Design Moment: Shamrock Building c. 1939

We sent shamrocks to the US long before that annual St Patrick’s Day shindig at the White House – but this was a brilliantly modern interpretation, presenting a vision of the future, not a hokey throwback. For the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, architect Michael Scott was commissioned to design the Irish Pavilion. It was to be the first appearance of the new State on such a stage and so the vision of Ireland as presented was an opportunity for a statement of national identity and purpose.

Throughout the course of the fair, which was designed as an uplifting showcase of all things modern, looking hopefully towards a bright technologically advanced future and an antidote to the grim 1930s, the theme was “a new world of tomorrow”.

Tellingly the Irish image as presented wasn’t a thatched cottage with a comely maiden; the pavilion was a homage to modernist architecture, a future-facing building borrowing from the international style. Made of steel and glass with painted stucco, from the air it was revealed to be built in a shamrock shape. That its true shape could be fully appreciated only from an aircraft – the most modern way to travel with the promise of global connectedness and a very different future – was a statement in itself.

What visitors first saw was the entrance – in the stem of the shamrock – a clean, crisp imposing façade dominated by a giant statue, a symbol of Mother Ireland and designed by Friedrich Herkner. Eric Gill created the elegant lettering of the “Ireland” sign. It was a triumph for the young Irish architect who was feted above others who are now more widely known for their modernist work such as Alvar Aalto and Oscar Niemeyer. At the end of the fair, which was visited by 44 million people, the Irish Pavilion was scrapped.