CORK CITY AND WATSON'S GATES: A PHOENIX ASCENDING
‘If Andrew Carnegie were alive today, he would smile with pleasure on the earnestness of the efforts of philanthropists like Bill Gates, who seem devotedly intent on identifying the root causes of human problems and then attacking them.’[1] Carnegie’s philanthropic career began in the 1870s. A number of years later, when he was fifty years old, he began distributing his wealth (then the largest fortune in the world) in earnest. Rather than give his money to the needy, Carnegie’s philosophy was to empower them. ‘He was intent, instead, on building institutions through which the poor could improve themselves and, in the future, avoid the need for alms.’[2]
Andrew Carnegie left a visual reminder of his charitable legacies; buildings serving as libraries and named for him. He ‘donated his first library in 1881 to Dunfermline, Scotland, his birthplace.’[3] The laying of the memorial stone was a significant event in the city. ‘A half-day holiday for local businesses and factories was declared, and crowds of 7,000 people gathered to welcome Andrew Carnegie and his mother.’[4] Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835, emigrated to America thirteen years later and by 1901 had amassed a fortune from his steel enterprise, selling his holdings to J.P. Morgan for $480 million.[5]
A year later, ‘like many cities and towns in the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Cork’s first purpose-built public library was funded by benefactor Andrew Carnegie.’[6] The concept of library services was not unfamiliar in Cork, although these facilities were provided by private institutions, usually charging high subscription rates. The exterior of 12 Pembroke Street in Cork City reveals the history of the building.[7] Over the doorway are the words ‘Cork Library’, the year of its foundation; 1792, which is framed by a pair of owls symbolising ‘the owl of Minerva, who carried wisdom back to the Roman goddess Minerva’.[8]
Over a half century later, the first steps to a public library service in Ireland were enacted. In 1855, the Public Libraries (Ireland) Act empowered boroughs and towns with populations more than 5,000 to establish free public libraries, and museums or schools of science and art. Plans for a public library in Cork City began in earnest shortly after In September 1855, Sir John Gordon announced that ‘the Town Council of Cork, anxious to be in a position to support the valuable Schools of Science and Art already established’ in the city, were holding a meeting on 18 September 1855 to consider the provisions of the new act.[9] The council ratified the legislation and Cork became the first city to adopt the Act. However, it was a further thirty-seven years before further developments ensued. In 1892, Cork Mayor, Daniel Horgan brought ‘a matter he had in his programme … it was the establishment of a public library in Cork’.[10]
With a new fervour and the appointment of Cork’s first City Librarian, James Wilkinson, a public reading room was opened in the Crawford Municipal Buildings, Nelson Place in 1892.[11] Although all libraries had to be available to the public free of charge, the institutions had to be supported by rates; and the maximum amount which could be levied was one penny in the pound. In Cork, ‘a public libraries rate of ½ d in the £’ was agreed for the city.[12] In May 1893, Miss Baker of Fort William, Cork donated a number of ‘works of reference’; including the Annals of the Four Masters, Hume’s History of England and Journals of the Irish House of Commons.[13] Shortly after in July 1896, ‘the library also provided the first collection of children’s books in any Irish public library service.’[14]
In the intervening years, the cramped conditions in Nelson Place (Emmet Place) were not conducive for providing a library service. The news that ‘Carnegie offered a grant of £10,000, in July 1902, to Cork Corporation to build a library’ was timely and broadly welcomed by the officials and public of Cork City.[15] Plans for the new building were overseen by Henry Albert Cutler, the city surveyor of Cork. Shortly after the design was approved, Cutler left Cork bound for Belfast following his election as City Engineer in September 1903.[16] A month later, 21 October 1903, Andrew Carnegie travelled to Cork ‘to receive the freedom of the city … and to lay the foundation of the new Free Library’.[17] He also received the freedom of Waterford and Limerick during this period.
Work began on the new building on ‘Anglesea Street, at a right angle to the rear of the river-facing Municipal Buildings, which would formally become Cork City Hall in 1906.’[18] The contract for construction was awarded to Patrick Murphy and many of the materials were sourced locally. The building was complete two years later and on 12 September 1905, Mayor Joseph Barrett officially opened the Carnegie Free Library. The Irish Examiner gave a thorough description of the building,
The style, which is Elizabethan, is handsomely treated, and is sufficiently academic to indicate the idea of the work. The front is a pretty one, to which the beautiful entrance, balcony, and tower lend attractive effects. The interior arrangements are also well conceived, and ensure the best possible utilisation of space consonant with the general features of the structure. At the main entrance from Anglesea street is a loggia, or vestibule which opens into a large open hall, 30 feet by 20 feet, the floor of which is laid in the class of mosaic known as terrazzo executed by Italian workmen. Beyond this hall and in line with the entrance is the lending department, furnished in the most up to date manner. Its dimensions are 60 feet by 30 feet and will afford accommodation equal to any demand that may be made on it. This is the central position of the building, and inasmuch as there is here only one storey an adequate idea will be gathered of its roomy and spacious character. This part of the building is lighted mainly from the roof. To the left of the library and occupying equal space with it is the newsroom, lined along the sides with neatly designed newspaper stands, the floor space being occupied by tables for the readers. The corresponding area to the left of the lending department is devoted to the reference library, except that a space at the southern side is partitioned off into a store room or work place for the library attendants. Flanking the entrance loggia on the ground floor are the librarian’s offices on the left and the ladies’ reading room on the right, and over these respectively are the Librarian’s apartments and the juvenile reading room... The furniture too is of the best pattern, and practically the whole of it has been executed in Cork. The notice case in the vestibule, beautifully worked in mahogany, the counter in the lending library, also mahogany, the bookstalls and bookcases in the lending library, as well as the counter in the juvenile reading room were all executed by Mr. John Callanan, Cork. Indeed, the whole work of the library was done as far as possible locally. The artistic iron railing which surmounts the enclosing walls of the grounds was made by Mr. Buckley, Cork, and the beautiful entrance gate is the work of Mr. Watson, Cork. The carrying out of the contract reflects every credit on Mr. Patrick Murphy, contractor.[19]
The building became an important part of Cork’s infrastructure for the next fifteen years. However, with burgeoning hostilities following the Irish War of Independence, which began in January 1919, the library’s demise was imminent. On 11 December, ‘Crown forces, particularly Black and Tans and Auxiliaries in the centre of Cork City were in an unusually agitated mood early in the afternoon.’ [21] This situation was exacerbated when, after sunset, a convoy of Auxiliaries was ambushed at Dillon’s Cross by ‘A’ Company, 1 Battalion, 1 Cork Brigade. Two auxiliary cadets died, and this surely was the match that lit the fuse for the destruction of the commercial heart of Cork City.[22]
Captain Phillip Herbert Cadoux-Hudson of the Royal Hampshire Regiment was in command of a curfew party on the night of 11 December 1920. Shortly after 2200 hours, he observed Grant’s Drapery shop on fire. An hour later, he came ‘upon one Auxiliary policeman standing in front of a jeweller’s shop … he was about to break the glass in order to set fire to the shop.’[23] Another member of the curfew party, Lieutenant Henry Cleaveland Phillips passed Cash’s which was on fire. He observed that ‘some Auxiliary police were heaping empty boxes and dress models on the flames.’[24] The carnage continued during the night, and the City Hall and Carnegie Library were also reduced to rubble. In all, an estimated ‘2.8 % of the rateable property of the city had been burned - greater destruction in one evening than in the week-long Dublin Rising of 1916.’[25]
William Roche of Roches Stores, who was living in Boreenmana Road, woke on Sunday morning oblivious to the devastation that had been wreaked the night before. Shortly after 8 am a friend notified him of the events of the previous night, including the arson of his premises at Merchants Street and Patrick's Street. Roche recalls that it was a still, clear, frosty morning, unusually quiet, no traffic or person visible. He eventually reached the Carnegie Free Library on Anglesea Street. ‘I had a feeling of one in a dream. It was burning peaceably and one could say, beautifully.’ [26] Two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary stopped and questioned him, both apparently having consumed alcohol. Roche made his way to Parnell Place which was intact, but it was the sight of Patrick's Street that astonished him, the destruction of the tall buildings not only changed the landscape of the street but also let in more light.
Over the next number of years, Cork City was rebuilt, although it took substantially longer to rebuild the Cork City Hall and a new public library. ‘Ten years after the burning of the Carnegie Library, a new purpose-built library was opened to the public … fronted by nos. 57-8 Grand Parade, in September 1930’. Prior to this, library services were delivered from temporary premises, located at 2 Tuckey Street. Today, if you look closely, the pillar caps of the gates of the Carnegie Free Library are preserved and can still be seen in Tuckey Street at the entrance to the car park to the rear of the current Cork City Library.
Furthermore, the gates, ‘the work of Mr. Watson, Cork’, are also still visible. [28] ‘The ornamental work of gates and railings, which are quite worthy of note (especially the gates) was all executed in the city, and are creditable specimens of the ironworkers’ craft, both in design and finish.’[29]
Benjamin Watson, born in Halifax, England, was a Methodist ‘Whitsmith’ in Cork City.