Patrick Comerford
In my coach journeys to and from Dublin Airport along the quays in recent days, I realised how often I have passed City Quay or the ‘Dockers’ Church’ on the south quays, but I have never visited it.
City Quay Church, or the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on City Quay, Dublin, is a small Catholic church perched on the waterfront on the south bank of the River Liffey. When it was built it was opened in 1863, primarily to minister to the dock workers and merchants who lived in the area, and to the sailors passing through the port. But today it is dwarfed by the rising office blocks that symbolised the regeneration and transformation of Dublin’s quays.
City Quay Church was built in 1861-1863 as a chapel of ease to Saint Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, on the initiative of Father Joseph Christopher McCann (1807-1867), and City Quay Church became a parish church in its own right in 1908.
The church was designed by John Bourke, who worked on several churches, convents, schools and hospitals throughout Ireland. He was awarded first premium by Dublin Corporation for his design for Dublin baths and wash houses in 1847, and was one of the earliest members of the Dublin Mechanics’ Institute.
His other works include the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chapelizod, the tower and spire at Saint Peter’s Church, Phibsborough, the completion of Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, and the Mater Hospital in Eccles Street, Dublin.
Bourke lived at 27 South Richmond Street, Portobello (1845-1854) and 13 Lower Charlemont Street (1855-1871). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (FRIAI) in 1863. He died suddenly on 10 November 1871 in Dr Hayden’s consulting room in Harcourt Street, having gone there feeling unwell. He was buried at Glasnevin cemetery on 14 November 1871. His obituary in the Irish Builder praised his ‘unswerving integrity’ and said he ‘was justice personified between contractor and client.’
The belltower and spire at City Quay Church were added in 1888-1890 to a design by the Dublin-born architect John Loftus Robinson (1848-1894). His father John Joseph Robinson (1819-1895) owned a tailoring and drapery business at 13 College Green in the 1850s; he later lived in Booterstown and was a member of Blackrock Town Commissioners.
John Loftus Robinson received his architectural training in the office of Edward Henry Carson. From an early stage, he was interested in sketching and drawing mediaeval English and Irish architecture, and many of his drawings were published in The Architect.
Robinson had his own office by 1872 at 198 Great Brunswick Street, where he continued to practise until he died in 1894. His commissions were mainly for Catholic churches and religious houses in the Dublin area, although he did some commercial and domestic work.
Robinson played an active part in public life and represented Trinity Ward on Dublin City Council. An ‘ardent Parnellite,’ he was an active member of the National Liberal Club in London and was secretary to the Nationalist Party on Dublin Corporation. He also chaired Kingstown Township Commissioners for many years, and as chair was largely responsible for the creation of the People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire.
Robinson was a member of the Architectural Association of Ireland, and honorary secretary (1873-1875), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (FRIAI), a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (FRSAI). He died of typhoid fever on 12 October 1894. His funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery was attended by Archbishop Walsh, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, several MPs, and members of Dublin Corporation, the Royal Hibernian Academy, and ‘nearly every leading architect in Dublin.’ His son, John Joseph Robinson, was also an architect.
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was first built as a chapel of ease for Saint Andrew’s Church, Westland Row. The foundation stone was laid on 25 September 1861 by Archbishop Paul Cullen, later Cardinal Cullen. church was completed in a short time and was blessed by Archbishop Cullen on 20 September 1863. Robinson’s bell tower and spire were added in 1888-1890, and the three-storey presbytery, designed by Lucius O’Callaghan and James Henry Webb, was built in 1914-1915.
City Quay Church became a parish church in 1908. It was known as the ‘Dockers’ Church’, catering for the seamen and dockers working on City Quay, and for over 160 years, the church has been a central hub in Dublin’s docklands, a haven in the community it has served for six generations.
The church’s neo-Gothic style was typical of Catholic church design in the late 19th century. With the adjoining presbytery and gate screen, it forms part of an interesting group of church-related structures.
City Quay Church is a freestanding gable-fronted double-height church, built in 1863. It has a 10-bay nave with a square-plan three-stage bell tower west of the entrance or front elevation. There is a pitched slate roof with carved limestone cross finials. The cut limestone wall at the entrance front has a shallow projecting central breakfront with shouldered buttresses.
There are pointed arch windows, a trefoilated five-light window with trefoil tracery, trefoilated lancet windows with carved tracery, stained glass windows, a projecting pedimented porch, a pointed arch doorcase, timber battened doors, carved tracery, statue niches, a decorative mosaic in the tympanum, carved timber confessionals and timber painted Stations of the Cross, carved timber pews, a timber altar and lectern, a carved white marble altar rail, a reredos, side altars, and a gallery with an organ.
A Calvary scene inside reputedly made by William Pearse adds artistic interest, as does a mosaic that may have been designed by Arthur Gibney.
In the mid-1950s, the parish had a population of 30,000, but within a decade that figure had fallen to just 2,5000 residents, as the majority of residents were moved under protest to newly built suburbs on the north and south sides of the Liffey into houses built by Dublin Corporation.
In recent years, office blocks and apartments have reached heights far greater than the church spire that once dominated the skyline along the south quays. Above and behind the church, glass buildings symbolise the property developments and economic changes in Dublin 2.
Towering above the church on its east side, No 13-18 City Quay is a nine-storey office block designed by Henry J Lyons & Partners in 2018 on a site bounded by City Quay, Prince’s Street South and Gloucester Street, with 13,5000 sq metres of commercial office space. The façade is primarily factory-fabricated curtain walling panels with floor-to-ceiling glazing front by a series of deep bronze anodised aluminium extruded fin profiles. It is now the headquarters of Grant Thornton.
Many office workers in the surrounding buildings have moved into the area and now use the church as a space to reflect and pray, meaning City Quay Church has become unique among Dublin inner city churches with its growing numbers.
Ten years ago, people in the community objected to developments in the area in 2016, and parishioners objected to disturbances, infringement and an eight-storey building blocking natural light in the church and the adjoining school. A settlement was reached with the developer TIO in 2018 on paying €3.5 million for some work. The first phase of the project, involving the restoration of the courtyard in front of the church was completed in 2019.
City Quay National School beside the church was upgraded at a cost of €1 million and €2 million was available for work on the interior of the Church. But the work has yet ti start, an inside, I understand, the church is in a poor state. Plaster is falling off the walls, it is damp-ridden, it needs rewiring and the sacristy is in an unfortunate state.
• City Quay is one of four mensal parishes in Dublin where the Archbishop of Dublin is the parish priest, and Archbishop Dermot Farrell has been in this role since February 2021. The priests assigned to these parishes are the administrators, and Father Alan Hilliard is the administrator of City Quay Parish. Sunday Masses are at 6 pm (Saturday vigil mass) and 11:30 am.
