Andrew Devane

Andrew Devane (3 November 1917 – 15 January 2000) was an Irish architect, born in Limerick.[1] He studied architecture at University College Dublin under Rudolf Maximilian Butler where he graduated in 1941.[2] In 1946 he was awarded the Taliesin Fellowship and he left Ireland for the United States to study under Frank Lloyd Wright until 1948.[3] In 1948 he re-joined Paddy Robinson and Cyril Keefe of the architectural practice of Robinson & Keefe [4] as a partner.

Among his best known works were Stephen Court and the Irish Life Centre in [Dublin]. Stephen Court was highly recommended in the European Architectural Heritage Year awards for its sympathy with its Georgian surroundings.[5]

Career

After Devane graduated from UCD, he began working in the architecture practice of Robinson & Keefe. After a short time, Devane was offered a partnership with the practice, but decided to postpone any agreement. Around this time Devane made contact with American Architect, Frank Wright Lloyd. In his letter to Wright, Devane said "I cannot make up my mind whether you are in truth a great architect - or just another phony." to which Wright replied "Come along and see."[2] In 1946 Devane travelled to America to attend the Taliesin Fellowship, a private educational institution in which promising architects were given the opportunity to study under Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale, Arizona. Devane grew to admire Wright greatly. In a tribute to Wright, Devane would say of himself and his fellow apprentices that “Each of us lives inevitably (sometimes painfully) in his (Wright’s) “shadow,” because in art and architecture, all of us, including him, live and grow or fade and die, in a light that is god-given.”[6]

On his return to Ireland in 1948 he took up Paddy Robinson and Cyril Keefe of Robinson & Keefe on their partnership offer and formed the Robinson, Keefe & Devane architecture practice (Now known as RKD Architects).[4]

Personal life

Andrew Devane was born on 3 November 1917 in Limerick to a Roman Catholic family. His father, Dr John Devane, worked in St John's Hospital as a physician from 1915 until his retirement in the 1950s.[7] He was married to Maureen Ashe in 1950[8] and had three sons, Richard, Martin and Tony. Maureen died in 1977.[9] Later on in life Devane spent much of his time devoted to charity work, especially for Mother Teresa's cause in Calcutta, India.[4]

He died on January 15, 2000 in Calcutta.[9]

Distinctive features

Many of his buildings exhibit the following distinctive features:

• Low roof pitches often with copper standing seam roofs. (Lucan Technical School, Gonzaga College, Stillorgan College, Balbriggan Technical School.)
• Concrete Towers often with sculptural profile at the top. (Dublin City University, St. Patrick's College, St Fintan's Church, St. Lelias Church, Airport Church, Gonzaga College, Divine Word Missionary College, Maynooth.)
• Wide roof overhangs at eaves. (Gonzaga College.)
• Arches at ground floor level. (Dundrum Technical School, Evora House, Howth, Clogher Road church.)
• Wide overhanging concrete canopy at the entrance. (Meath hospital G.U. Unit, Mount Carmel Hospital, Rathgar, Our Lady of Good Council Church Killiney.)
• rooflights or openings in the Overhangs to bring more light to ground level. (Stephen's court, Ballynanty School, Meath Hospital, Balbriggan Technical School, Lucan Technical School.)
• Extensive rooflighting as ridge to a roof or as a roof pitch on an asymmetrical roof. (Dingle church, Clogher Road Technical school, Emmet Road Technical School.)
• Curved or other special treatment of corners of buildings. (Irish life Centre, St. Fintan's Church, St. Lelia's Church, Assisi House.)
• Brickwork with three colours of blue and grey smooth face concrete bricks. (St. Patrick's College, Stillorgan College.)
• Rough textures beside smooth textures. (Gonzaga College chapel, St. Fintan's Church Sutton, Ballynanty School.)
• Buildings designed to a grid which turns through narrow angles on the central axis. (Tallaght Hospital, Cavan General Hospital, Mirafiori House Blessington, Journey's End Howth.)
• Raised planting beds around the base of the building. (Meath G.U. Unit, Gonzaga College, Rush Technical School.)
• Interesting floor patterns in terrazzo to circulation areas – different on each floor. (Mount Carmel Hospital, Meath Hospital GU Unit.)
• Entrances on the north or east side of the building to facilitate the best rooms getting the best sunlight. (Mount Carmel Hospital, Tallaght Hospital.)
• Concrete balconies with rounded arrises. ('Journey's End' Howth, 'Santane' Sutton, Meath Hospital G.U. Unit.)
• Interesting concrete textures. (St. Fintan's Church with rope marked concrete, Ballynanty School, National Institute for Higher Education (Ballymun) with slip form concrete to tower, Stephen Court and Irish Life Centre bush-hammered concrete.)
• Columns or piers tapering in one dimension as they rise. (Stillorgan School, Lucan Technical School.)
• White Concrete. (St. Patricks College, Irish Life Centre.)
• Strong vertical elements in contrast to horizontal elements. (Balbriggan Technical School.)
• 22.5 degree angles, 17.5 degree angles both in plan and section. (Emmet Road Technical School.)
• Devane designed many building elements which are normally bought from a catalogue, such as door handles, furniture, kitchens, Crucifixes, Baptismal fonts, altars, altar furniture, school desks, Stacking chairs etc. (Tables for his own house, Bentwood stacking chairs in many schools, door handles at St. Fintans Church, Airport Church, etc.)

Selected works

Shops and restaurants

• Monument Café, Dublin (c. 1947).[1]
• Monument Creamery, 166, Phibsborough Road. (1950.)
• Veritas shop, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin.
• Mackeys Seed's Shop, Mary Street, Dublin.(Renovation and shop front.)
• Duggan's Monster Stores, Kilkenny. (Fit out of department store.)

Houses

• 'Journey's End', House, Howth, for Devane family. Curvilinear extension to an earlier bungalow. (1955.) Much modified with large extensions.
• 'The End', Howth, Detached single storey house with concrete roof and roof garden for Devane family. Built after 'Journey's End' on an adjoining site.
• 'Evora', Dunbo Hill, Howth Harbour for Mc. Mullen. Spanish style house with arches.(demolished)
• 'Shielmartin Cottage', Howth.
• 'Taoseach's House', for Mr. Liam Cosgrave, Scholarstown, Rathfarnham. (Location of house was described as Tallaght in certain publications.)
• 'Elsinore' Howth.
• Bradshaw House, Howth.
• 'Spindrift', Baily, Howth.
• 'Santane', Strand Rd. Sutton.
• Holiday house at Caragh Lake, Kerry.
• Old School House, Kells Bay, Kerry. (Conversion of school house into holiday home.)
• House at Laragh, Co. Wicklow.
• Mc. Mahon Mews, Pery Square, Limerick. (Alterations.)
• 'The Tansey', Ceanchor Road, Howth. (Alterations to original house built in 1740)
• Parochial House, St. Fintan's, Church Road/ Greenfield Road, Sutton.
• Parish Priest's House, at Dublin Airport Church.
• Mews house at St. James' Terrace for Dr. Rory O'Hanlon.

Housing

• Pimlico apartment blocks, Dublin 8, for Dublin Corporation.
• AIB Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. (inclined slabs.) not built.

Primary education buildings

• St. Mary's Girls' School, Bishop Street, King's Island, Limerick. (1951) [10]
• St. Munchin's Girls' and Infants' School, Ballynanty, Limerick City (1959).[11]
• St. John's School, Limerick.
• Gaelscoil Sáirséal, Shelbourne Road, Limerick
• St. Fintan's Primary School, Sutton, Co. Dublin.
• St. Canice's Boys' School, Glasanaon Road, Finglas, Co. Dublin. (1954.)
• St. John's School, Garryowen Road, Limerick.
• Former Christian Brothers' School, Hassett's Cross, Limerick. (1955) Subsequently renovated and in use from 2016 as Gaelscoil Sáirséal.
• School at Ballygall Road, Finglas, Co. Dublin. (1957)
• Marist School, Clogher Road. (1957–1961)
• St. Patrick's Primary School, Junior and Senior Schools, Drumcondra Road, Dublin.
• Howth Primary School extension.

Secondary education buildings

• Beneavin College, Finglas, Co. Dublin. (1960–1963.) Assembly Hall (burnt down), Administration wing (demolished), Science block(demolished), Classroom block (altered).
• Clongowes Wood College. Link building.
• St. Colmcille boys' School, Church Lane, Swords. (1964.)
• St. Lorcan's College, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin. (1960.)
• Henry Street School, Limerick.
• Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin. Hall, library, classrooms, tower and chapel. (1952–1956.)
• Holy Faith School Glasnevin.( including Assembly Hall extension 1963)
• St. Ferghal's Boys' School, Cappagh Road, West Finglas.(1955–1957.)
• Convent of Mercy Girls' Schools, Longford.
• Marist Secondary School, Clogher Road.

Third level education buildings

(Some of these buildings are now known by differect names.)

• Mary Immaculate College, South Circular Road, Limerick. (Extension.) 1955-1956
• Pearse College, Clogher Road, Dublin. 1950–1954.
• Technical School, Emmett Road, Inchicore. (Note staircase based on Wright's 'Falling Water' house.) 1953–1958.
• Technical School, Swords Co. Dublin. (Extended further 1959.)
• Technical School, Rush, Co. Dublin. 1954.
• Technical School, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. 1951–1953.
• Technical School, Lucan, Co. Dublin. 1951–1953.
• Technical School, Dundrum, Co. Dublin. 1955. (Note similarities with Swords Technical School.)
• Divine Word Missionaries, College at Moyglare Road, Maynooth.
• St. Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra. Church, gymnasium, dining hall, residential accommodation, library, teaching facilities.
• Dublin City University, Canteen, Teaching block and water tower. (Formerly National Institute of Higher Education.)
• University College Dublin, Belfield, Administration building. (In conjunction with Andrej Wejchert.)

Medical buildings

• Urological Unit, Meath Hospital, Dublin (1954).[12]
• Mount Carmel Hospital, Braemor Park, Churchtown, Co. Dublin.(1956–1960.) New nursing home, including oratory.
• Hospital, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. New hospital.(1968.)
• Hospital Dollis Hill, London. (Demolished.)
• St. Vincent's Private Hospital, Elm Park. New private hospital including theatres.
• Adelaide and Meath Hospital incorporating National Children's Hospital, Tallaght. (Concept and design of various departments. The design was further developed within the Robinson Keefe Devane office. The intended mirror glass to the deep courtyards was not implemented. ) Formally known as Tallaght Regional Hospital.
• Temple Street Children's University Hospital. Masterplan and first building.
• Calcutta Drug Rehabilitation centre.
• St. John's Hospital, Limerick. (Alterations)
• Cavan General Hospital, Cavan Town. New hospital and detached turf-fired boiler house.
• Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin. Masterplan and theatres. (Demolished.)
• Theatres and extension at M. M. M. Hospital Drogheda.

Other institutional buildings

• Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. (Multi storey residential extension at rear.)
• Assisi House, Navan Road. Chapel and age related residential home.
• Manresa House, Chapel, and multi-storey retreat house, Dollymount, Dublin 3.
• The Communications Centre, Stillorgan Road, and Booterstown Avenue, Dublin.(Building demolished, boundary wall remains.)
• Boys Club and Administration Building, for st. Vincent de Paul, Nicholas Street, Dublin. (1963)
• Milford House Novitiate, Limerick. (Alterations).
• Temple St. Hospital Convent and chapel.
• Airmonut Convent, Waterford.

Office buildings

• Stephen Court, Dublin (1971).[5] for Irish life.
• Ceann Arus, G.A.A. Headquarters Building, Jones's Road, Dublin 3. ( demolished.)
• Bankcentre, Ballsbridge, Dublin. Office complex and computer centre.
• Administration Block, U.C.D. Belfield. (in conjunction with Andrej Wejchert.)
• Administration Building, Turlough Hill Power Station, Co. Wicklow for the E.S.B.
• Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street. ( Block I, II, IIIA, IIIB ) Includes swimming pool, theatre, and second floor gardens. Originally designed to be two stories higher but Dublin city Council insisted that it would be no higher than Central Bank, so 2 stories were removed from tower block.
• Extension to Irish life Centre, with facades to Abbey Street and Marlborough Street, Dublin. Includes department store at ground floor level, garden at first floor level with central conference centre.
• Sarsfield House fit out for Coffey Gubbins, Limerick.
• Martin Moloney + Sons, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin. (only first phase built.)
• Chase Manhattan Bank, Shannon New Town, Co. Clare. (demolished?)
• E. S. B. offices and control building, Turlough Hill power station, Co. Wicklow.

Churches

• Umtali Cathedral, Rhodesia, (Now Mutare, Zimbabwe) (Concept sketch plans only.)
• Reordering Ennis Cathedral, Co. Clare.
• Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Church at Dublin Airport, church, campanile, atrium and adjoining house.
• Our Lady and St. David, Naas, Church, (Mortuary chapel only). (1955)
• Dingle Church, (renovation including new rooflighting and removal of wall plaster).
• Convent, Nottingham.
• St. Lelia's Church (renovated) at Killeely Road, Ballynantybeg, Limerick.
• St. Fintan's Church, atrium, campanile, parish centre, and parochial house, Sutton, County Dublin (1973).
• Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (renovated by others) and parish hall (demolished), Johnstown, Killiney. (Entrance courtyard demolished)
• Church, Central Highlands, New Guinea. Built in timber frame and grass cladding.
• Blessed Sacrament Chapel, D'Olier St. (fit out of an existing space, now demolished.)
• Manresa House Chapel, Dollymount, Dublin 3.
• Assisi House Chapel, Navan Road, Cabra.
• St. Patrick's Training College Church and campanile, Drumcondra.
• St. Mary's Church, Tampa, Florida.
• Gonzaga College Chapel, Ranelagh.
• St. John Cathedral, Limerick, (Alterations only.)
• St. Mary's Church Howth, Reordering of sanctuary.
• Fr. John Sullivan tomb, Gardiner St. Church.
• Orarory at Loyola House, Eglington Road. (Destroyed in house fire)
• Convent for Missionaries of Charity, South Circular Road, Dublin. (Mother Theresa nuns. Adaption of existing house.)

Hotels

• Shannon Shamrock Hotel, Bunratty, Co. Limerick. (1959) (Currently closed and (2015) for sale)
• A.G. Mc. Carthy Hotel, Limerick. (Location not known.)
• Royal George Hotel, Limerick. (Internal alterations.)
• Woodfield guest house, Ennis Road, Limerick. (alterations only)

Other buildings

• New York Worlds Fair, Irish Pavilion.(Temporary building demolished.)
• Mackey's Garden Centre, Glasthule. (demolished.)
• Woodfield Guest House, Limerick for Mr. Dwyer. (Alterations to existing house.)
• Multi storey Housing in several blocks at Marrowbone Lane, Pimlico, Dublin. (Based on Dublin Corporation standard plans. Colours originally used were black and white.)

Sundry projects

• Shrine and reliquary to Blessed Oliver Plunkett at Drogheda, Co. Louth.
• Retrospective of work of Oisin Kelly, Sculptor.
• Designed a chalice for a Seminarian in Rome.
• Designed stone plaque for Irish College, Rome.
• Worked with John Behan on aluminium sculpture at Bankcentre, Ballsbridge.
• Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, Co. Wicklow. Reconfiguration of former reformatory.
• Office building at Masonic school, Ballsbridge. ( now Bewleys hotel.) unbuilt.

Unbuilt projects

• Office building complex, Ship Street, Dublin Castle. ( on site of serpentine gardens.)
• Church, Bird Avenue.(Competition entry.) 1950's.
• Chapel of Reconciliation, Knock, Co. Mayo. (Competition entry- 3rd. place.)
• House for Mrs. Montefiori, Blessington.
• Housing at 29–31, Permbroke Gardens. ( Scheme as built is similar to the original concept.)
• AIB Headquarters, Ranelagh. (The project was relocated to Ballsbridge site, and housing was built on site.)
• Mount Carmel Hospital Oratory, Rathgar.(Appears on perspective drawings but was not built.)
• A.I.B. Bankcentre Ballsbridge Amenity Block K and Housing Block J. (Mixed use was a planning requirement, Housing subsequently designed by others.)
• All Hallows College, Drumcondra masterplan including Tora.(Curvilinear building from the Junior House to Mc.Donnell House.)
• Waterfront Commercial Development at Limerick City.
• Reordering of Trinity College Chapel (Church of Ireland) with UK based associate Architect.
• Tower at Adelaide and Meath Hospital incorporating National Children's Hospital (aka Tallaght Hospital.). (Tower was intended to stand at the main entrance to enable visitors to navigate from the site entrance to the building entrance.)

References

1. The Architects' Journal. The Architectural Press Ltd. 105. 1947. ISSN 0003-8466.CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
2. Coyle, Jennifer, ed. (2000). In His Own Words Andrew Devane, Architect. Irish Arts Review. p. 2.
3. Fentress, C. W., ed. (2002). Civic builders. Wiley-Academy. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-471-49876-6.
4. Tafel, Edgar (2001). Frank Lloyd Wright: Recollections by Those Who Knew Him. Courier Dover Publications. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-486-41731-8.
5. Lincoln, Colm (1992). Dublin as a work of art. O'Brien Press. p. 193.
6. Tafel, Edgar, ed. (2001). Frank Lloyd Wright: Recollections by Those Who Knew Him. Courier Corporation. p. 116.
7. Archived 29 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
8. "Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FTTH-KJC : accessed 10 October 2015), MARRIAGES entry for Andrew Devane; citing Kilkenny, Oct - Dec 1950, vol. 3, p. 241, General Registry, Custom House, Dublin; FHL microfilm 257,850.
9. "Huge output mirrored by profoundly spiritual persona". The Irish Times.
10. "The vanishing Devane". Village Magazine. 19 September 2016.
11. "Home: Buildings of Ireland: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage". www.buildingsofireland.ie.
12. Stirling, M. W. B. (1963). "The Planning of Urological Departments". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 56 (5): 425. doi:10.1177/003591576305600539.

Further reading

• Johnson, Clare V. (2003). Ars Liturgiae: Worship, Aesthetics and Praxis. Liturgy Training Publications. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-56854-488-5.