The Crawford Part 1(by Michelle O’Callaghan)

The Crawford Art Gallery as we know it today has a very long and important place in the historic and cultural life of Cork. It was built as the Customs House in 1724 on the edge of Kings Dock, a U shaped dock that welcomed all ships to its quayside for the transaction of paying taxes.
In 1832 some 108 years later, another Cutoms House was built further downstream and the Cork Cork boatclub was given the keys of this beautiful building for the use as a library and museum. Its use as such was relatively shortlived with the established of Queens University Cork in 1845, and it became a school of Design in 1850.

34 years later, an extension to the original Customs House building allowed for the creation of a gallery, and both the school and the gallery co-existed until 1979 when the school relocated to Sharman Crawford Street. The gallery thrived with the already significant collection of artifacts that were housed here since 1819 and thereafter. To the present day it is a critical part of Corks cultural and tourism infrastructure.

The building comprises of three different phases.
Phase 1
Built in 1724 as a Customs House at a site known as Kings Dock (Later renamed Nelsons Place, and renamed again as Emmett Place). The style of the building is along the lines of the Anglo-Dutch red brick tradition. Which the architect is officially unknown, a clue may be evident in other 18th century buildings in the Cork area: In Youghal the Red House on Main street is an excellent example for comparison. It was built in 1710 by the Uniacke family and designed by dutch architect Leeventhem. Brick buidings were quite rare in Munster in the 18th Century, but the influence on Cork architecture by the dutch stemmed from the very close merchantile contacts that existed between Cork and Amsterdam at this time.

The design of the Red House in Youghal and that of the Crawford bear common distinctive features.
The eastern facade is wide and very ornate. In its original form it was 3 stories high and 7 bays wide. It has 5 middle bays recessed. The centremost bay has doric colums at ground level and ionic columns above.

It features:
Quoins. Quoins are the corner stone of brick or stone walls. They may be structured or decorative. Architects and builders use them to give an impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building.
Ballustrade. A ballustrade is a low screen formed by railings of stone, wood, metal, glass or other materials to prevent falls from roof, balcony etc.
Window surrounds of carved Limestone. (Limestone from beaumont quarry, red sandstone is from little island. Two together is known as locally as streaky bacon).
A string course at 1st floor level. A string course or Band course is a projecting course of prickwork that runs horizontally around a building. This emphasises the junction between floors, or just below the eaves. Purely decorative.
A lunette over the entrance doorway was added in a later renovation in 1884. A lunette is a half-moon shaped space. If it contains glass it is known as a half-moon window. If a door is a major access and the lunette above it is large and deeply set, it may be called a tympanum.The
centremost bay was the original main entrance to the custom house.
It is surmounted by a carved pineapple of Cork Limestone. Pineapple motifs were used extensively in the 18th century to symbolise hospitality.

The use of brick not indigenous to Cork City is another nod to the dutch influence.

The architectural character of Cork changed dramatically during the 19th century. Great wealth generated by the exports of butter, beef, textiles and other agricultural produce resulted in the merchant prince class constructing great houses in the Cork area. The attractive Dutch character of Cork was replaced by a new phase of architecture in the neoclassical gothic and georgian genres when banks, churches and main thoroughfares were being developed.

The Royal Cork Institute was a cultural institute established in 1803 and continued for 82 years until 1885. It consisted of a library of scientific works, a museum of old Irish manuscripts and Ogham Stones, lecture and reading rooms. It was founded by Rev Thomas Dix Hincks, a minister of the Old presbryterian Church on Prices Street. It was modelled on the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Society of London. It operated from Pembrooke Street at first, and its most noted patrons were William Beamish, William Crawford, Cooper Penrose and James Roche. It offered courses, public lectures on science, agriculture and industry from a scientific outlook. The RCI established the Botanic Gardens in 1806 (which later became a cemetary after 1830. St Josephs. The cedar tree is all that remains of original botanic gardens). They were also responsible for the establishment of the Crawford College of Art and Design, and they had links with medical schools and gave lectures on anatomy.