Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Engineer and architect, of Belfast and Newcastle, Co. Down, active from the 1860s until the 1900s. John Russell, who appears to have come from a family of building contractors in Newcastle, Co. Down, was born on 30 November 1848. He attended Carnacavill National School in the parish of Maghera, Co. Down, from 1856 until 1860 and then took private classes in surveying with Patrick McClimon of Downpatrick. According to his candidate's circular for admission to the Institution of Civil Engineers, he worked in 'Mr Hugh Russell (Contractor's) Workshop and Office, till 1867'; this was probably the family business at Newcastle, Co. Down. He next spent three years as resident engineer at the Co. Down(?) quarries of Scott, Brady & Co. of London, where granite for the Albert Memorial and the Thames Embankment was being extracted and shipped to England. From 1870 until 1873 he worked in the Belfast office of the surveyor FRANCIS STIRRAT  FRANCIS STIRRAT and at the same time attended classes at Queen's College, obtaining a first-class certificate of the Science and Art Department. From 1873 he again worked as a contractor - presumably with the family firm - until in 1877 he established his own engineering and architectural practice in High Street, Belfast. He was estate surveyor and engineer for the fifth Viscount Bangor. From circa 1895-1898 he appears to have had a partner named Lockwood.(1) He died in or shortly before 1908.(2)

RSAI: elected member, 14 January 1896.(3)

Addresses: High Street, Belfast, 1877; Waring Street, Belfast, 1889-1896; 22 Waring Street, Belfast, 1901-06 Home: The Eyries, Newcastle, Co. Down, 1893.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Russell's candidate's circular submitted to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1893 (listed as a 'Postponed Application').

(1) Hugh Dixon in a note in the B of I files gives his initials as E.H. Lockwood, but see also entry for F.W. Lockwood.
(2) JRSAI 38 (1908), 90.
(3) JRSAI 26 (1896), 95.


20 work entries listed in chronological order for RUSSELL, JOHN [2]


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Building: CO. ANTRIM, WHITEHEAD, HOUSES (002)
Date: 1888
Nature: Pair of villas, for J. Raphael.
Refs: Architect 40, 28 Dec 1888, suppl. p.1

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, BLOOMFIELD, HOUSES (005)
Date: 1888
Nature: New. Cost £305.
Refs: Architect 39, 11 May 1888, suppl. p.3

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, ANNADALE, HOUSE
Date: 1888
Nature: New house & offices. Cost: £1,385.
Refs: Architect 39, 11 May 1888, suppl. p.3

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, RAVENSDALE STREET, HOUSES (017)
Date: 1889
Nature: 17 new houses for Mr T. Tees.Tender of W. Styles of £980 for erection of same accepted.
Refs: IB 31, 15 May 1889, 139; Architect 41, 10 May 1889, suppl. p.3

Building: CO. DOWN, BANGOR, WHARF
Date: 1895
Nature: Concrete and timber wharf for Mssrs. Neill & Sons. With E.H.? Lockwood. Tender of W.J. Campbell & Son, Belfast, for £6,600 accepted with certain reductions.
Refs: IB 37, 1 Feb 1895, 41

Building: CO. DOWN, BANGOR, PICKIE ROCK, SWIMMING BATHS
Date: 1898
Nature: New tidal swimming baths, dressing-houses, &c. at Pickie Rock. With E.H.(?) Lockwood.
Refs: IB 40, 1 Jul 1898, 100

Building: CO. DOWN, NEWCASTLE, VICARAGE
Date: 1899
Nature: New vicarage for St John's church to be built.
Refs: IB 41, 1 Feb 1899, 18

Building: CO. DOWN, NEWCASTLE, ANCHOR INN
Date: 1900
Nature: Tenders invited for erecting (or altering?) same, Jun 1900.
Refs: B 78, 2 Jun 1900, 554

Building: CO. DOWN, BANGOR, BALLYHOLME ROAD, NO. 062 (VILLA LE BAS)
Date: 1901
Nature: Irregular 2-storey red brick villa, for David Warnock.
Refs: Marcus Patton, Bangor: an historical gazetteer (UAHS, 1999), 16

Building: CO. ANTRIM, WHITEHEAD, PREMISES (FLEMING)
Date: 1901
Nature: New premises for Mssrs. Fleming.
Refs: IB 43, 27 Mar 1901, 675

Building: ?, ?, HYDRO
Date: 1901p
Nature: New hydro, for Strickland Glen Hydro Co. Estimates received for erection and completion of first section.
Refs: IB 43, 15 Aug 1901, 831

Building: CO. ANTRIM, WHITEHEAD, ROADS
Date: 1902
Nature: New roads & sewers.
Refs: IB 44, 22 May 1902, 1254

Building: CO. ANTRIM, WHITEHEAD, SEWERS
Date: 1902
Nature: New roads & sewers.
Refs: IB 44, 22 May 1902, 1254

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, SANS SOUCI PARK, NO. 034 & 36
Date: 1904
Nature: Pair of plain 3-storey semi-detached houses.
Refs: Paul Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis (UAHS, 1991), 156

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, CHURCH LANE, NO. 021 (STORE BAR)
Date: 1905
Nature: Facade with ceramic tiled recessed bow at ground floor, large segmental window at 1st floor and Palladian window at 2nd floor. Demolished.
Refs: Marcus Patton, Marcus Patton, Central Belfast: an historical gazetteer (UAHS, 1993), 67,75(illus.)

Building: CO. ANTRIM, DOAGH, MILL
Date: 1905
Nature: Adds. & alts.
Refs: IB 47, 25 Feb 1905, 134

Building: CO. DOWN, DUNDRUM, PAROCHIAL HALL
Date: 1905a
Nature: New hall recently opened. To seat 400. Contractor: Patrick McAleenan, Castlewellan.
Refs: IB 47, 28 Jan 1905, 62; B 88, 21 Jan 1905, 68

Building: CO. DOWN, BANGOR, WINDSOR AVENUE, NO. 001-9
Date: 1905ca
Nature: 5 detached roughcast houses, 'probably by John Russell for James Neill'
Refs: Marcus Patton, Historic Buildings in…Bangor and Groomsport (UAHS, 1984), 208

Building: CO. DOWN, BANGOR, ROADS (003)
Date: 1906
Nature: JR instructed by Lord Bangor to prepare plans for 3 new roads.
Refs: IB 48, 20 Oct 1906, 848

Building: CO. DOWN, NEWRY, BATHS & GYMNASIUM
Date: ?
Nature: JR winner of compeitition for carrying out same.
Refs: Candidate's circular submitted to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1893.