From the early nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century, three generations of Hill architects were responsible for much of the fine architecture in Cork city and county. They designed the School of Science & Art (now Crawford Art Gallery), the College of Commerce and the Crawford College of Art & Design, faculty buildings for University College Cork, bank buildings for Munster & Leinster (now AIB) on South Mall in Cork and many provincial towns, city churches such as St Luke’s and St Mary Shandon, rectories and many small rural churches. Their commercial buildings ranged from Cash’s department store (Brown Thomas) and Clancarthy Buildings (Keane’s), to shops and warehouses for Woodford & Bourne, along with the Metropole Hotel and the Hibernia and Victoria buildings on MacCurtain Street. They designed artisan dwellings and social housing in the city centre, substantial terraces on its approach roads, fine houses in its suburbs and around Cork Harbour, and they also worked on numerous country houses across the county. Notable unbuilt projects include Queen’s College Cork, new Civic Offices for Cork, a city courthouse for Limerick, and new university buildings for University College Dublin. 

This sumptuously illustrated book showcases the astonishing versatility of the Hill architects. Working from a rich archive of architectural drawings, documents and sketchbooks, Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel has written a fascinating history of this influential family of six architects, and the times in which they lived. Richard Wood has compiled a wide-ranging survey of the Hill Archive of architectural drawings. Together, they offer a unique insight into the architectural and social fabric of Cork city and county from the 1820s to the 1950s, all the more revealing as most of the fine buildings designed by the Hill architects still survive and are a key part of the built heritage of the city and county.