Raymond McGrath
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Raymond McGrath (7 March 1903 – 23 December 1977) was an Australian-born
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, illustrator, printmaker and
interior designer Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...
who for the greater part of his career was Principal Architect for the
Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) ( ga, Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí) (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of o ...
in Ireland.Nicholas Sheaff, "The Harp Re-strung", Irish Arts Review


Biography


Early life

McGrath, the only surviving son of Herbert Edgar McGrath (1876-1963) and Edith May Sorrell (d 1946), was born in
Gladesville, New South Wales Gladesville is a suburb in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gladesville is located 10 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ry ...
. An elder brother, Ivor, died in infancy, and his sister Eileen (who became a notable sculptor and graphic designer) was born in 1907. Herbert McGrath was born in New Zealand but his family had moved to New South Wales when he was a child and Edith Sorrell had been born in New South Wales. The couple married in 1899. Both their families were of mixed Irish and English descent. McGrath was educated at Paramatta North Public School until 1911 when he was moved to Gladesville Public School and from there in 1916 won a high school bursary to Fort Street Boys School in nearby Sydney. In 1921 McGrath enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at Sydney University but subsequently transferred to the School of Architecture. While attending university McGrath also studied painting at the Julian Ashton School. In 1924 he published, in a limited edition of 30 copies on Japanese vellum, a book of woodcut illustrations and poetry entitled ''The Seven Songs of Meadow Lane''. McGrath graduated in 1926 Bachelor of Architecture with first class honours and as the winner of the Wentworth travelling scholarship.


Cambridge and London

The Wentworth scholarship allowed McGrath to move to London where he studied at the
Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman described ...
before taking up a fellowship at
Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...
. While at Clare, Mansfield Forbes had McGrath redecorate the interior of the College's house Finella, a large Victorian house on the Cambridge backs, now belonging to
Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...
. McGrath's bold
modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
remodelling of Finella made adventurous use of materials, with copper-clad doors, an aluminium-walled bathroom, mirrored ceilings and a rubberised floor decorated with
Pictish Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...
motifs. Setting up practice in London in 1930, McGrath's first commission was to design the interiors for Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London. To assist with such a large commission, he solicited the help of
Wells Coates Wells Wintemute Coates OBE (December 17, 1895 – June 17, 1958) was an architect, designer and writer. He was, for most of his life, an expatriate Canadian who is best known for his work in England, the most notable of which is the Modernist ...
and
Serge Chermayeff Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...
; the latter was passing through London and would emigrate to America in 1940. Further interior design jobs followed, including a design for the aeroplane interiors for
Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...
. McGrath was particularly interested in the architectural and decorative use of glass, writing several articles for the ''
Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...
'' in the 1930s, and in 1937 publishing the highly influential book ''Glass in Architecture and Decoration''. Some of his 1934
etched glass Glass etching, or "French embossing", is a popular technique developed during the mid-1800s that is still widely used in both residential and commercial spaces today. Glass etching comprises the techniques of creating art on the surface of glass ...
doors can still be seen at
RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...
's headquarters in Portland Place, London. McGrath's personal major building project was the modernist circular St Ann's Court,
Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...
in 1936. The house was built for stockbroker Gerald L. Schlesinger and his partner the landscape architect
Christopher Tunnard Arthur Coney Tunnard (1910 in Victoria, British Columbia – 1979), later known as Christopher Tunnard, was a Canadian-born landscape architect, garden designer, city-planner, and author of ''Gardens in the Modern Landscape'' (1938). Biography ...
.


World War Two

At the beginning of World War Two, McGrath wrote to the
War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...
, WAAC, with a proposal to produce an illustrated book on war-time aircraft production. As a result McGrath was commissioned to produce twelve drawings on the subject, for which he visited several aircraft factories. In all WAAC accepted 16 pieces from McGrath before he left England to take up the post of Senior Architect in the
Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) ( ga, Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí) (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of o ...
in Dublin. McGrath also submitted some drawings of bomb damage in London which WAAC declined to accept. A number of McGrath's aircraft paintings were included in the ''Britain at War'' exhibition held at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York during 1941.


Later life

In 1940 McGrath moved to Dublin where he was appointed Senior Architect at the Office of Public Works. In 1948 he was appointed Principal Architect, a post he held until 1968. He quickly took command of the resources which were available to give a recognizable "look" to Ireland's state buildings. These included specially-designed woolen carpets,
Waterford glass Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of lead glass or "crystal", especially in cut glass, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the i ...
chandeliers, Irish silk poplin hangings and, in terms of fittings, 18th-century chimney-pieces and ornamental plasterwork. He acted as supervisor and co-ordinator of the decor as well as the architecture, using his extensive knowledge of Irish architecture of the Georgian period. In the early 1950s McGrath embarked on the series of specially-woven carpets which are the particular hallmark of his government work. These were installed in public buildings in Ireland and in Irish embassies all over the world. The projects at the Irish Embassy in Paris were particularly pleasing to him. The embassy was an impressive 19th-century building, and the task of furnishing it fell to the Ambassador, William P. Fay and his wife Lillian. The Fays worked closely with McGrath, who among other things designed the carpets and chose the furniture; McGrath was assisted by Noel de Chenu. When the Fays were later appointed to
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, they again called on McGrath to fit out a new embassy building. Throughout his 25-year programme of designing carpets for State building, McGrath relied on the traditional skills of hand-knotted carpet manufacture in pure wool which were available at
Donegal Carpets Donegal Carpets is a trademark brand of handmade wool carpets produced in Killybegs, a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Donegal Carpets can be found in Dublin Castle, the Royal Pavilion of Brighton, Eltham Palace, and the U.S. White House as w ...
in Killybegs. Through his support this company was enabled to keep up production even in the most difficult times in the 1960s and after. In Dublin, McGrath's principal concern was the restoration of
Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...
, which started in the late 1950s and continued for decades. Among the buildings he designed was the
Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...
, RHA, building in
Ely Place, Dublin Ely Place ( ) is a street in central Dublin with Georgian architecture. It is a continuation of Upper Merrion Street and the place where Lower Baggot Street and Merrion Row meet. Both the latter and Hume Street link it to St Stephen's Green. H ...
. He had been appointed an associate member of the RHA in 1949 and became a full member in 1967. The following year he became the Academy's professor of Architecture. For many years, starting in 1946, McGrath championed and worked on the design for a
National Concert Hall The National Concert Hall (NCH) (An Ceoláras Náisiúnta) is a national cultural institution, sometimes described as "the home of music in Ireland". It comprises the actual concert hall operation, which in various chambers hosts over 1,000 ...
for Ireland which was to be built at
Raheny Raheny () is a northern suburb of Dublin, Ireland, halfway from the city centre to Howth. It is centred on a historic settlement, first documented in 570 CE ( Mervyn Archdall). The district shares Dublin's two largest municipal parks, Saint An ...
. However the project was always dogged by political complications and was eventually cancelled in 1973. McGrath died in Dublin a few years later in 1977, at the age of 74.


Publications

*''The Seven Songs of Meadow Lane'' (1924), *''Glass in Architecture and Decoration'' (1937), Raymond McGrath, Albert Childerstone Frost and Harold Edward Beckett, Architectural Press, London. * ''Twentieth Century Houses'' (1934), Faber and Faber London.


References


External links


Works by McGrath
in the Imperial War Museum collection {{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, Raymond 1903 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Australian architects 20th-century Irish architects Artists from Sydney Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Interior designers Irish designers People educated at Fort Street High School University of Sydney alumni World War II artists