At the end of the Civil War, the centre of Cork City remained a ruined battleground — the physical, emotional, and financial scars of the burning and the destruction of the main streets still too visible.
There had been some minor movement on resolving compensation claims by businesses following military action under martial law between January 21, 1919, and July 11, 1921. Consequently, the Compensation (Ireland) Commission was established by Westminster and Irish Provisional Governments respectively in early 1922.
On May 2, 1922, Diarmaid Fawsitt of the Ministry of Economy of the Provisional Government met with a recently formed Cork Reconstruction Committee, which replaced an inhouse members committee of Cork Corporation.
The Provisional Government had set up a scheme for general reconstruction work throughout the country. Decree holders would be facilitated to obtain Government loans to enable them to build, particularly where trade and industry concerns were central.
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Fawsitt concluded the meeting by saying: “they [the Provisional Government] would like to see the new Cork excel the old Cork, and they look forward to the day when Cork and the Port of Cork would enjoy greater prosperity than they ever did in the past”.
Politically at local level there was pressure to move the reconstruction on, but there was also the headache of who would bring the ambitions together and oversee the actual construction.
Much of that landed at the door of Joseph F Delany, Cork Corporation’s city engineer.
Due to the unprecedented nature of the rebuild, he called for a special administration facilitation and “diversion from the ordinary lines of procedure by which building operations are usually regulated”.
Delany, who joined Cork Corporaion in 1903, had an interesting backstory.
by Richard J Hodges (1911), reveals Joseph (1872-1942) was educated at St Vincent’s College, Castleknock, Dublin.He trained as engineer and architect under well-known Dublin architect Walter Glynn Doolin and became a certified surveyor under the London Metropolitan Building Act, combined with private study in the engineering courses of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and of the Institute of Municipal and County Engineers.
He served on the temporary civil staff of the Royal Engineers and was assistant city architect in Dublin, for five years. In 1903, he was appointed city engineer of Cork. On taking up the Cork post, he immediately set about improving the water supply system and reducing the abnormally high rate of water wastage in the city.
However, one of the many legacies Joseph left Cork City came from a visit to the US on an inquiry into American methods of municipal engineering and architectural practice, and an inspection of public works. There he learned about the remodelling of American towns and cities to meet the modern requirements of their everyday life, and that this was a common feature of civic pride in America.
In his spring 1921 report (available in Cork City Library), apart from his report covering the Burning of Cork, Joseph outlined the need for Cork to have a town plan, noting that “town planning should be considered advantageous in Cork, with a view to the future improvement and better shaping of the city”.
He called for this work to be investigated by specially appointed commissioners, consisting of prominent citizens in commercial and professional life, together with representatives of municipal councils.
At a conference of the principal citizens led by Joseph, and held at the Cork School of Art, in March 1922, the Cork Town Planning Association was formed, and subsequently well-known architects Professor Patrick Abercrombie and Sydney Kelly were invited, and agreed to act as special advisors to the Association.
In December of that year, he set out his vision for Cork when he published an article in the Cork Examiner on town planning.
.He set out a 26-point priority list with the clearing out of slums and the need for housing at the top of it. He advocated for 2,500 houses on well-chosen sites, with roads, sewers, water supply, and lighting.
In echoes of now, he called for the acquisition of derelict sites, which he called “form a chequer-board” on the map of the city. His vision was to lay them out as open spaces and recreation grounds — that coupled with at least two formal parks — one for the northern and one for the southern district of the city.
He also envisaged a city stadium for “general sports, athletics, horse and agricultural shows, public competitions, galas, band promenades etc”.
He called for new main drainage and sewage disposal schemes on “modern principles” of sanitary engineering be constructed.
An urban mobility plan was in Joseph’s top ten priorities. He urged for pavement for 65 miles of roads and streets in a “most modern road surface treatment”, a new and improved tram service, complete with the latest public lighting, public conveniences such as toilets, a new well-equipped abattoir, and a new suitable cattle market, a new central fire station, a new city hall, and new market spaces for meat, provisions, vegetables and fish.
He resigned in 1924 from Cork Corporation because of illness brought about by pressure of the reconstruction work, retiring from Cork to Clonmel, where he died in 1942.
As part of his legacy, the Cork Town Planning Association produced
— technically Cork’s first town plan in 1926.In this survey, three clearly dilapidated housing areas of Cork were mapped out — one west of Shandon St, the north western corner of the city centre island, and the property to the south west of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral.
The survey noted that there was not that much dilapidated property in the island to the east of North Main St, but those houses should be cleared out at the earliest opportunity, and no housing rebuilding undertaken in the area. The space should be fully allocated for shopping and business purposes.
The survey also questioned whether residential rebuilding should take place in the low lying and flood prone neighbourhood of Henry St and Grattan St.
In the city, there were 12,850 houses inhabited by 15,469 families, giving according to the total population, about five persons in a family and an average of six persons per house. A large proportion of the population was crowded into tenements and small houses.
The number of tenements was 719 with 2,928 families. The tenement population was around 8,675. Nearly one-ninth of the total population lived in tenements and on average 12 families could live in a house meant for one family.
The survey acknowledged that the redistribution of people was so large that it might naturally take years to accomplish (which it did).
One of the chief aims of the survey was that the rebuilding should not be done piecemeal as a series of isolated schemes, but as part of a general scheme of town planning and redistribution of the population.
It outlined that one of the opportunities was the availability of land on the south of the river for re-housing as well as for an extension of the city bounds. During the compilation of the survey, the City Commissioner Philip Monahan as well as his city engineer Stephen Farrington, and Cork architect Daniel Levie, engineered and designed the start of a new slum clearance programme.
Capwell Road comprised 148 houses of short terraces of four houses set at 16 houses per acre. The homes were mainly four-roomed. By 25 February 1928 the scheme was complete. The scheme was funded by central Government, rents, and purchases.
The money received from Capwell was devoted to the development of another housing site at Turners Cross and the announcement was made that it was expected that tenders for the building of 150 more houses would be invited. Next up after that was the plan for 250 new houses in Gurranabraher on the northside of the city.
- Kieran McCarthy is an Independent City Councillor, Cork local historian, and author. View his website, www.corkheritage.ie for more on his walking tours, history trails and writings.
The principal object of town planning may be defined as the improvement or modernising of existing towns and designing for their future development and extension with a view to securing improved sanitary conditions, enhancement of environment and amenity, and a resulting elevation in civic status and wellbeing generally.
A town plan is a graphic and descriptive forecast for future guidance, embodying an expression of the ambitions and the necessities of the citizens.
A beautiful city is the product of a community’s civic pride, and civic distinction can only be achieved by a well-devised town plan, supported by a strong public spirit. This public spirit must be aroused to enthusiasm for the inauguration of a town planning scheme by a competition amongst experts for the best design.
- A limitation to density in house building to the acre;
- The height and type of buildings;
- The direction, construction and width of roads;
- The fixing of building lines in existing streets;
- Reservation of land for parks, squares, open spaces, playgrounds, sports field, public buildings, housing allotments;
- The preservation of objects of natural beauty and of civic and historical interest;
- The allocation of acres or zones for industrial, commercial and shopping districts.
- 1. Some 2,500 houses on well-chosen sites, with roads, sewers, water supply, and light (these are urgently required);
- 2. The city should be
cleared of slums and house-congested jungles; - 3. A new water supply, with the most up-to-date system of filtration;
- 4. A complete main drainage and sewage disposal scheme on the most modern principles of sanitary engineering;
- 5. A new and improved tram service;
- 6. Pavement for 65 miles of roads and streets in most modern road surface treatment;
- 7. Additional public conveniences in appropriate positions;
- 8. A well-equipped public abattoir;
- 9. A suitable cattle market;
- 10. Lay out new suburban thoroughfares on boulevard lines and build garden residential suburbs;
- 11. Widen narrow streets and reduce house density where there is excessive congestion at present;
- 12. Remove obtrusive buildings, objectionable bends and angles in streets, improve building lines and secure better alignment of streets;
- 13. A fleet of motor vehicles for refuse collecting, street sweeping, street watering, and general municipal transport service;
- 14. A civic centre in an imposing open square, consisting of a new City Hall,
administration offices, mayoral residence, and a central public hall for lectures, meetings, concerts,
exhibitions, etc; - 15. A new central fire station and three district sub-stations in appropriate positions in the city, equipped with the most up-to-date fire-fighting appliances.
- 16. A new street-lighting installation on the latest methods of public lighting;
- 17. A refuse destructor for the disposal of town refuse on the most modern lines;
- 18. Acquire the derelict sites which form a chequerboard on the map of the city; lay them out as open spaces and recreation grounds, and thus establish amenities at present unknown in the grey, squalid environments of the slums;
- 19. Provide at least two formal parks — one for the northern and one for the southern district of the city;
- 20. A scientifically laid-out botanical garden;
- 21. A city stadium for general sports, athletics, horse and agricultural shows, public competitions, galas, band promenades, etc;
- 22. The congestion of the centre of the city should be relieved by the provision of an appropriately laid-out open square or platz;
- 23. Markets for fruit and vegetables, fish and game, old clothes, etc;
- 24. A completely new market for meat and provisions.
- 25. A central railway terminus ought to receive some study by transport experts;
- 26. A centre for the accommodation of a first aid or civic welfare auxiliary, such as St John Ambulance Corps;
- A monumental public library;
- A picture gallery and museum;
- An academy of music;
- A school of commerce;
- A Chamber of commerce;
- And possibly music and drama might be provided for by a well-designed theatre or auditorium.
- 1. An accurate descriptive survey and an explanatory map of all existing defective property: (a) tenements, (b) cottages, (c) residences in advanced condition of deterioration, (d) obstructive buildings, narrow lanes, cul-de-sacs, courts, squares;
- 2. Outline of suggestive schemes for carrying out renovation work on tenements and cottages pronounced unsanitary and unfit for habitation;
- 3. An accurate census of all persons or families most in need of improved accommodation, with a view to their being re-housed in a systematic way;
- 4. An exhaustive investigation into sites and the preparation of a map showing the land considered suitable both within and outside the borough;
- 5. Investigation of the possibilities of the Clearance of Insanitary Areas (a) with a view of reducing over-crowding, (b) reducing house density, (c) laying out air spaces in dense districts, (d) making approaches and new streets for better transit through city, and (d) improvements in local amenity;
- 6. Schedule and map the derelict areas of the city and prepare a scheme for laying them out as open spaces, or, where large enough and otherwise suitable, arrange for the erection of small lots of houses;
- 7. Investigation into the possibilities and desirability for action in the city under the various acts of parliament which contain provisions for housing and sanitary improvement;
- 8. A full inquiry into the possibilities for private enterprise in housing in the city and a conference with existing housing companies, would-be promoters of enterprise, building contractors, and individual house-building speculators;
- 9. A report on the inducements which the corporation can offer to private enterprise, and in how far it can assist private promoters by representations to the state departments concerned;
- 10. A scheme of procedure for expediting the legal process for enforcing compliance with the bylaws by owners of insanitary, dangerous, and obstructive property;
- 11. Scheme for urbanising the fringe of the city where land is appropriately situated, by developing access roads, etc, to sites.
- 12. Setting back and improving obtrusive building lines;
- 13. Suggestive schemes for the widening of narrow streets.
- Blarney on the north-west;
- Mayfield and Glanmire on the north-east;
- Douglas, Rochestown, Passage, and Monkstown on the south-east;
- Ballincollig, south-west Blackrock and Lough on the south.
- This is an edited version of the article. The full document is available to view at Cork City Library.