Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Master carpenter and builder.   Edward Cullen, son of Charles Cullen and his wife Jane (née Lennox) was born in Kildoon, Nurney, Co. Kildare, in 1864.  In about 1884 he entered the employment of Patrick Nolan, building contractor, of Monaghan, to whom he may also have been apprenticed.  Nolan was involved in important contracts - particularly for Catholic churches - over a wide area, and Cullen became his foreman and agent.   In about 1915, Cullen set up his own contracting business, initially operating in Co. Meath with his son Eamonn as Cullen & Son.  From circa 1920 to 1928 he was in partnership with Tom Connolly in Kilkenny as Connolly & Cullen.  After the partnership ended, he continued in business in Kilkenny as Edward Cullen. Throughout his career he had a long-lasting association with the architects WILLIAM HENRY BYRNE  WILLIAM HENRY BYRNE and W.H. BYRNE & BYRNE & amp; SON.

Cullen died in 1941. According to the 1911 census, he had married his Co. Limerick-born wife, Mary Anne, circa 1888, and had had seven children.   Of his four sons two became priests and a third died young in 1901.  Eamonn, after his period in partnership with his father, joined the Garda and had become a deputy commissioner by the time of his death in 1939.

In 2005 Cullen's grandchildren Dorcas, Charles and Tom presented the Irish Architectural Archive with a collection of material from Cullen's office (Acc 2004/160), some of it relating to the time when he was still working for Patrick Nolan.

Addresses:  Oakley Park, Seirkieran, Co. Offaly, 1901;  Rathangan demesne, Co. Kildare, 1911;  Noreville, Dublin Road, Kilkenny.



References

All information in this entry was supplied by Charles Cullen, grandson of Edward Cullen.