Sir Thomas Drew (18 September 1838 – 13 March 1910) was an Anglo-Irish architect.

Life

Thomas Drew was born in Victoria Place,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. He was the son of the Rev. Thomas Drew and Isabella (née Dalton) Drew. He was one of four sons and eight daughters of the couple, although most of the children died young. His sister, Catherine Drew, was a journalist and writer. He was trained under Sir Charles Lanyon before moving to work in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, where he became principal assistant to William George Murray. In 1865 he became the diocesan architect of the united dioceses of Down, Connor and Dromore in 1865, and from then on Church architecture was Drew's principal activity. He was consulting architect for both St Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. He married Adelaide Anne, sister of William George Murray, in 1871. Among other projects, he was responsible for the design of the Ulster Bank on

Dame Street Dame Street (; ) is a large thoroughfare in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. History The street takes its name from a dam built across the River Poddle to provide water power for milling. First appears in records under this name around 1 ...

, Rathmines Town Hall (completed 1899) and the Graduates' Building at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. He took an interest in historic buildings and was the first to draw serious attention to the architectural and historic importance of the St Audoen's Church, Dublin's oldest parish church, in 1866. He produced detailed plans of the church for which he won an award from the RIAI, carried out excavations and drew up a paper on the church and its history. From 1885 to 1892, Richard Orpen worked with him as a managing assistant. Drew's most significant work in Belfast was St Anne's Cathedral, completed in 1899.

Honours/affiliations

He was knighted in the

1900 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1900 were announced on 23 May 1900 in celebration of the birthday of Queen Victoria. The list included appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India. The list was published in ''T ...

and was inaugural president of the

Royal Society of Ulster Architects The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) is the professional body for registered architects in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1901. Chartered Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) members in Northern Ireland are automatically m ...

, serving from 1901 to 1903. In addition, he was president of the

Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) () founded in 1839, is the "competent authority for architects and professional body for Architecture in Ireland." The RIAI's purpose is "to uphold the highest standards in architecture a ...

(RIAI), the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is an Irish learned society whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquities, langua ...

(RSAI) and the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after mo ...

(RHA) and held the chair in architecture at the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

. He lived in Gortnadrew,

Monkstown, Dublin Monkstown (), historically known as ''Carrickbrennan'' (), is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, Ireland, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is on the coast, between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire while also bordering Sallynoggin and Dea ...

. In February 1910, he underwent an operation for appendicitis which left him in a critical condition, and he died on 13 March 1910. He was buried in

Deans Grange Cemetery Dean's Grange Cemetery (; also spelled ''Deansgrange'') is situated in the suburban area of Deansgrange in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. Since it first opened in 1865, over 150,000 people have been buried there. It is, toge ...

Selected works

*Christ Church, Kilmore, County Down, 1868-1870. (Last 'Established' church built in Ireland) *Christ Church, Ballyculter, County Down - renovations & rebuilding, 1880-1882 *Holy Trinity, Seapatrick, County Down - complete rebuild, 1882 * St. Patrick's Church, Coleraine, County Londonderry - renovations & rebuilding, 1883-1885 *

St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast Belfast Cathedral, () also known as St Anne's Cathedral (), is a Romanesque architecture, Romanesque-style Church of Ireland, Anglican cathedral in Donegall Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is unusual in serving two separate dioceses (Dioc ...

(original design), 1899-1904, completed 2007 *

Graduates Memorial Building The Graduates Memorial Building (GMB) is a neo-Gothic Victorian building, in Trinity College Dublin designed by Sir Thomas Drew in 1897. It is home to Trinity College's oldest student societies: the University Philosophical Society (the Phil), th ...

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, 1899-1902

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, Thomas 1838 births 1910 deaths 19th-century Irish architects Architects from Belfast Knights Bachelor