practical experience with works of magnitude throughout Ireland affords the best possible guarantee for the correctness of his quantities'.(10)

Thomas Anthony appears to have had a son of the same name who also worked as a builder. Pettigrew & Oulton's Almanac for 1847 shows Thomas Anthony, architect at 21 Talbot Street and Thomas Anthony, junior, builder, at No. 20. From 1856 until 1860 Thomas C. Anthony, architect and surveyor, is listed in the directories at 42 Great Brunswick Street.

Addresses:(11) 1 White Street, Cork, 1831;(12)  6 St Andrew Street, Dublin, 1845; 21 Talbot Street, 1846-48; 20 & 21 Talbot Street, 1849; 20 Talbot Street, 1850; 21 Talbot Street, 1851-53;(13) 19 Pembroke Street Lower, 1854-55; (as Thomas C. Anthony) 42 Great Brunswick Street, 1856-57; 42 Brunswick Street & 3 Milton Terrace, 1858; 42 Brunswick Street & 19 Pembroke Street Lower, 1859; 19 Pembroke Street, 1860. Home: 39 Northumberland Avenue, Kingstown, 1853; 3 Milton Terrace, Ballsbridge, 1858.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the brief notice of Anthony's death in DB 2, 1 Feb 1860, 204.

(1) MS. transcript from Royal Dublin Society minutes of School of Architectural Drawing admissions and prizewinners (in IAA); Royal Dublin Society Proceedings, 15 Jun 1815.
(2) T. Anthony & Son are listed as architects in Waterford in Pigot's Directory for 1824. The list of subscribers to Samuel Lewis, A Topographical dictionary of Ireland (1837) includes Thomas Anthony, Esq., Ringmount, Dungarvan, Waterford, and Thomas Anthony Esq., Cork.
(3) Inscription on design for two cottages at Glandore, Co. Cork, 1831, in the possession of Prof. Rolf Loeber, University of Pittsburgh (2010).
(4) All references from the Cork Constitution were kindly supplied by Kenneth Severens.
(5) Cork Constitution, 8 Sep 1835. Could he also be the T. Anthony who exhibited three views at the Exhibition of Works by Old Masters, Artists and Amateurs at Limerick in 1821 (see IALE I, 11)?
(6) Patrick Rogers, Father Theobald Mathew ((1945). 100 (citing MS. 'Book of the Community, South Friary, Cork', f. 89); B. Goslin, 'History and descriptive catalogue of the Murray Collection', MA thesis submitted to NUI, Jan 1990, 113.
(7) Royal Dublin Society Proceedings, 2 Jun 1842.
(8) His name first appears in the Dublin directories for 1845.
(9) Stewart Blacker, Irish Art and Artists (Dublin, 1845), 15.
(10) DB 2, ? Jan 1860, ?.
(11) From Jones's transcripts from Thom's directories.
(12) See note 3, above.
(13) The 1853 Post Office Directory describes 20 Talbot Street as the yard of T. Anthony, builder, while the alphabetical section lists Thomas Anthony, architect and builder, Kingstown, and Thomas Anthony, Esq, 39 Northumberland Avenue, Kingstown.


5 work entries listed in chronological order for ANTHONY, THOMAS [2]


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Building: CO. CORK, GLANDORE, HOUSES (002)
Date: 1831
Nature: Design for pair of semi-detached, 2-storey cottages 'to be built on the Glandore property for M. Yates and J[ames] R[edmond] Barry, Esqres'
Refs: Elevation and plans, 'Designed by Thomas Anthony Architect/No. 1, White Street, Cork Jany 1831', in possession of Professor Rolf Loeber, University of Pittsburgh (Jan 2010).

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, FATHER MATHEW QUAY, CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY (RC, CAPUCHIN)
Date: 1833
Nature: Placed 2nd in competition for same. TA contracting architect for Ashenhurst(??) in execution of Pain's design. Claimed to have tendered at too low a price and went bankrupt during building.
Refs: Limerick Chronicle, 15 Aug 1832, cited by David Lee & Debbie Jacobs, James Pain, architect (Limerick Civic Trust, 2005), 195; Irish Penny Magazine I, 18 May 1833; Patrick Rogers, Father Theobald Mathew ((1945). 100 (citing MS. 'Book of the Community, South Friary, Cork', f. 89)

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, SUMMERHILL, CHURCH OF ST LUKE (CI)
Date: 1834-36
Nature: Contractor for church designed by G.R. Pain.
Refs: Cork Constitution 7 Nov 1834

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PATRICK STREET, ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1849
Nature: Proposal for restoration.
Refs: RHA 1849, No. 442

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, HENRY STREET, NO. 011-15 (CANNOCK & WHITE)
Date: 1859
Nature: Improvements and extensions
Refs: DB 1, 1 Apr,1 May,1 Jun, 1 Dec 1859, 43,60,71,160