Monthly Archives: September 2011

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 8 September 2011

Cork City Events, Cork History, Uncategorized

607a. Opening of Cork City Hall, 8 September 1936

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 8 September 2011

Building a City Hall

 

“In the rebuilding of Cork City Hall of Cork, they turned to that other road, to the road of building up, not undoing, but doing, from failure to success, from hopelessness to hope. That day they threw out again from the outer walls the banners of cultural progress, civic ambition and national hope” (Hugo Flinn, T.D. at the luncheon prior to the opening of Cork City Hall, 8 September 1936, 75 years ago today).

Ten months after the laying of the foundation stone of Cork City Hall in April 1933, contractors for the erection of the new buildings received directions to go ahead with the work. About three-fifths of the contract, which was to amount to £150,000 had not yet begun. That being said in the same month, Cork Corporation decided to place a crucifix in the Council Chamber of the new building. The decision was taken following a request conveyed in a letter from the Hon. Secretary of An Rioghacht. The group were also known as The League of the Kingship of Christ and had been established in Dublin in 1926 and sought to spread more widely Catholic social principles. Alderman Horgan noted at the Council meeting said that they were tolerant of the view of everyone and that an overwhelming majority in Cork were Catholics. He noted that the crucifix was an emblem of Christianity and should be in the new council chamber.

On 1 February 1935, various municipal departments, housed at Fitzgerald’s Park since 1920, were transferred to the new building. The part of the building ready was the western wing and contained offices, the council chamber and committee rooms. On the 23 April 1935, the Council met for their first meeting in the new chamber.  A telegram from Alderman Byrne, T.D., Lord Mayor of Dublin, wished health and prosperity to Cork and its people. Admission to the council chamber public gallery was by ticket. The Irish Independent noted of the building at that stage:

“The Hall, which replaces the structure destroyed by British forces has been designed to harmonise with Georgian period of architecture and native limestone has been largely used in its construction…the entrance to the offices now completed is through a marble-paved vestibule. The main staircase has marble steps with ornamental balustrades. The Council Chamber is lofty and well lighted, with galleries for the public and important visitors. The suite of rooms for the Lord Mayor is commodious and beautifully fitted. Irish materials have been used as much as possible…local workmanship has been used as far as possible throughout the reconstruction, and the building has provided much needed employment in a number of Cork trades.”

In late June 1935, the Old I.R.A. Men’s Association wrote that suitable memorials should be erected in the new City Hall to the memories of the late Lord Mayors Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney. Alderman Allen noted that he had brought the matter up previously and had asked for the placing of a bust of Tomás MacCurtain in the council chamber. The Lord Mayor said the Corporation had decided that suitable memorials would be erected to the memory of both Lord Mayors once City Hall was near completion and installation would be possible. The Lord Mayor further noted that “the matter was not been lost sight of, it would not be desirable at the moment to rush the question of having busts executed, as these might not meet the requirements of the Council or of the citizens”.

On 8 September 1936, the fateful day of the official opening of City Hall arrived. President of the Executive Council of Ireland Eamonn DeValera, accompanied by the Minister for Defence, Frank Aiken were met at the Borough boundary at Tivoli at 12.45 by the Lord Mayor, Ald. Seán French and city councillors, J.C. Rohan, Chairman of the Harbour Commissioners, Colonel McCabe, O/C. Collins Barracks, Cork and Chief Superintendent Hannigan of the Garda Síochána. The party then drove to the city in open carriages and on their arrival at the Victoria Hotel, a luncheon was given before the opening ceremony. Eamonn DeValera was received by a military guard of honour and the national anthem was played. The official opening time was set for 4pm. In the new assembly hall of City Hall there were seated 2,000 people. Admission was by ticket as the number of applicants for admission would have filled the place three times over. Four Mayors of Boroughs in the Irish Free State (Clonmel, Limerick, Waterford and Drogheda), Church dignitaries, deputies and representatives of various walks of life in the City were present.

The Cork Examiner recorded that every vantage point was filled around City Hall. When the President proceeded to the main door of the building and opened the main door of the building with a gold key (made from Messrs. Egan and Sons) there were fully 20,000 people watching the event. A fanfare of trumpets was given by trumpeters of the band and the tri-colour was run up on the City Hall.  A second later the air resounded to the booming of artillery as a salute of 17 big guns was given from the opposite quay by a detachment of artillery from Collins Barracks.

To be continued…

 

Captions:

607a. Opening of Cork City Hall, Tuesday, 8 September 1936 (picture: Cork Corporation Diary, 1936)

607b. Gold key that opened Cork City Hall, now in Lord Mayor’s Chambers (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

607b. Gold key that opened Cork City Hall, 8 September 1936

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 1 September 2011

Cork History, Uncategorized

 606a. Ruined Old City Hall Building

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 1 September 2011

Planning a City Hall

In an effort to mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of the official opening of Cork City Hall on 8 September 1936, I wish to note some interesting histories about its evolution before its opening. Three years after the arson attack on the building (1920), a town hall competition looking for architects took place in July 1923. Plans were put up for public inspection in the Cork Municipal School of Art. On the 29 March 1924, Jones and Kelly architects were the chosen winners of the competition. The architectural partnership, between Alfred Edwin Jones ALFRED EDWIN and Stephen Stanislaus Kelly was formed in Dublin in 1919. The following year they won the competition for Ballymena Town Hall and in 1923 gained wider recognition as the winning entrants in the Cork City Hall competition. A contractor was then sought. Tenders were sought in November of that year.

However, in 1923 and 1924 the Irish Government found it necessary to remove the members of several local authorities and replace them temporarily by paid commissioners. Among the bodies removed were the Dublin and Cork city councils. Cork Corporation itself had been dissolved in 1924 after an investigation into its activities demanded by the Cork Progressive Association (which was founded in 1923). After some experience of the work of the commissioners in these cities there was a body of opinion in favour of retaining the commissioners after the elected councils were eventually restored.

The priorities of Cork Commissioner Philip Monahan were not in the rebuilding of City Hall. Housing and slum clearance became his priorities. a local committee of commercial and industrial interests was formed in Cork in 1926 to consider a scheme of city government and it appeared that the council-manager plan of city government would be acceptable. After discussion between the Minister and local representatives, the Minister, Richard Mulcahy, introduced as a Government measure the Cork City Management Bill, 1929 and it became law despite at times, vehement opposition to it. Dublin city got its Management Act in 1930 and was followed by Limerick in 1934 and Waterford in 1939.

With the return of Cork City councillors in 1929, focus was again on the rebuilding of a city hall. In April 1929, a sub committee was appointed to look at the costs of a new building. Connected with that, public discussions also took place in local and national newspapers in the ‘letters to the editor’ pages. One such discussion took place in late April 1929 when writer Daniel Corkery proposed a site for the new City Hall near Cork’s Coal Quay. He argued that the old City Hall site was not the way forward for a new building because of its close proximity to deep water quayage, the Customs House and Harbour Offices, the heart of City’s industrial and commercial activities. His proposal took in a semi-circular area extending from the corner of Kyrl’s Street, Cornmarket Street and looking down Lavitt’s Quay towards St. Patrick’s Bridge and swinging round Kyrl’s Quay to the northern end of Kyrl’s Quay.

At a Council meeting near the 23 October 1929, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Sean French noted that an agreement had been arrived at with regard to the site of the City Hall. The City’s Town Planning Association had agreed to the old Anglesea Street site but suggested that the main entrance should be on Anglesea Street and not on the quayside. With the councillors pushing the project, further discussion appeared in the makeshift council chamber in the Crawford Art Gallery.

In mid January 1932, the Corporation decided to ask the Minister for Local Government for his consent to go ahead with the job, on the assumption that they would get a £40,000 loan, plus cash on hand amounting between £12,000 to £15,000 and leave the borrowing of the balance of an estimated total of £150,000 to a future date. At a Council meeting in early February 1932, it was reported that three tenders had been received for the erection of the new City Hall. The City Manager noted that the three tenders did not conform to the terms of the advertisement, in regard to prices or to the construction time limit. It was noted that if the furnishing was taken out of the bill, the price for the completion of the building at least could be paid for. Hence the tender of John Sisk and Sons, Cork at £139,870 was accepted and in the last week of March 1932, the contract for the rebuilding was signed. In the event of certain provisional items being included, an extra £11,000 would be added.

The foundation stone was laid on 9 July 1932 by President of the Executive Council, Eamonn DeValera. In previous articles I have written about this. The foundation stone bore an inscription in Gaelic to the effect that on that day DeValera had laid it. He spread the mortar with a silver trowel and announced in Irish that the stone was well and truly laid. He added in English that he hoped that the new building would be “symbolic of the prosperity and the future glory of the country, to come as a result of the sacrifices, which had been made by the men like those to whom the Lord Mayor had referred to, Terence MacSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain”.

To be continued….

Captions:

606a. Ruined old Cork City Hall Building (pictures: Cork City Library)

606b. Cork City Hall under construction, February 1935

606b. Cork City Hall under construction, February 1935