Government Buildings, Kildare Street, Dublin.
J R Boyd Barrett, competition 1935, began 1939, completed 1942
J R Boyd Barrett had been the local supervising architect for the Church of Christ the King in Cork, which was designed by prairie school architect and former associate of Frank Lloyd Wright, F Barry Byrne. Boyd Barrett had a large and successful practice in Cork.
Winner of an architectural competition in 1935, the new six story offices for the then Department of Industry & Commerce, with 50,000 square feet, in Kildare Street*, are in a plain stripped classical style, faced in granite, but one which has more of a deco feel than is usual in Ireland, - this is especially notable indoors, with wood paneling and gentle curves . Carved panels on the exterior, in a distinctly thirties hard edge style, contribute to this effect. Original estimate was £179,400 and the contractors were the then new Dublin firm John Sisk and Son. Completion was delayed by WWII.
* Another Government Buildings, in nearby Merrion Street, is by Sir Aston Webb and T M Deane, 1904/1913