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Two Sligo Architects: Sir John Benson (1812-1874) and John O’Reilly (1928-2020) (By John Coleman
THE CORRAN HERALD • 2021/2022 Two Sligo Architects:
Sir John Benson (1812-1874) and John O’Reilly (1928-2020)
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by John Coleman
The remarkable career of Collooney born architect and engineer Sir John Benson has been detailed by Sligo historians Terence O’Rorke (History of Sligo, Town and County, 1890 [facsimile, 1986], ii, pp 520-2) and John C. McTernan (Worthies of Sligo, Sligo 1994, pp 16-19); Benson has also been given an entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB) (Cambridge 2009, i, pp 458-9). Sir John spent most of his career in Cork and his significant body of work there is given considerable attention in the recently published Cork City and County by Frank Keohane, a volume in the Buildings of Ireland series (New Haven and London, 2020). A painting of the buildings he designed for the 1852 Great Exhibition in Cork was sold at auction in Dublin recently. John O’Reilly, who died in 2020, had a distinguished career as an architect. John’s mother was a member of the Murrough family of Strandhill, he grew up in Ballymote and attended St Nathy’s College in Ballaghaderreen. Notable achievements in his long and distinguished career have been outlined in tributes in the Irish Times and in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI).
Sir John Benson (1812-1874)
From a modest background, Benson’s talent was recognised by the astronomer Edward Joshua Cooper of Markree and he attended the Dublin Society Schools which provided a professional training in architectural drawing. He subsequently undertook work in Sligo, including the remodelling of Markree Castle and he designed the Catholic Church in Collooney, before moving to Cork in 1846 to take up his initial appointment as county surveyor of the West Riding. He subsequently acquired responsibilities for architectural and engineering works in respect of the city and Cork Harbour Commissioners and designed roads and bridges in the city and county and numerous public buildings in the city. His most famous work beyond Cork was the design of the buildings for the Great Exhibition held in the grounds of the Royal Dublin Society on the Leinster Lawn in Dublin in 1853 (on the south side of Leinster House). The building was immediately regarded as such a success that he was conferred with a knighthood at the opening ceremony. There are no less than twentyeight references to Benson’s Cork buildings in Frank Keohane’s recently published book. Keohane notes the sophistication of Benson’s buildings which are individualistic, while being characteristic of the fashionable idioms of the age. In his public buildings, Benson often favoured working in the Italian Lombardic style and Keohane compliments his inventiveness in how this is achieved by banded use of contrasting Cork red sandstone in combination with white sandstone. Keohane singles out for praise Benson’s surviving building in this style, constructed as part of the new Cork Waterworks
Cork exhibition 1852 buildings by Sir John Benson, watercolour by James Mahony ARHA
(1857-63) (now Lifetime Lab), which he describes as ‘Benson at his best’. Keohane praises Benson’s work on the famous English Market (1862); contrasting the superiority of Benson’s Princes Street entrance with the ‘dull’ Grand Parade façade designed later by the city engineer. Keohane is impressed by the ‘large and imposing’ (former) St Vincent’s church (1851-6) on Sunday’s Well Road. The twin arched entrance to the demolished Cornmarket has been moved to Bishop Lucey Park. Benson’s impressive Butter Exchange (1849-50) and Firkin Crane (1853-5) (also associated with the buttertrade), have fortunately found new uses as a craft centre and a dance centre. Mention is given to Benson’s work on adding a new wing to Fota House (1866) which is now open to the public under the management of the Irish Heritage Trust. Mention is made of the mortuary chapel at St. Finbarr’s cemetery, several bridges and churches as well as buildings where his work is not so evident due to subsequent alterations, notably Kent Station.
John O’Reilly (1928-2020)
Writing in the journal of the RIAI, fellow architect Robin Mandal described John O’Reilly as ‘the epitome of the renaissance man – gifted with a thirst for knowledge of a breadth beyond his needs’. Mandal noted that, despite having his practice in Dublin, John never considered himself a Dubliner, having grown up in Ballymote and living in his later years in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow where he and his wife Mary (neé Gardiner), a fellow architect whom he met in college, created a wonderful garden where they hosted charitable events. After graduating from the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD), John worked initially with the OPW before setting up in private practice. His bestknown work is the Swan Centre in Rathmines, completed in 1984, where he led in implementing the concept of a mixed-use community architecture, combining shopping, cinema, restaurants and housing. As president of the RIAI after Ireland joined the EU in 1973, John was responsible for negotiating amicable separation of the RIAI from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) so that the RIBA could be represented on the Architects Council of Europe. Mandal acknowledges John’s persuasive powers which helped to ensure that changes were supported by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and the Royal Incorporation of Architects of Scotland. In a professional capacity, Mandal also notes that John put his diplomatic skills to good use in alternative dispute resolution, as an arbitrator, conciliator, and mediator. John’s pride in his Ballymote origins was always reflected in our conversations over recent years when I met him with his wife Mary at events organised by the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland (FNCI).
