Nation's buildings of the century

While State intervention might be decried in many areas, it can usually be encouraged in the field of architecture. To prove this point, a newly-published book, Building for Government, looks at the work of the OPW during the 20th century and shows how its role evolved over successive decades.

The institution itself can be traced back to the offices of Engineer and Surveyor General of the Royal Works established in the 17th century. Among the more important Surveyor Generals were Sir William Robinson (responsible for designing the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham and Dublin Castle's State Apartments), Sir Thomas Burgh (the Old Library at Trinity College, Dublin and Collins Barracks) and Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (Castletown House, Co Kildare). In the mid-18th century came the Barrack Board and Board of Works and in 1831 the Board of Public Works, direct predecessor of the Office of Public Works, was established. In those early years, the majority of work was the building throughout the country new post offices, schools and coastguard stations. Only a handful of other structures were undertaken, such as the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Arch (otherwise known as Traitors' Gate) at St Stephen's Green in Dublin, and the construction of George's Hall, at Dublin Castle, and a new wing in the Viceregal Lodge, the two latter undertaken for the 1911 visit to Ireland of George V.

With the creation of the Free State in 1922, the OPW assumed responsibility for a large amount of additional work, such as the reconstruction of RIC barracks as Garda stations. But there were a number of major jobs the organisation had to take on, most important of all the rebuilding of the GPO, the Custom House and the Four Courts, which had suffered serious damage the during the Easter Rising and Civil War. That the OPW reflects the conservatism of the country it serves may be seen in much of the work undertaken this century. But there are occasional exceptions shown by Building for Government. One of the earliest was the airport at Collinstown, Co Dublin, designed in 1937 and completed five years later; the original curved terminal building still exists at Dublin airport but has been almost buried by subsequent accretions.

Radicalism, indeed, rarely appears to have had much opportunity for expression in the OPW. Perhaps this is just as well, when one looks at what might have been built had the organisation's architects sometimes been given their chance. There was, for example, a plan mooted in 1946 to construct an enormous civil service centre in the grounds of Dublin Castle. A crescent of buildings was planned running from the Palace Street gate to Ship Street and this received government approval. Somehow, though, the scheme never went ahead.

Of late, much of the OPW's work, as shown in Building for Government, appears to be refurbishment of existing structures for new purposes. Indeed, in relation to the former Royal College of Science, on Dublin's Upper Merrion Street, the book could be renamed Adapting for Government since the structure has been Government Buildings since 1990. In its style of interior decoration, this job encapsulates the OPW approach during the past decade, which is to give spaces plenty of light and employ a pale colour scheme.

More interesting in the context of this book are the refurbishment of two gardens, that designed by Lutyens at Heywood in Co Laois, where the grounds remain but the house has gone since the 1950s, and Ilnacullin, the island in Co Cork magically transformed earlier this century by Harold Peto. Other curiosities include the yet-to-be-opened Cloverhill Prison, Co Dublin; the Irish Embassy to the Holy See in Rome; the Valentia Observatory in Cahirciveen, Co Kerry; and the Department of Agriculture's Abbotstown farm in Co Dublin.

Building for Government also reveals still lesser-known exotica, such as the fit-out of the government jet. The whole book, is filled with wonderful pictures which show just how diverse the range of the OPW's responsibilities has become over the past 100 years. Building for Government, impeccably produced with an informative combination of photographs and text, ought to be of very wide interest.

Building for Government: The Architecture of State Buildings, OPW: 1900-2000 is published by Town House, price £40.