J. J. ‘Johnny’ Robinson, one of the founding partners of RKD, was President of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland from 1938 – 1939. In June 1939 he wrote the following article which was published in a special commemorative magazine with the June 21st edition of The Irish Times to celebrate the centenary of the R.I.A.I. that year:
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(From the President of the R.I.A.I. to “The Irish Times.”)
I am honoured and happy to give you a message on behalf of the great profession which I represent — honoured because its centenary should have occurred during my term in office, and happy because the long innings which has been granted me has been full of the pleasantest associations with my professional colleagues.
On 1st October, 1839, a general meeting of the members of the R.I.A.I. made and ordained the first bye-laws. Those present at that meeting appear to have been Mr. Richardson, Vice-President; Messers. William Deane Butler, Frederick Darley, William Farrell, J. B. Keane, William Murray, James Paine, George Papworth, Edward Parkes, James Sheil and Joseph Welland. Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci was not present at this meeting, but he took the chair at a meeting held on October 9th, 1839.
All the members were eminent men in the profession of their day, and all were actuated by a common desire and a common purpose “for promoting and facilitating the acquirement of the knowledge of the various Arts and Sciences connected therewith; for the formation of a library and museum; for establishing a correspondence with scientific men in other countries; for the purpose of inquiry and information upon the subject of the said Art, and for establishing a uniformity and respectability of practice in the profession.”
Many of them must have remembered troubled times, and their minds may well have wandered back to the Augstinian age of Dublin architecture, which saw the Irish Parliament sitting in the world famous building in College Green, which saw the building of the Custom House, the Four Courts, the City Hall; and some may have had the privilege of knowing Gandon, Cooley, Johnson, and other great architects who gave to our city monuments symbolising the highest architectural thought and achievement of their age.
At the time of the first meeting the Georgian era was over, and the great Renaissance was petering out in a final and not least glorious phase of neo-Grec. Our founders could not prophesy as to the course architecture would take during the next century. They could not foresee the great Gothic revival, though its beginnings were manifested at that time, and they might well be doubtful had they been told that their successors would have been mainly occupied in building churches, convents, workhouses, hospitals, asylums, schools, and country and city houses.
But through it all there has been a fine tradition of enduring work, faithfully done, to supply the needs and requirements of its age. It is to us a source of pride that our founders had the vision to see the necessity for an institute, and their reward must have been the friendships formed and the associations made by which it was possible to exchange ideas for the betterment of architecture, and for the more adequate and faithful service of our Art, which has been well described as “the Mother of all the Arts.”
And my message is that the legend painted above the door of my father’s office, “Design in beauty, build with Truth,” is still, and must always be, the aim of our profession.
J. J. ROBINSON
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A public exhibition celebrating 100 years of RKD will run from Monday 25th Novermber 2013 at the R.I.A.I, 8 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
