28 September 2017

A Victorian terrace close
to the centre of Limerick

Wellington Terrace … a fine example of Victorian terraced houses in Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 20170

Patrick Comerford

I was recalling earlier this morning how on my way into Limerick I often hop off the bus so that I can walk into the city centre and appreciate the Victorian and Edwardian architecture of the houses that line each side of Ballinacurra Road and O’Connell Avenue.

Wellington Terrace is an interesting example of these Victorian terraces. The houses here, built by Edward Cruise in 1864, were designed by the Limerick architect William Fogerty (1833/1834-1878), who also worked in Dublin, London, and New York during a short but intensive and creative career.

William Fogerty was a born in 1833 or 1834 into a well-known Limerick family of architects. His father was the architect John Fogerty, and an elder brother was the architect Joseph Fogerty.

He studied at Queen’s College, Cork (now UCC), before joining his father’s practice in Limerick with his father in the 1850s. He was working from 97 George’s Street, Limerick, in 1861-1863.

His work during his time in Limerick included the Protestant Orphan Society Hall (1855-1856), the addition of an apse in Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Upper Catherine Street (1858-1859), new Church of Ireland parish churches in Athea (1858-1859) and Killeedy (1862-1863), the Goold Memorial Cross in Athea (1863), a new courthouse in Adare commissioned by the Earl of Dunraven (1863).

He moved to Dublin in 1863, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (FRIAI, 1863) and a council member (1867-1868). Following a tour of Italy in 1869 with Thomas Henry Longfield, he moved to London, where his brother was already in practice as an architect, and practised from Westminster Chambers, Victoria, and 8 Buckingham Street.

From there he moved to New York, but he soon returned to Ireland and in 1875 he announced in the Irish Builder that he had resumed practice at 23 Harcourt Street, Dublin.

He continued to practise in Dublin until he died from smallpox at the age of 44 on 22 May 1878. He was buried in the churchyard at Saint Munchin’s Church, Limerick.

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