Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, surveyor and engineer. According to the records of Mount Jerome Cemetery, John Sloane was sixty-three at the time of his death in 1886, and was therefore born circa 1823, but Sloane himself asserts, that he helped lay the foundations of the Black Church, Dublin,(1) built in 1830-1831, which implies an earlier date of birth. Information about his background and early career can be gleaned piecemeal from his numerous contributions to the Irish Builder, particularly from his series of autobiographical articles, 'Some passages from the life of an architect', which appeared regularly in the journal between April and September 1882.(2) There are hints in the first of these articles that he lived as a boy on St Stephen's Green, which suggests that he was a son of James Sloane, who had an ironmongery business at the north-east corner of the Green.(3) He was also related to the Louch family.(4) After attending the Feinaiglian Academy in Aldborough House and the Bective House Seminary, he was apprenticed to an architect, possibly FREDERICK DARLEY [2]  FREDERICK DARLEY [2] or, if the assertion about the Black Church is true, JOHN SEMPLE [3] JOHN SEMPLE [3] . After a year 'running of messages, cooking surreptitious lunches for the older pupils, grinding up Indian ink, and making myself generally useful', Sloane's 'parents and guardians' decided that, before completing his apprenticeship, he should spend a year learning land surveying with the teams engaged on the recently established Ordnance Survey of Ireland. On resuming his architectural apprenticeship, his master deputed him to assist the resident clerk of works who was in charge of building a new Gothic church in the suburbs of Dublin.(5)

Sloane's career during the thirty years or so which elapsed between his completing his apprenticeship some time in the 1830s and his being appointed Superintendent of Foremen and Works by the Ballast Board in 1862 appears to have been a unsettled one. He seems to have been widely employed as a surveyor, claiming to have 'made tracings in nearly all the county towns in Ireland'.(6) He refers to assisting Maurice Collis, in making a survey of Cape Clear Island for Sir William Wrixon Becher in 1846(7) and to surveying in Co. Mayo.(8) He was said to have worked under Sir JOHN MACNEILL JOHN MACNEILL ;(9) this was perhaps when Macneill was surveying the Cashel line of the Great Southern & Western Railway.(10) He also states that he was employed 'for many years' by the Board of Public Works.(11) He worked as an architect with his relative JOHN LOUCH JOHN LOUCH (12) and also practised independently. He mentions having a 'humble office in Nelson Street' at an early stage in his in career,(13) but it is not until the early 1850s that he appears in the directories as an architect, CE and land surveyor in Bessborough Avenue, North Strand. In 1860 he placed an advertisement in the Dublin Builder informing 'the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Ireland' that he had 'had great experience as an Agricultural Engineer and Architect' and was 'open to engagements for the preparing of plans for Farm Buildings, Drainage, &c., for the ensuing Spring'.(14) From 1853 to 1858 he taught classes in mechanical and architectural technical drawing at the Mechanics' Institute,(15) and for a brief moment in 1858 he describes himself as 'Agent to the Empire Assurance Co.'.

It appears that Sloane did drawing and surveying work for the Ballast Board for many years before he was appointed to the permanent staff. He writes in his application for membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland(16) that he had been involved in lighthouse engineering since 1848; this was the year in which he and and his cousin FITZGIBBON LOUCH  FITZGIBBON LOUCH drew up George Halpin's plans for the Fastnet lighthouse.(17) In 1862 the Ballast Board appointed him Superintendent of Foremen & Works.(18) After responsibility for lighthouses had been vested in the newly constituted Commissioners of Irish Lights, in 1867,(19) he was appointed Superintendent of Works to the Commissioners. His lighthouse work entailed much travel, and he made several visits to Paris in connection with procuring lenses.(20) The most important project for which he was responsible during his period of office was the design and execution of the Galley Head lighthouse off the coast of Co. Cork, begun in 1873 and completed in 1878 after his retirement. In 1873 he published A Manual for Lightkeepers, noting on the fly-leaf of his own copy that 'The Commissioners of Irish Lights shewed their appreciation of this little volume by never, collectively as a Board, or individually as members, purchasing a single copy!!'.(21) He was a strong believer in the use of gas as the best means of illuminating Irish lighthouses. He was retired from his post in 1877, to be succeeded first by J.H. Morant, who was in position for only a year, and then by WILLIAM DOUGLASS. WILLIAM DOUGLASS.

After his retirement from the Irish Lights, although he advertised his availability for employment as an 'Architect and Ecclesiologist' in the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette in 1878 and 1879, Sloane became 'a martyr to rheumatic gout, by which he was incapacitated for any labour save that of a literary nature'.(22) He was a friend and collaborator of the editor of the Irish Builder, Peter Roe, and after his retirement from the Irish Lights, poured out a flood of contributions: articles, letters and satirical verses, some signed with his own name or a variety of noms de plume, and some anonymous. The Irish Architectural Archive owns his own copy of the 1882 volume, presented to him by Peter Roe, in which he marked - in the index and in the text - all his own contributions, which constitute perhaps as much as a quarter of the volume.(23) Some of his graphic work was also reproduced in the journal.(24) His letters and articles - chiefly on the subject of lighthouses and the local history and topography of the Dublin area - are lively and garrulous. They abound in satirical emphasis and are punctuated with exasperated oubursts: against his own countrymen for not supporting native talent and products; against Trinity House ('the gormandisers[sic] of Tower Hill');(25) against the Board of Trade; and against the RIAI, which had refused to grant him full membership because he was an engineer in a public department.(26) In his long series of articles on Irish lighthouses, which records the names of many of the foremen and craftsmen who were involved in lighthouse construction, he expresses his disgust at the lack of official generosity towards some of those who had spent - or even lost - their lives in the lighthouse service; he asserts that he himself had been 'cruelly used'.(27) There is a certain amount of self-promotion in his writings, which is endorsed by the editor. In 1881 the journal announced that Sloane was to be awarded an honorary LL.D. by the 'University of Philadelphia' for his contribution to lighthouse engineering: 'Verily a prophet has no honour in his own country, but we have long been well aware of how Mr Sloane's researches in marine optics have been appreciated in the United States, France, Holland, &c….Surely a more worthy, genial, or modest savant never donned the academic gown'.(28) Yet the honour does not appear to have materialised.(29)

Sloane died at home from 'debility' on 28 July 1886.(30) The date is recorded on his tombstone in Mount Jerome cemetery, where he was buried on 31 July. His son Hans Henry Sloane (c.1857-1890), who was living with him at the time of his death,(31) is buried in the same plot.

A sketch plan of a 'portion of Mr Flavelle's premises at Sandymount showing proposed Improvement' is among the Pembroke Estate papers, probably dating from the 1850s or 1860s is among the Pembroke Estate papers in the National Archives.(32)

ICEI: elected member, 22 April 1874;(33) reads paper on 'Proposed improvements in Dioptric Lenses for Gas Lighthouse', 3 December 1879.(34)
RIAI: at founding meeting, 1839;(35) applies for membership 1853;(36) elected associate, 1863;(37) objects to class to which he has been elected(38) but re-elected(?) associate, 17 March 1864;(39) struck off, 30 October 1866.(40)
Royal Irish Academy: elected member, 8 April 1861.(41)
RSAI: elected member, having been proposed by William Burgess, 9 July 1862.(42)
GLFI:(43) initiated in Lodge 153 (Dublin), 21 December 1859; Senior Deacon, 1860; Worshipful Master, 1862.

Addresses: Nelson Street; 7 Bessborough Avenue, North Strand, 1853; 114 Great Britain Street, 1854; 6 Richmond Street North, 1855-1862;(44) 18 Phillipsburgh Avenue, 1863-1867; Woodlands, Phillipsburgh Avenue, Clontarf, 1869-75; Balmoral Lodge, Castle Avenue, Clontarf, 1876-1879; 5 Victoria Terrace, 1881-1886; 179 Clonliffe Road, at time of death.

See WORKS and BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from Thom's and Post Office directories.

(1) IB 14, 1 Apr 1882, 101.
(2) IB 24, 1,15 Apr,1,15 May,1,15 Jun,1,15 Jul,1,15 Aug,1,15 Sep 1882, 101,116,128-9,146,158,174,196,203,223,236,259,267.
(2) IB 24, 1 Apr 1882, 101.
(3) His address is given at various times as No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4; see Georgian Society Records (1909-13), II, 56. In IB 24, 1 Jan 1882, 9-10 he indicates that he was a descendant of an Archibald Sloane (d. 1796) who manufactured oilcloth floor carpets in Dublin.
(4) IB 22, 1 Sep 1880, 251; 24, 15 May 1882, 146.
(5) IB 24, 15 Apr 1882, 116.
(6) IB 24, 15 Jun 1882, 174.
(7) IB 22, 1 Sep 1880, 251.
(8) IB 24, 1 May 1882, 128.
(9) IB 22, 1 Feb 1884, ?.
(10) See note 8, above; Sarah Bendell, ed., Dictionary of Land Surveyors and Local Map-Makers of Great Britain and Ireland 1530-1850 (2nd edition, 1997), II, 46, has him working as a 'copyist' in Co. Tipperary in 1846.
(11) DB 2, 1 Feb 1860, 207.
(12) Application for membership of ICEI, 1874, ICEI Membership Applications, Vol. II, 2 (microfilm in NLI,. Pos. 9284.
(13) IB 24, 15 Aug 1882, 236.
(14) See note 11, above.
(15) IB 24, 1 Jun 1882, 159; he gives a list of some of the pupils at these classes in IB 22, 1 Sep 1880, 248.
(16) See note 12, above.
(17) IB 22, 1 Sep 1880, 251; his obituary in IB 28, 1 Aug 1886, 222 states - with evident inaccuracy - that he was in the service of the Commissioners for Irish Lights for twenty five years.
(18) Jones transcripts from Thom's directories.
(19) see H.A. Gilligan, A History of the Port of Dublin (1988), 135.
(20) IB 24, 15 Jul,1 Aug 1882, 203,223.
(21) IB 28, 1 Aug 1886, 222; see also IB 22, 15 Mar 1880, 86.
(22) IB 28, 1 Aug 1886, 222.  
(23) See Gearoid Crookes, 'The Genesis of an Archive: forty years of The Irish Builder, 1859-1899, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University College, Dublin, 1994, 151-153.
(24) 'Ancient Buildings at St Doulagh's', IB 21, 1 Oct 1879, 302; 'The Brunswick Bascule and Bloody Bridge', IB 21, 15 Nov 1879, facing p. 350; Calf Rock Lighthouse, IB 23, 15 Dec 1881, The Brunswick Bascule and Bloody Bridge in IB 21, 15 Nov 1879, facing p. 350; 'Sketches to Illustrate the Antiquarian Rambles in the County of Dublin', IB 23, 15 Sep 1881, ?; Calf Rock Lighthouse, IB 23, 15 Dec 1881, ?; map of the walls of Dublin, IB 24, 1 Jul 1882, 191; the Royal Charter School Clontarf, IB 24, 1 Sep 1882, 254.
(25) IB 22, 1 Jul 1880, 191.
(26) IB, 1 Jun 1879, 167.
(27) IB 22, 15 Jun 1880, 167.
(28) IB 23, 15 Aug 1881, 248.
(29) Information from University of Pennsylvaia archives.
(30) Mount Jerome Cemetery record.
(31) Soane claimed to be a collateral descendant of Sir Hans Sloane, see IB 24, 1 Jan 1882, 9.
(32) NA, Pembroke Estate papers, 2011/2/3/19.
(33) TICEI 11 (), ?.
(34) TICEI 13 (1879-1881), 1-11; IB 21, 1 Dec 1879, 381.
(35) IB 24, 1 May 1882, 129.
(36) RIAI council meeting minutes, 20,28 May 1853, 119,120.
(37) RIAI council meeting minutes, 26 Nov 1863, 8; general meeting minutes, 17 Dec 1863, 134.
(38) RIAI council meeting minutes, 10 Mar 1864, ?.
(39) RIAI general meeting minutes, 17 Mar 1864, 139.
(40) RIAI council meeting minutes, 30 Oct 1866, 60.
(41) Jones, citing RIA records?; DB 3, 15 Apr 1861, 487.
(42) JRSAI 7 (1862,1863), 141.
(43) Records of Lodge 153 in GLFI archives, Dublin.
(44) His address is given as 5 Richmond St, Mountjoy Square, on the sketch plan in the Pembroke Estate papers (see note 32, above).


28 work entries listed in chronological order for SLOANE, JOHN SWAN


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NORTH CITY MARKETS (PROPOSED)
Date: 1853
Nature: JSS proposes creation of same and exhibits design in Dublin Industrial Exhibition of that year.
Refs: Irish Times, 19 Nov 1881, 6.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, ST DOULAGH'S CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1856-1861
Nature: Restoration. Square headed doorway discovered immediately beside hagioscope.
Refs: Irish Times, 6 Jul,22 Aug 1859; DB 2, 1 Feb 1860, 202; 3, 1 Jan 1861, 392; IB 20, 1 Aug 1878, 227;  Niamh NicGhabhann, Mediaeval Ecclesiastical Buildings in Ireland, 1789-1915: Building on fhe Past (Dublin, 2015),146-150.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, VICTORIA & ALBERT BRIDGE
Date: 1858-1861
Nature: Replacement for 'Bloody Bridge'(i.e. Barrack Bridge, now Rory O'More Bridge). Partially opened 1861. Designed by George Halpin; working drawings by JSS.
Refs: IB 21, 15 Nov 1879, 350

Building: CO. DUBLIN, CASTLEKNOCK, FARM OFFICES
Date: 1859
Nature: 'extensive range of farm offices just completed...they enclose a yard 90 x 40 feet, and have been finished in 6 months, under the directions of Mr. Sloane, at a cost of less than 3d per cubic foot'.
Refs: IB 1, 1 Jul 1859, 89

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CARLISLE BRIDGE (OLD)
Date: 1859
Nature: Proposal for widening same; 'elaborately finished drawings' of scheme exh. in Great Industrial Exhibition, 1853.
Refs: DB 1, 1 Feb 1859, 19

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SANDYMOUNT, HOUSES (003)
Date: 1860
Nature: Tender of W. Butler for building 3 small houses at cost of £1050 accepted.
Refs: DB 2, 1 Jun 1860, 286

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, LEESON PARK, HOUSES
Date: 1860
Nature: 'Several villas are about being erected at Leeson Park, near the site of the new Molyneux Church.'
Refs: DB 2, 1 Feb 1860, 203

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CHARLEVILLE AVENUE, HOUSE
Date: 1860
Nature: Tenders invited for erection of same.
Refs: Irish Times, 11 Jan 1860.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NORMANTON TERRACE (SANDYMOUNT), NO. 003
Date: 1860
Nature: Proposed improvements, for Henry Flavelle.
Refs: Signed sketch plan, dated 29 Feb 1860, in NA, Pembroke Estate Papers, 2011/2/3/19

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, VICTORIA TERRACE (SANDYMOUNT), HOUSE
Date: 1860
Nature: New house, for Francis Salmon. Builder: Joseph Pennefather.
Refs: DB 2, 1 Feb,1 Apr 1860, 203,239

Building: CO. DUBLIN, FRIARSTOWN (TALLAGHT)
Date: 1860
Nature: Extensive imps. in demesne for Captain Bailey, also large farm offices, turbine, fish pond, &c. Builder: Aaron Laughlin &/or Pennefather.
Refs: DB 2, 1 Feb,1 Apr 1860, 204,239; Mary Cecilia Lyons, Illustrated Incumbered Estates Ireland, 1850-1905 (1993), 113-1149(illus.)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, POOLBEG STREET, NO. 034 (ROBERT LOVELY & SON)
Date: 1860
Nature: Very extensive covered timber yard with roof of 56 ft clear span being erected (and other alts. to premises?) Contractor: Daniel Lawton.
Refs: DB 2, 1 Feb,1 Apr 1860, 203,239

Building: CO. DUBLIN, SWORDS, FOUNTAIN
Date: 1861
Nature: Beautiful fountain being erected by governors of Swords school to supply the centre of town with water. Works will commence shortly.
Refs: DB 3, 1 Aug 1861, 591

Building: CO. LIMERICK, CAHERCONLISH, HOUSE
Date: 1861
Nature: Villa residence for sub-inspector of constabulary in demesne of Caherconlish House, about to be erected for Charles M. Wilson, Esq. Probable cost, £1,250.
Refs: DB 4, 1 Aug 1861, 591

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GRAFTON STREET, NO. 111 (THOMAS BRUNKER)
Date: 1861
Nature: New front. Builder: Drysdale. (Building collapsed in 1880 while next door building was under construction.)
Refs: DB 3, 1 Aug 1861, 591

Building: CO. DUBLIN, LUSK, ROUND TOWER
Date: 1861
Nature: Restoration begun under superintendence of JSS, 'the funds having been generously supplied by the neighbouring gently at the instance of the Rev. W. Reeves, DD, Sec. MRIA'
Refs: DB 3, 1 Aug 1861, 591

Building: CO. DONEGAL, ARANMORE, LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1861-63
Nature: Re-erection of lighthouse. Contractor: D. Crow & Sons.
Refs: IAA, PKS B02/23, A03 (Nov 1863, p.44v); IB 20, 1 Jul 1878, 196

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GRAFTON STREET, NO. 070
Date: 1862
Nature: Alts. to premises of James Simonton, photographer, to create 'Royal Panopticon of Science and Art'. Builder: Grant & Lennan. Cost: £325.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Mar 1862, 72;  Irish Times, 18 Jul 1862.

Building: CO. DOWN, DONAGHADEE, HARBOUR
Date: 1864
Nature: Lighthouse keeper's house. Contractor: Nimick, Holywood. Cost (with walling and gates, £843,8s,4s.
Refs: DB 5, 1 Aug 1863, 133; John S. Sloane, 'A History of the lighthouses of Ireland…III', IB 21, 15 Jun 1880, 167.

Building: CO. WEXFORD, HOOK HEAD, LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1864
Nature: Replacement of lantern supervised by JSS. Contractor: Daniel Lawton. Lantern by Edmundson. Cast iron floor and stairs by E. Toomey. Light first show in Oct 1864.
Refs: John S. Sloane, 'A History of the lighthouses of Ireland…VI', IB 22, 15 Oct 1880, 290

Building: CO. DONEGAL, INISHTRAHULL, LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1864a
Nature: Renovation of interior, new lantern and catadioptric revolving apparatus. Cast iron lantern, new floor and stair by Edmundson, Dublin. Cost: £4,560.6s.10d. New light first shown Sep 1864.
Refs: John S. Sloane, 'A History of the lighthouses of Ireland…VI', IB 22, 1 Oct 1880, 278; Bill Long, Bright Light, White Water (1993), 175-6

Building: CO. KERRY, INISHTEARAGHT (BLASKET ISLANDS), LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1865-1870
Nature: Designed by JSS, who laid FS 1865. Finished and opened 1 May 1870.
Refs: IB 21, 1 Jul 1879, 194; Bill Long, Bright Light, White Water (1993), 122

Building: CO. MAYO, BLACKSOD POINT, LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1865-66
Nature: Designed by JSS. Castellated single storey building with two storey tower in centre. Red granite. Builder: Bryan Carey, Belmullet. Work supervised by Isaac Christie. Lighting apparatus by Edmundson. Cost 'unprecedentedly low sum of £2,723.6s.5½d.
Refs: General Advertiser, 23 Apr 1864; John S. Sloane, 'A History of the lighthouses of Ireland…VI', IB 22, 1 Oct 1880, 278; Bill Long, Bright Light, White Water (1993), 156,illus. between pp. 96 & 97

Building: CO. CORK, FASTNET LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1865p
Nature: JSS takes measurements for new cast iron houses for staff. Cast iron by William Turner, Oxmantown Foundry.
Refs: John S. Sloane, 'A History of the lighthouses of Ireland…VI', IB 22, 15 Oct 1880, 290.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, CROFTON ROAD, IRISH LIGHTHOUSE & LIGHTSHIP STORES
Date: 1872-73
Nature: New stores, for Commissioners of Irish Lights.
Refs: IAA, PKS B05/48, B06/22;  see letter from 'Pharos' (JSS?) in  Irish Times, 12 Oct 1871.

Building: CO. CORK, GALLEY HEAD, LIGHTHOUSE
Date: 1873-1878
Nature: New light house and gas works. Contractor: William M. Murphy, Bantry. Lantern, optic and gas-making plant supplied by Edmundson & Co., Dublin.ry (£7889 for lighthouse; £1725 for gas works) Work started Jul 1873. Light first exhibited 1 January 1878
Refs: IB 15, 15 Apr 1873, 109; 20, 1 Aug 1878, 216-7(illus.; this illus., which is missing in IAA copy of IB was reproduced in Engineer, 1884); 24, 1 Jul 1882, 18026, 1 Feb,1 Mar 1884, ?,?; Bill Long, Bright Light, White Water (1993), 87-88

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CLONTARF, HOUSES (011)
Date: 1881
Nature: Terrace of 11 houses.
Refs: IB 23, 15 Sep 1881, 278

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CLONTARF, HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Date: 1882
Nature: Proposed new road with villas and detached and sem-detached houses 'chiefly in the Scottish Domestic style...the diversified sky-line and quaint towers and pinnacles showing well in contrast with the wooded background'.
Refs: IB 34, 1 May 1882, 139

Author Title Date Details
Sloane, John Swan 'Howth and its antiquities' 1878 IB 20, 15 Oct 1878, 295
Sloane, John Swan 'What is a boulder?' 1878 IB 20, 1 Jul 1878, 196. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Prevention of Gas Explosions' 1878 IB 20, 15 Jun 1878, 179. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Technical Education' 1878 IB 20, 1 Jun 1878, 167. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'St Stephen's Green' 1878 IB 20, 1 Apr 1878, 108. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The Christ Church Monuments' 1878 IB 20, 15 Oct 1878, ?.(Letter to editor, reprinted in Roger Stalley, ed., George Edmund Street and the Restoration of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (2000), 236-7.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The importance to artisans of acquiring a knowledge of drawing' 1878 IB 20, 15 Sep,1 Oct 1878, 264,280. ('Substance of a lecture delivered in the Dublin Mechanics' Institute', 30 Oct 1854.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Proposed improvements in arrangement of dioptric lenses for gas sea lights' 1879 IB 21, 15 Dec 1879, 381, and TICEI 13 (1879-1881), 1-11.
Sloane, John Swan 'The lighting of Dublin Harbour' 1879 IB 21, 1 May 1879, 138.
Sloane, John Swan 'Abattoirs' 1879 IB 21, 1 Jul 1879, 192
Sloane, John Swan 'Technical Education. Only a Compositor.' 1879 IB 21, 15 May 1879, 147
Sloane, John Swan 'The late Francis Johnston and the gate at the old Barrack Bridge' 1879 IB 21, 15 Sep 1879, 291. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The Irish Institute of Architects' 1879 IB 21, 1,15 Jun 1879, 167,184. (Letters to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Antiquites of Fingal: No. I: - St Doulough's' 1879 IB 21, 15 Sep,1 Oct 1879, 290,300(illus.), and B 37, 27 Sep 1879, 1084. ('Substance of a paper read before the St Patrick's Society for the Study of Ecclesiology' with later additions.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Some thoughts on artisans' dwellings' 1879 IB 21, 15 Jun,15 Jul 1879, 177,220.
Sloane, John Swan 'On the zenith loom of lighthouses' 1880 IB 22, 1 Jan 1880, 15
Sloane, John Swan 'A history of the lighthouses of Ireland from the earliest times with occasional sketches of their various localities' 1880 IB 22, 1,15 Mar ,1 Apr,1 May,1,15 Jun 1880, 1,15 Jul,1 Aug,1 Sep,1,15 Oct,1,15 Nov 1880, 70,86,99,124,148,167,191,206,222,247,278,290,305,325
Sloane, John Swan 'The idea of a hope for Ireland' 1882 IB 24, 15 Apr 1882, 124-5. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The lighthouses of Ireland' 1882 IB 24, 1 May 1882, 138-9. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The Corporation and the Board of Irish Lights' 1882 IB 24, 1 May 1882, 140.
Sloane, John Swan 'Hoggen Green and Butt' 1882 IB 24, 15 Jun 1882, 181-2. (Under pseudonym 'Fingal'.).
Sloane, John Swan 'Copying books and presses' 1882 IB 24, 15 Jun 1882, 182.
Sloane, John Swan 'A curious episode of fifty four years ago' 1882 IB 24, 15 Jul 1882, 204-5. (Under pseudonym 'Fingal')..
Sloane, John Swan 'Nelson's Pillar' 1882 IB 24, 15 Jul 1882, 208. (Signed with Greek sigma.).
Sloane, John Swan 'Our gate-loge competition' 1882 IB 24, 15 Jul 1882, 211. (Letter to editor,.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The Royal Charter School, Clontarf' 1882 IB 24, 15 Aug 1882, 232.
Sloane, John Swan 'Queries for Local Antiquaries: Who buildt Aldborough House?' 1882 IB 24, 15 Nov 1882, 336. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Glue' 1882 IB 24, 1 May 1882, 140.
Sloane, John Swan 'The late Mr Thomas Millard, builder' 1882 IB 24, 15 Feb 1882, 54. (Additional notes at end of obituary initialled by him in his own copy of the journal.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The water supply of Dublin' 1882 IB 24, 15 Apr 1882, 124. (Letter to editor.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Some passages from the life of an architect' 1882 IB 24, 1 Apr 1882, 100. (Under pseudonym 'Fingal'.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Hands all square' 1882 IB 24, 1 Apr 1882, 100. Poem, signed with Greek sigma.)
Sloane, John Swan 'St Patrick's Grave' 1882 IB 24, 1 Apr 1882, 100.
Sloane, John Swan 'Tenders and contracts - a correction' 1882 IB 24, 15 Mar 1882, 93-4. (Letter to editor, signed 'A Fettler'.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Reminiscences' 1882 IB 24, 15 Feb,1 Jun 1882, 63,168. (Under pseudonym 'Fingal'.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Tenders and contracts - no Irish need apply' 1882 Letter from 'A Fettler' in IB 24, 15 Feb 1882, 62-3. (Initialled by him in his own copy of the journal.)
Sloane, John Swan 'An old city handicraft' 1882 IB 24, 1 Jan 1882, 9-10. (Under pseudonym 'Fingal'.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The Woollen Factory at Ballymore-Eustace - a correction' 1882 IB 24, 15 Nov 1882, 337. (Letter to editor which identifies Sloane as the journal's contributor 'Fingal'.)
Sloane, John Swan 'The Liffey from its source to Poolbeg' 1882-1883 IB 24, 1,15 Oct,1,15 Nov,1,5 Dec 1882, 281,297,311,326,347,358 and 25, 1883. (Under pseudonym 'Fingal'.)
Sloane, John Swan 'Six technical lectures to artisans under 22 years of age' 1883 IB 25, 1,15 Feb,1 Mar,1 Apr,1,15 May,1Jun? 1883, 34,51,111,132,148,166.
Sloane, John Swan A few words on Tramways and Light Railways applicable to the requirements of Ireland at the present time
1883 Dublin: Irish Builder. 1883.
Sloane, John Swan 'Fingall' 1883-1884 Series of articles written under pseudonym 'Fingal' in IB 25 & 26