The Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940 (DIA), the Irish Architectural Archive’s flagship project, was launched by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen TD at a reception in 45 Merrion Square on 28^th January 2009. The DIA is now freely available online.

The DIA contains biographical and bibliographical information on architects, builders and craftsmen born or working in Ireland during the period 1720 to 1940, and details on the buildings on which they worked. Some 6,000 individual architects or architectural practices are included in the Dictionary, as are more than 40,000 building references. 

Searchable by architect or by building, the DIA is now the essential first port-of-call for all those interested in the architecture of the entire island of Ireland. The DIA provides comprehensive, authoritative information on who was building what, when, where and for whom. The DIA is an indispensable aid to the student and an invaluable tool for architects, conservationists, planners and other professionals concerned with the origins, development and maintenance of the built environment. More than that, it is a wonderful resource for anyone and everyone with even just a passing interest in their house, their street or the buildings they encounter on a daily basis.

Efforts to create a comprehensive index of Irish architects and their works go back at least to the latter part of the nineteenth century. Between the 1870s and the 1970s five biographical dictionaries of Irish architects were projected or initiated. Of these only Rolf Loeber's A Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Ireland 1600-1720, originally intended to form part of a more comprehensive work by various contributors, was brought to completion. 

In 1981, the Irish Architectural Archive received on loan one of its most significant collections in the form of several hundred files of information about Irish architects which had been assembled during the 1950s and 1960s by the retired Dublin architect Alfred Edwin Jones (1894-1973). Jones, too, intended to compile a biographical dictionary of Irish architects but died before he could realize his project. His files were not easy for others to consult, containing a mixture of cards, large foolscap sheets, tiny scraps of paper, photographs (sometimes uncaptioned) and photocopies (sometimes faded to illegibility). It was frustrating to know that they contained a great deal of information about individual buildings which it was impossible to access without already knowing the names of the architects who designed them.

The rapidly increasing use of personal computers during the 1980s gave rise to the idea of creating a database of Irish architects which would not only incorporate the information contained in Jones's files but would also draw together other data held in – or made available to – the Irish Architectural Archive.

The project was initiated and taken forward by Ann Martha Rowan, Senior Archivist with the Irish Architectural Archive and Editor of the Dictionary of Irish Architects. A graduate of Cambridge University, Ms Rowan had previously worked for Brinsley Ford on the dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy 1701 - 1800, and at the National Portrait Gallery, London, before joining the fledgling Irish Architectural Archive in 1978. In 1990, with financial support from the Skaggs Foundation, Oakland, California, she devised the first version of the Dictionary of Irish Architects database and began compiling the entries. A grant from the School of Irish Studies in 1993 made it possible to update the hardware while from 1995 to 2005 the project was generously supported by grants from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. In 2005 a basic version of the database was made publicly accessible for the first time in the Irish Architectural Archive’s reading room. The transfer of the project to the internet through the creation of the Dictionary of Irish Architects website was facilitated by a 2006 grant from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. 

The Dictionary remains a work in progress. New information is added on a daily basis. Users of the Dictionary are encouraged to supply additional information, to update, expand or correct entries. All such contributions will of course be gratefully acknowledged.

Colum O’Riordan
Archive Administrator, Irish Architectural Archive