J. J. McCarthy

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James Joseph McCarthy (1817-1882) was an Irish architect, often referred to as the 'Irish Pugin'.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 3 Works 4 Catholic Cathedrals 5 Catholic churches 6 Bibliography

[edit] Early years

James Joseph McCarthy was born in Dublin on 6 January 1817, son of Charles McCarthy who came of a Co. Kerry family settled in Dublin.

The family circumstances seem to have been humble. McCarthy entered the Christian Brothers O'Connell School, North Richmond St., Dublin when it opened on 11 July 1831.

In the autumn of 1834 he was admitted to the Figure and Ornament Schools of the Royal Dublin Society, in Kildare St. The Schools had been founded in the late 18th century, and their objects included the training of artisans and the improvement of the quality of craftsmanship, though most painters and sculptors got their training there too, and so did many young architects, before going on to be articled to someone established in the profession. McCarthy moved from the Figure and Ornament Schools to the Architecture School.

[edit] Career

He served his aprenticeship with Williams Farrell. In 1837 his work was first shown at the annual exhibition of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA). He continued to send designs to the RHA for the next few years.

The only building with which his name is connected at this early stage is St. Columb's Church Derry. His next important work was St. Kevin's at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow - foundation stone laid 3 June 1846. McCarthy's second great triumph in 1846 was to win the competition for a design for a new church at Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. Unfortunately, this project was interrupted by the Famine, and when it was revived, the designs had been revised apparently by Pugin. So his next major work was the church at Kilskyre, Co. Meath, which was begun in 1847. It is in the Middle Pointed style.

In the late 40's McCarthy was consolidating his position as the man who would bring about a revival of ancient architecture in Ireland, and build churches in the true ecclesiological style.

A major event in McCarthy's career was the foundation of the Irish Ecclesiological Society in 1849. He was one of the three joint honorary secretaries (the other two were Rev. Bartholomew Woodlock, Vice-President of All Hallows College, and William Nugent Skeelly, Esq.) and, it would seem, one of the moving spirits of the society.

McCarthy was a very talented architect. At his best, particularly in smaller country churches, he skilfully adapted his chosen varieties of Gothic or Romanesque to the needs of the building and to local material, and produced edifices which were solid and unpretentious, with clear, coherent, spatial relationships. His professional success was by no means undeserved. He was lucky in coming to maturity just when the Catholic Church in Ireland was entering a period of intense activity - he was lucky to combine the qualities of piety and patriotism which suited the mood of the time; he possessed the most important attribute for an architect of the period - he was an able administrator.

[edit] Works

St. Paul's Convent of Mercy, Belfast (1855 - 1859); His only Belfast commission. Four ranges round central cloister. Three-storied facade with projecting gables giving a pronounced vertical feeling. Built of red brick with blue brick relieving arches and sandstone dressings.

Convent of Mercy, Kilrush Co. Clare (1854); One of McCarthy's most concentrated designs, impressively sited on the edge of a valley, with the chapel on the 1st floor approached by elaborate twin doors of an arched landing. Massive chimneys and steep roofs reveal influence of Pugin's Maynooth, as also the paned, sashed and trefoil-headed windows. Designed in 1854 and built in 1860.

Convent of Mercy, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh (1850's); Original scheme was drawn up by McCarthy but what was built in a comfortable but outdated Georgian has never been attributed to him.

88, Merrion Row, Dublin (1859); House built in his Romanesque idiom with bay windows on the side facade to take advantage of the lawn in front of the National Gallery.

All Hallows, Drumcondra, Dublin (1853); The Early Georgian house was extended to the rear by McCarthy with his characteristic institutional Gothic that advances forward to terminate in an almost free-standing collegiate chapel, designed by George Ashlin, his rival, in 1876. Facade dominated by large rose window now filled with stained glass by Evie Hone (1953). Fittings by Ashlin.

Holy Cross Church and College, Drumcondra, Dublin; This church was commissioned by Cardinal Cullen, who commanded McCarthy to build in the Roman idiom. All long-living Gothic Revivalists who worked for the Catholic church had to at some point in their career sublimate their personal beliefs. In Ireland, McCarthy was the most successful because his sublimation was so wholehearted: his Roman precentents for the church of St. Agata dei Goti and St. Francesca Romano in the Forum. The restraint of the flat, coffered ceiling recreates Rome's early Christian architecture, if less so since the removal of some of Gagliardi wall paintings, victims of the Irish damp.

Entrance, Offices, and Chapel (1870-8), Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin; This church marks the closest he ever came to Celtic Revival. An eastern apse, a transept, an attached campanile and stained glass by Clayton and Bell militate against its Gaelicism.

Passionist Monastery and church, Harold’s Cross, Dublin (1862); An austere monastic block with adjoining tower.[1] Round-headed window within set into Gothic relieving arches. There is no evidence today of the problems that he had with his builder and his clients, but all was forgiven when he was called back a few years later to add the church,[2][3] admittedly using a dictated Italian Romanesque, in deference to the origins of the Passionist order. Externally the church has twin towers and a profusion of sculpture by James Pearse.

Dominican Priory, Tallaght, Dublin (1863); Gothic Revival monastery. Chapel added in 1866 after his death by George Ashlin.

St. Ignatius’, Galway (1860); The Jesuit church of the city, designed in 1863 by S.U. Roberts, in collaboration with his contractor, John Semple Jnr (1812/3-1880), son of the more celebrated Early Gothic Revivalist. They were probably executing the 1860 designs of McCarthy. Facade made asymmetrical by off-centre spire. Cruciform interior with open roof.

Franciscan Abbey, Killarney (1868); Monastic complex built round central cloister, prominently sited at the southern approach to the town. Asymmetrical facade flush with the west front of the church, all built with green hued rubble stone and contrasting dressings, inspired by Pugin's treatment of Enniscorthy Cathedral. Continuous nave and chancel with light lattice vault. [4] [5]

Presentation Convent, Tralee, Co. Kerry; Built round two courtyards with polychromatic stonework to match adjoining Catholic church.

Church of Ireland Chapel Kilkea,Co. Kildare (1863); McCarthy was an unexpected choice by the 4th Duke of Leinster for this little church in the model village at his gates. His original drawings which have survived are the only evidence of this unpublicised commission. His church is reserved with no outward evidence that this is a ducal chapel. Entry gained under western tower to a simple cell with whitewashed walls in contrast to the grey limestone tracery of the windows. Open roof braced with timber Gothic arches. The Triple lancet window over altar, was later filled with stained glass by A.E. Child commemorating the Fitzgeralds.

Rectory, Kilkea (1865); Having completed the church, McCarthy was asked to design the rectory. Restrained Victorian, with minimal use of Gothic detail, it is now a private home.

St. Patrick’s College Chapel, Maynooth(1875); Started by McCarthy in 1875. By adding the chevet he departed from Pugin's more austere design to avoid coonfrontation with the litigious E.W. Pugin. He also designed the Senior Infirmary, but his scheme for completing Pugin's quad with a great hall was set aside. McCarthy's interior contains woodcarving, paintings, gilding and stained glass. Archbishop Healy's centenary volume of 1895 omits the identification of all the artists who worked under William Hague in the completion of McCarthy's interior after a limited competition. The paintings were executed by Cox and Buckley of Youghal, the stained glass is by Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich, and the mosaics are by Ludwig Oppenheimer. Hague's vast white marble altar was replaced in alabaster by George Ashlin in 1908.

Cahirmoyle House, Ardagh Co. Limerick; McCarthy's more important country-house commission. The house was constructed round a double-arcaded staircase hall, upheld by his characteristically over-scaled arcades with marble shafts and richly sculpted capitals. The principal rooms have polychromatic marble fireplaces and delicately pained ceilings. The client, a son of the patriot William Smith O'Brien and a descendant of the high kings, dictated Hiberno-Romanesque as his choice of style.

Croom House, Croom, Co. Limerick;

Castle Forbes,Newtownforbes, Co. Longford; The 7th Earl of Granard, after his marriage to the heiress of Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford, and his conversion to Catholicism, commissioned McCarthy to remodel the stable block in Irish Baronial.

Christian Brothers, Chapel St.,Dundalk(1853-1869. Gothic institution built from 1853 to 1869 and ascribed to McCarthy.

[edit] Catholic Cathedrals

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh(1853); The first architect was Thomas Duff of Newry and he intended to recall 16th century Gothic. This was started in 1840 but was halted by the Famine. It was resumed in 1853 to the design of McCarthy who changed the idiom to 14th century. This was completed some 20 years later.

St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, Ennis(1860's); McCarthy designed the high altar, chapels of the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the tower and the spire. Cathedral designed by Dominic Madden.

Killarney Cathedral St. Mary's (1853); The Irish masterpiece of Augustus Welby Pugin (A.W.N.). Pugin died in September 1852. Construction of the cathedral resumed at the beginning of 1853, and McCarthy, a friend and colleague of Pugin, succeeded him as architect. On 22 August 1855 it was consecrated and dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the presence of McCarthy and E.W. Pugin, the architect's eldest son.

St. Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry (1851); Yet another Irish cathedral that embodies the involuntary combination of McCarthy and George Ashlin: indeed they alternated for over half a century. McCarthy replaced an incompetent unknown in 1851 and completed the nave and choir (there are no transepts) twenty years later, apart from the furnishing. The adjoining bishop's palace is also McCarthy (1873) [6]

St. Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan,1861); The most impressive of McCarthy's cathedrals, at least until its internal remodelling in the 1980's. Started in 1861, the shell was competed by 1868. After McCarthy's death in 1882 William Hague took over, designing the spire and the gate lodge.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral, Thurles, Co.Tipperary. (1865); The only Romanesque cathedral designed by McCarthy who started construction in 1865. Ten years later, his patron, Archbishop Leahy, died, to be succeeded by Archbishop Croke, who replaced McCarthy with his most formidable rival, George Ashlin. By then there was little left to do, but it must have been infuriating for McCarthy all the same. The exterior is entirely McCarthy's design.

St, Aidan’s Cathedral,Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Begun by A.W.N. Pugin in 1843, it is modelled on the English Tintern Abbey. The interior of the cathedral was completed by 1861 under the supervision of McCarthy. The arcades and piers, the panelled ceiling and the organ gallery at the west end are the his work, as were the altars and reredos. [7]

[edit] Catholic churches

St. Mary’s Mallow, Co. Cork - marble wall memorial;

Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal - Polygonal chancel added by McCarthy in 1860;

St. Mary of the Angels, Dublin (1868-1881); Designed by McCarthy and built for the Capuchin Order. The architecture of the facade reverts to the austerity of his early rural churches. The interior was originally a simple timber-sheathed barrel-vault springing from coving through which the arches of the clerestory windows penetrated. Altars by James Pearse, facade statues by Leo Broe. When McCarthy died the Capuchins chose Ashlin to add the side aisle and the organ gallery.

St. Saviour’s, Dominic St., Dublin(1852); The finest of McCarthy's Dublin churches, at least until its internal reorganisation. The foundation stone was laid in 1852 and the dedication took place in 1861, but the projected tower was never started. The interior has been devastated by a recent re-ordering. [8]

St. Catherine’s, Meath St., Dublin(1852); Gothic Revival church designed by McCarthy. The side elevations with their perforated buttresses and trefoiled aisle windows above the stone-roofed aisles are more indicative of the interior than the desiccated facade with its unfinished tower. Excellent glass in the style of O'Connor. William McBrides's painting above the chancel depicts St. Catherine's martyrdom.

St. Mary's, Haddington Road, Dublin;

St. Mary Star of the Sea, Sandymount, Dublin, (1851-8); The triple-gabled facade expresses the internal layout of the nave and aisles all of equal width; an example of Pugin's influence on the early work of McCarthy. Dark atmospheric interior with stained glass by Earley. Church bell ringing across the strand heard by Gertie McDonnell in Ulysses (novel).

St. Michael's, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin; [9]

St. Michael’s, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway; Commission from McCarthy in 1846 and built in 1852-8 (showing little evidence of A.W.N. Pugin who was called in by the parish priest). The church as built was repudiated by McCarthy - a harsh design of local limestone with asymmetrical steeple. Interior is more interesting for its mural decorations by Joshue Clarke, its stained glass (St. Rose and St. Patrick) by Harry Clarke, who also designed a canvas of the Trinity above the chancel arch (1924). The altar sculpted by Albert Power contains an extraordinary Celtic Revival tabernacle by Mia Cranwell. [10] [11]

St. Brendan’s, Ardfert, Co. Kerry (1853-5); Both of McCarthy's parents came from Kerry and he received an abundance of commissions in that county. Ardfert church should not be confused with the nearby Sacred Heart church of Kilmoyley (1871) by Ashlin. Puginian Gothic with nave and smaller chancel propped up by their respective aisles. Corner tower and spire beside the entry porch. Interior stripped of plaster in the 1970's, when the altar that had replaced the original by Hardman in 1917 was in turn superseded. [12]

St. Vincent, Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry; Designed by McCarthy c. 1865 and built out of local freestone with nave and lean-to aisles. Interior modernised.

St. Mary’s, Lispole, Dingle, Co. Kerry; Well-sited Gothic Revival church designed c. 1860, a twin to Feries. Built from local limestone with central nave held between low-roofed aisles. Diagonally placed bellcote corbelled out of buttresses from the corner of the facade. Interior altered by the insertion of skylights and the removal of the high altar designed by H. O'Neill and carved by Scannell in 1870. [13]

Church of St. Gertrude, Feries (Firies), Co. Kerry; A twin of Lispole church, with a similar geometrical bellcote diagonally corbelled out of the buttresses of the facade, is proof that McCarthy had the ability to be as harsh and incisive as his comtemporary Church of Ireland architects.

St. Agatha, Glenfesk, Co. Kerry; Small Gothic Revival church built out of local stone, sited at the start of a mountain pass from Kerry to Cork. Tower never completed.

St. Michael’s, Lixnaw, Co. Kerry; One of the Celtic Revival experiments by McCarthy, but predictably more Norman than Celtic, due to having to flank the nave with aisles that open off it through robust round arched arcades. Modernised interior.

St. John's, Tralee, Co. Kerry (1854-61); One of the most attractive of McCarthy's churches. It gives an impressive vista on entering of continuous nave and choir. Exterior dominated by George Ashlin's western tower and spire (1886-70) built from local sandstone with silver limestone dressings. Immense stained glass sanctuary window (and windows north and south adjoining the high altar) by Michael O'Connor. [14]

SS Mary and Laurence, Balllintore, Co. Kildare; Rare attempt by McCarthy to create a national style by building a rural church in Hiberno-Romanesque, started c.1860. Features include heavy arcading, apse subdivided into four and metal strutting from roof.

St. Patrick’s Celbridge, Co. Kildare, (1857); Gothic Revival church. Central high-pitched nave held in place by steeple-raked aisle roofs, internally visible through arches whose loftiness contrasts with the stubby piers and compressed clerestory. Glass by Hardman and Wailes above the altar. Pained chancel. Original pulpit.

St. Coca, Kilcock, Co. Kildare; Built in 1868 in his Puginian manner - quatrefoil clerestory with steeply raked roofs over the aisles. The vertical uplift of the facade is cut short by the failure to build the extended tower.

Sacred Heart and St. Brigid, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, (1869); Typical Puginian Gothic designed for Canon Langan. The stained glass of the lady chapel depicts a model of the church with the steeple that was never built. The interior has open timber roof with restless metal struts, supported on arcades of red marble columns with over-sculpted capitals. The chancel apse is subdivided into four bays, with neo-medieval glass.

Our Lady and St. David, Naas, Co. Kildare; Attributed to Thomas Cobden. McCarthy was called in 1875 to add the majestic tower and spire.

Taghadoe Church, Co. Kildare; Austere Gothic Revival designed by McCarthy in 1859-63. Asymmetrical steeple set flush with west facade. Altar carved by Purdy.

St. Mary, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny; Built c.1859-62 to replace an earlier church of which the tower survives, competing with McCarthy's own belfry, a round tower embedded into the transept of the church. McCarthy achieved real rather than fictional authenticity by reusing the altar of Jerpoint, but this has now vanished. [15]

St. Senan's, Foynes, Co. Limerick; McCarthy's most incisive design with a simple cell of four bays, and a projecting porch resting on tiny coupled red marble columns. The west facade has the same contrast of scale - an immense rose window and a tiny corner turret enclosing the staircase to the organ loft. His transept, chancel and central tower were never built. [16]

SS Peter and Paul, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, (1878); One of his later churches, simple in plan, with organ loft, nave and chancel beneath one continuous roof contrasting with off-centre tower and spire. The second-last bay of the aisles is carried upwards to make small transepts screened from the nave. There is sumptuous interior carving and decoration, despite the present altar's being made up out of its predecessor's debris. Here the central pinnacle has been retained as a freestanding tabernacle and a pair of dislodged marble angels stand guard on either side, above a window inspired by the ruined Dominican church of the town. Venetian mosaics in the chancel, under direction of Ashlin, glass by Mayer and Earley.

St. Mary’s, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick (1876); Designed by McCarthy, the church was started in 1876 and the spire completed by 1881. The interior ranks as one of his most impressive, where he achieves a sense of spaciousness by carrying the nave arcades across the transepts. He uses the same device between the transepts and the loftier side chapels that flank the chancel; these are treated asymmetrically. Red marble columns and good neo-medieval glass. Altar dismantled to conform with outdated liturgical thinking of the 1960's, but regurgitated as table, lectern and seat. In the porch beneath the tower a large plaque records the donors, including the architect, who donated the stained glass of the last window of the south aisle embellished by his heraldic devices. [17]

St. Columb’s, Derry; Earliest recorded commission of McCarthy who built this church in 1838 as a single cell with a steeple symmetrically placed. Transepts added in 1887.

St. Mary’s, Ardee, Co. Louth; Gothic galleried church built c. 1930 and remodelled in 1860 by McCarthy, who inserted a series of elaborate altars beneath stained glass at the eastern end. Abandoned c.1965 and replaced by a new church across the road that looks like an elegant community centre. Impractical plans to turn the original church into a community centre remain stillborn.

St. Patrick’s Dundalk, Co Louth; Designed by Thomas Duff in 1860. McCarthy was commissioned to design the high altar, reredos, sedilia and a monument to the Rev. Coyne carved by R. Kirk.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, Kilskyre, Co. Meath; One of the earliest and finest of McCarthy's rural churches, designed when he was most under the spell of Pugin's Gothic. Started in 1849, completed in 1854, spire added in 1887. [18]

St. Joseph, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan;

St. Mary Kilronan, Keadue, Co. Roscommon; In September 1860 it was announced that this church was to be built, and that the foundation stone had been laid. The architects were named as McCarthy and O'Connell. It had been announced that McCarthy and Daniel O'Connell, grandson of the Liberator, had entered into partnership. In 1863 when the building was well under way, McCarthy alone was named as architect. The plan comprised the usual nave and chancel, aisles, side chapels, south porch, with double bellcotes on the west gable of the nave, supported by the receding arch. Style was Early Decorated Gothic, the materials red sandstone with white limestone dressings. [19]

St. Mary, Clogheen, Co. Tipperary; Gothic Revival church designed by McCarthy and built in 1862-4 in his austere manner. Powerful open-roof structure framing vista to reredos beneath triple lancet. Unusual Celtic Revival memorial cross at the gates.

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Killenaule, Co. Tipperary; Designed in 1861 by McCarthy as one of his most impressive churches, especially when viewed up an immense flight of steps from the humble street below. Roof steeply pitched over the nave clasped by low lean-to aisles. The facade is articulated with such vertical force that the adjoining belfry designed by McCarthy was never attempted. Open braced roof inside with long lancets filled with stained glass.

Holy Trinity, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone (1855-60); Simple but effective example of McCarthy's Gothic, where nothing distracts from the soaring tower and spire, symmetrically sited at the west end. A nave of five bays leads to a reduced chancel with one of McCarthy's oversized altars, still reasonably intact. However, his pulpit and lectern have been dismantled and the organ sold out of the west gallery beneath the tower.

St. Patrick’s, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, (1867); Designed by McCarthy and completed by his son C.J. McCarthy in 1889, to whom is due the massive Caen stone pinnacled reredos that has so far survived liturgical agitation. The central shrine rises up between two windows surmounted by a rose. Exterior dominated by an off-centre belfry almost 200ft. high. The style is 'French Gothic of the 13th century' and the building material 'the fine warm-coloured yellow sandstone of the district' . This has been very roughly dressed for the outside walls, which, in combination with the quantity of ornament and carved detail, makes for a very fussy appearance. [20]

Holy Cross, Tramore, Co. Waterford; Characteristic Gothic church dominated by asymmetrical tower and spire (1856-71). Interior stripped of its fittings and painted a pink that clashes with Franz Mayer & Co. glass. [21]

St. Mary’s, Athlone, Co. Westmeath;

Church Courtown, Co. Wexford; Designed by McCarthy, and posthumously executed in 1932 by his son, C.J. McCarthy. Influenced by the nearby Church of Ireland, Ardamine, which was built by Street 20 years before. He used red brick with stone trimmings and also a western bellcote, but asymmetrically positioned and braced by flying buttresses. Stained glass by Earley.

Church of the Assumption, Wexford;

Our Lady of Mercy, Blessington, Co. Wicklow; Characteristic Gothic built in Wicklow granite in 1857-61. Consecrated by Archbishop Cullen to Mary, Mother of Mercy, the subject of its stained glass in the east window.

St. Kevin’s Glendalough, Co. Wicklow; Gothic Revival church, early example of his work, built in 1846-9. Convincing materialisation of the Puginian village church. Belfry omitted in favour of western bellcote. [22] [23]

St. Mary and St. Michael, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow; Designed by McCarthy in early 1856 and dedicated in 1861, in his usual Gothic, built out of sturdy Wicklow granite. Nave, aisle and shallow chancel. Tributes of Pugin are the granite lychgate, and the asymmetrical painting of the ceiling of the aisle chapels, one predominantly red, the other predominantly blue. Stained glass by Franz Mayer & Co.. Romantic restoration that has stripped off internal plaster. Favourite church of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. [24]

Attributed to:

St. Michael’s, Ballsbridge,

Bishop’s Palace and Diocesan College, Killarney

St. Joseph’s Hall, Kilcock,

Ballylongford Church,

Corrig Church

[edit] Bibliography

• Jeanne Sheehy, J. J. McCarthy and the Gothic Revival, Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1977

• Jeremy Williams, A Companion Guide to Architecture in Ireland, 1937-1921, Irish Academic Press, 1994.