#irish architecture

[arc-hus]

Fethard House, Tipperary, Ireland - TOB

https://tobarchitect.ie/

[leocadra]

Kinsale | Munster | Ireland.

[oceancentury]

The staircase at Castletown House, Kildare, Ireland.

[lordwilde]

Mayfield House, Portlaw, County Waterford, Ireland

[panoramicireland]

The amazingly unusual Horseshoe House in Galway.

Owned by a man who loved his horses, Michael Cunniss, he had the windows redesigned into horseshoe shapes.

In 1982 RTE visited the house and found a hatch in the living room that allowed his horse to watch TV and partake in the evening's life in the house.

[chirhos]

St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork

[autumncottageattic]

tourismireland

[germanpostwarmodern]

More often than not architects with a rather regional scope fall into oblivion, irrespective of their actual impact and the quality of their work. This also holds true for Frank Murphy, an Irish architect working in and for his town of Cork, giving it a modern face. Conor English‘s new and first monograph merges biography and work analysis into a compelling, vivid story of an often playful modernist: processing Scandinavian as well as American influences Murphy‘s work includes complex surfaces just as well as curtain walls. While the former is particularly present in his many storefront designs the latter gave an air of the International Style to the city of Cork in the form of Thompson’s bakery (1962-66). English’s narration leads the reader through Murphy’s entire career from his student days at the University College Dublin’s School of Architecture to his late years during which he increasingly focused on historic preservation projects (another part of his career that deserves praise). This is rounded off by very personal accounts by Murphy’s former architectural engineer Edwin Uniacke, his children John, Peter and Reg Murphy as well as his niece April, each of which brings the reader closer to the sympathetic yet quirky personality of Frank Murphy, Cork’s modern architect. Hats off, well done, Conor English!