Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Selected: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)

Name: UNKNOWN ARCHITECT
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1824-1830
Nature: New Gothic church for Canon William Stafford for new parish of Rathmines on site purchased from Earl of Meath, 1824.  FS laid by Lord Brabazon. Church dedicated to SS Mary & Peter by Archbishop Murray, 15 Aug 1830, while still only a shell.Cost: £5000. Absorbed by Classical church designed by Patrick Byrne.
Refs: Engraving of front elevation in IAA, Acc. 80/10.18 (repr. in Deirdre Kelly, Four Roads to Dublin: a history of Rathmines, Ranelagh and Leeson Street (Dublin: O'Brien Press, 1995), 187;  Brendan Grimes, Majestic Shrines and Graceful Sanctuaries: the church architecture of Patrick Byrne 1783-1864 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2009), 105-107;  History of Rathmines Parish, http://www.rathminesparish.ie/about-us/parish-history (last visited, Feb 2013)..

Name: BYRNE, PATRICK
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1850-1856
Nature: New classical church replacing (and constructed around) Gothic church built 1824-30.  For Father William Meagher. FS laid by Archbishop Murray, 18 Aug 1850. Masonry: John Lynch, Mount Pleasant Ave (Kimmage and Donnybrook stone with Ballyknocken granite). Roof & dome: William Hughes, Talbot St. Plasterwork: Hogan & Conolly, Great Brunswick St. Dedicated 19 Jun 1856.
Refs: William Meagher, Five engravings descriptive of the new church of Our Immaculate Lady of Refuge (Dublin, 1855);  B 8, 30 Nov 1850, 568; 10, 31 Jan 1852, 76; 16, 8 May 1858, 321; IB 25, 1 Oct 1883, 311, refers to volume of engraved designs, published by Rev. W. Meagher at his own expense, 1855; N. Donnelly, Short Histories of Dublin Parishes, II, 85-90;  History of Rathmines Parish, http://www.rathminesparish.ie/about-us/parish-history (last visited, Feb 2013);  Brendan Grimes, Majestic Shrines and Graceful Sanctuaries: the church architecture of Patrick Byrne 1783-1864 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2009), 106-114(illus.).,173-175(plans).

Name: FARRELL & SONS *
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1853
Nature: Farrells undertook sculptural decoration of interior, including scheme for dome (Adoration by Host of Heaven, 150 figures)
Refs: W. Meagher, Brief Account of Rathmines Church (1855) in Clonliffe Archive, p238/6

Name: FARRELL & SONS *
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1853
Nature: Statue of Our Lady of Refuge by James Farrell purchased at exhibition in Dublin, 1853, and placed in niche on front. Moved to apex of pediment after construction of portico.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), I, 331;  Paula Murphy, Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture: Native Genius Reaffirmed  (Yale University Press: New Haven & London, 2010), 167-8(illus.);  History of Rathmines Parish, http://www.rathminesparish.ie/about-us/parish-history (last visited, Feb 2013).


Name: O'NEILL & BYRNE
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1878--1885
Nature: W front., with Portland stone portico, for Dr William Meagher. Contractors: Meade & Son. Clerk of works: Michael Smith ('highly intelligent').  Work started Mar 1878. Portico completed, 1881. Further works (wings?), 1881-85.
Refs: Drawings, 1878,1883, formerly in office archives of W.H. Byrne & Son;  Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2; Irish Times, 12 Jun 1880, 6;  IB 25, 15 Sep,1 Oct 1883, 284(illus.),311; J.J. Tracey, 'A dissertation on the buildings of John O'Neill and O'Neill and Byrne, architects, 1862-1883', unpublished thesis presented as part of Master of Architecture degree course, Queen's University, Belfast, 1987, 43,193-4,ill.41;  History of Rathmines Parish, http://www.rathminesparish.ie/about-us/parish-history (last visited, Feb 2013);  Brendan Grimes, Majestic Shrines and Graceful Sanctuaries: the church architecture of Patrick Byrne 1783-1864 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2009), 113-115(illus.)


Name: BYRNE, WILLIAM HENRY
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1893-1896
Nature: Altar rail, side chapel and porch
Refs: Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2

Name: BYRNE, WILLIAM HENRY, & SON
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1904;1906
Nature: Rails
Refs: Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2

Name: BYRNE, RALPH HENRY
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: 1920-1928;1939-40
Nature: Restoration after fire of 26 Jan 1920 in which only Shrine of Perpetual Succour and sacristy survived, new much higher dome,1920-1928.  Consulting engineer for construction of dome: A. Delap. Contractor for steelwork: A. & J. McGloughlin.  Building contractor: Benjamin Millard, Pleasants Street. Baldacchino & & pulpit, 1939-40.
Refs: Designs, dated 1924-28, 1939-40, in IAA, W.H. Byrne & Son drawings collection, Acc.2006/142 (for photographs of interior of church immediately after fire and in its restored state, see Brendan Grimes, Majestic Shrines and Graceful Sanctuaries: the church architecture of Patrick Byrne 1783-1864 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2009), 116);  IB 62, 13 Mar,22 May 1920, 141,163,365; 65, 24 Feb 1923, 134; 66, 14 Jun 1924, 526,1055; 67, ? ? 1925, 436;  Freeman's Journal, 11 May 1920;  Irish Times, 19 Apr 1923 (re construction of dome,illus.);  History of Rathmines Parish, http://www.rathminesparish.ie/about-us/parish-history (last visited, Feb 2013). 

Name: FARRELL & SONS *
Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RATHMINES ROAD LOWER, CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF REFUGE (RC)
Date: ?
Nature: Statue of Christ in the Temple by James Farrell.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), I, 331