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Tag Archives: Scott Tallon Walker


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Birth of Sir William Basil Goulding, Art Collector, Businessman & Cricketer

Sir William Basil Goulding, Irish cricketer, squash player, art collector and prominent businessman, is born in Dublin on November 4, 1909. He is an important art collector of contemporary art in Ireland and is renowned for his extensive collection which is dispersed posthumously. He is an adept businessman and sits on the boards of many companies.

Goulding is educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford. He inherits the family business W & HM Goulding Ltd. and succeeds his father as Chairperson in 1935. Goulding Ltd. is a well-established fertiliser manufacturer based in Dublin and Cork. The factory closes and is demolished in the mid-20th century and very little of it remains today. The land is donated to the people of Cork by Goulding in the late 1960s and is subsequently developed as an amenity park.

In 1939 Goulding marries Valerie Hamilton Monckton, daughter of Sir Walter Monckton, a lawyer, the UK Attorney General during the Edward VIII abdication crisis, and later a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West. She is an Irish campaigner for disabled people, founder of the Central Remedial Clinic and senator. Together, they have three sons, Hamilton, Timothy and Lingard. The family lives in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, where he has the significant ‘Goulding Summer House’ built by Scott Tallon Walker architects.

During World War II, Goulding is commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force. By the end of 1942 he has reached the rank of wing commander.

The Arts Act of 1951 establishes the Arts Council in response to the Bodkin Report which outlines the sad condition of the arts in Ireland. Goulding is a co-opted member of the Council from its formative years and is instrumental in acting on many of its policies.

Goulding is the founding Chairperson of the Contemporary Irish Art Society in 1962, along with Gordon Lambert, Cecil King, Stanley Mosse, James White and Michael Scott. The enthusiasm and vision of these founding members of the society is the catalyst which leads to the development of many important art collections in Ireland. The purpose of the society is to encourage a greater level of patronage of living Irish artists which, at the time, is extremely low. This is mainly achieved by raising funds to purchase artworks by living artists, which are then donated to public collections. The first purchase in 1962 is an important painting by Patrick Scott, donated to the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art (now the Hugh Lane Gallery). Over the following 12 years the society purchases 37 works for the gallery, until in 1974, Dublin Corporation starts to provide an annual purchasing fund for the gallery.

Following completion of the report ‘Design in Ireland,’ the Kilkenny Design Workshops (KDW) is set up in 1963. It endeavours to nurture native Irish crafts particularly textiles, metalwork, ceramics, glass and furniture to have a modern yet distinctly Irish sensibility. The KDW is the first State sponsored design agency in the world and is held as a model of governmental intervention in design. Goulding sits on the board of the KDW from its origination and occupies the role of Chairperson from 1977 until 1981.

A right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, Goulding plays twice for the Ireland cricket team against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1934, the year in which his father is president of the Irish Cricket Union. He makes his debut in July in a two-day match, scoring seven runs in the Ireland second innings and taking one catch in the MCC first innings. The following month, he plays his only first-class match, not scoring in either inning. In addition to playing cricket, he also represents Ireland at squash, and captains Oxford University at football.

(Photo: Basil Goulding from Tim Goulding’s website, http://www.timgoulding.com)


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Birth of Architect Michael Scott

michael-scottMichael Scott, Irish architect whose buildings include the Busáras building in Dublin, Cork Opera House, the Abbey Theatre and both Tullamore and Portlaoise Hospitals, is born in Drogheda on June 24, 1905.

Scott’s family originates in the province of Munster. His father, William Scott, is a school inspector from near Sneem on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. His mother is from County Cork. He is educated at Belvedere College in Dublin. There he first demonstrates his skills at painting and acting. Initially he wants to pursue a career as a painter but his father points out that it might make more financial sense to become an architect.

Scott becomes an apprentice for the sum of £375 per annum to the Dublin architectural firm Jones and Kelly. He remains there from 1923 until 1926, where he studies under Alfred E. Jones. In the evenings after work, he also attends the Metropolitan School of Art and the Abbey School of Acting, and appears in many plays there until 1927, including the first productions of Seán O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars. On completing his pupilage he becomes an assistant to Charles James Dunlop and then has a brief spell as an assistant architect in the Office of Public Works.

In 1931 Scott partners with Norman D. Good to form Scott and Good, and they open an office in Dublin. They design the hospital at Tullamore (1934–1937) and Portlaoise General Hospital (1935). Between 1937 and 1938, he is the President of the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI). He founds his company, Michael Scott Architects, in 1938. That same year he also designs his house Geragh, at Sandycove, County Dublin.

Scott’s most important pre-war commission is the Irish Pavilion for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He produces a shamrock shaped building constructed in steel, concrete and glass. It is selected by an International jury as the best building in the show. As a result, he is presented with a silver medal for distinguished services and given honorary citizenship of the city of New York by then Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. Other better known architects who design national pavilions for this World Fair include Alvar Aalto of Finland and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil.

Scott has three major commissions from the Córas Iompair Éireann CIÉ, the Inchicore Chassis Works, the Donnybrook Bus Garage and, most famously, the Dublin Central Bus Station, to be known as àras Mhic Dhiarmada or Busáras. Though initially controversial, Busáras wins Scott the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland Triennial Gold Medal for Architecture.

Later, Ronnie Tallon and Robin Walker become partners, and the firm is renamed Scott Tallon Walker in 1975, shortly after the firm wins the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal.

Scott, who spends most of his life living at Sandycove Point, just south of Dún Laoghaire in south Dublin, dies in Dublin on January 24, 1989 and is buried near Sneem in County Kerry.


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Death of Architect Michael Scott

michael-scottMichael Scott, Irish architect whose buildings include the Busáras building in Dublin, Cork Opera House, the Abbey Theatre and both Tullamore and Portlaoise Hospitals, dies on January 24, 1989.

Scott is born in Drogheda on June 24, 1905. His family originates in the province of Munster. His father, William Scott, is a school inspector from near Sneem on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. His mother is from County Cork. He is educated at Belvedere College in Dublin. There he first demonstrates his skills at painting and acting. Initially he wants to pursue a career as a painter but his father points out that it might make more financial sense to become an architect.

Scott becomes an apprentice for the sum of £375 per annum to the Dublin architectural firm Jones and Kelly. He remains there from 1923 until 1926, where he studies under Alfred E. Jones. In the evenings after work, he also attends the Metropolitan School of Art and the Abbey School of Acting, and appears in many plays there until 1927, including the first productions of Seán O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars. On completing his pupilage he becomes an assistant to Charles James Dunlop and then has a brief spell as an assistant architect in the Office of Public Works.

In 1931 Scott partners with Norman D. Good to form Scott and Good, and they open an office in Dublin. They design the hospital at Tullamore (1934–1937) and Portlaoise General Hospital (1935). Between 1937 and 1938, he is the President of the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI). He founds his company, Michael Scott Architects, in 1938. That same year he also designs his house Geragh, at Sandycove, County Dublin.

Scott’s most important pre-war commission is the Irish Pavilion for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He produces a shamrock shaped building constructed in steel, concrete and glass. It is selected by an International jury as the best building in the show. As a result, he is presented with a silver medal for distinguished services and given honorary citizenship of the city of New York by then Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. Other better known architects who design national pavilions for this World Fair include Alvar Aalto of Finland and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil.

Scott has three major commissions from the Córas Iompair Éireann CIÉ, the Inchicore Chassis Works, the Donnybrook Bus Garage and, most famously, the Dublin Central Bus Station, to be known as àras Mhic Dhiarmada or Busáras. Though initially controversial, Busáras wins Scott the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland Triennial Gold Medal for Architecture.

Later, Ronnie Tallon and Robin Walker become partners, and the firm is renamed Scott Tallon Walker in 1975, shortly after the firm wins the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal.

Scott, who spends most of his life living at Sandycove Point, just south of Dún Laoghaire in south Dublin, dies in Dublin on January 24, 1989 and is buried near Sneem in County Kerry.