Arch Building, Cobh

The building was commissioned as a market house by John Smith-Barry (1793–1837), whose seat was at Fota House, and was completed in 1806.{{cite web|url=http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/maude/adams25.html |title= The death of Charles Frohman and an appearance of his ghost|publisher=Book Mice|access-date=15 November 2023}}{{cite web|url= http://user.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/tree/scrapbooks/425.pdf |first= Samuel|last= Lewis|title=A Topographical Directory|year= 1837}}{{cite web|url= https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~mturner/genealogy/cork/slaters_cove.htm |title= Cove (Cobh)|publisher= Slater's National Commercial Directory of Ireland |year=1846 | access-date=15 November 2023}} It was then remodelled and enlarged in the mid-19th century, as part of a larger scheme commissioned by his son, James Hugh Smith-Barry (1716–1856), to create a new square, known as Scotts Square. The enlarged building was designed by Alexander Deane in the neoclassical style, built in brick with a cement render finish and with grey limestone dressings, and was officially opened on 27 May 1852.{{cite web|url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/4869 |title=County Cork, Cobh, Town Hall and Market House|publisher=Dictionary of Irish Architects| access-date=15 November 2023}}

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of thirteen bays facing onto the new square. The central section of three bays, which was slightly projected forward and faced in grey limestone on the ground floor, featured a carriageway arch flanked by two smaller pedestrian arches, all with voussoirs and keystones. On the first floor, there was a central sash window with a segmental headed pediment, flanked by two sash windows with triangular pediments, all with window sills. The central section was surmounted by a modillioned cornice and by a pediment with a coat of arms in the tympanum. The wings of five bays each were fenestrated by round headed windows with architraves on the ground floor, and by sash windows with architraves on the first floor, and were surmounted by modillioned cornices.{{cite web|url= https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/20827287/cobh-town-hall-and-courthouse-roger-casement-square-ringmeen-cobh-co-cork |title= Cobh Town Hall and Courthouse, Roger Casement Square, Ringmeen, Cobh, County Cork|publisher=National Inventory of Architectural Heritage| access-date=15 November 2023}}

After the Cunard passenger liner {{RMS|Lusitania}} was sunk by a German U-boat off the Old Head of Kinsale, while en route from the US to Liverpool on 7 May 1915, local fishermen collected the bodies of the victims from the beach and laid them out in the assembly hall.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=L3rsDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT109 |title= Lusitania The Cultural History of a Catastrophe |first= Willi |last=Jasper|year= 2016|page=87|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn= 978-0300224245}}{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Uums_k3lI2gC&pg=PT91 |title=Lost at Sea The Truth Behind Eight of History's Most Mysterious Ship Disasters |first=A. |last=Hoehling |year=1999|publisher=Thomas Nelson|isbn=978-1418559168}} Scotts Square was renamed Casement Square in memory of the Irish nationalist, Roger Casement, when Queenstown was renamed Cobh in 1920.{{cite web|url=https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/Passengers/Ports/Cobh-Queenstown-PassengerLists.html|title=Cobh (Queenstown) Passenger Lists 1884–1956|publisher=GG Archives|access-date=15 November 2023}} A statue, intended to commemorate the victims of the Lusitania disaster, was sculpted by Jerome Connor in the form of an Angel of Peace standing above two fishermen and was unveiled in front of the building in Casement Square in 1968.{{cite web|url= https://www.historyireland.com/lusitania-peace-memorial/ |title= Lusitania Peace Memorial|publisher=Gems of Architecture|date=1 May 2015|volume=23| access-date=15 November 2023}}

In 1976, the building was converted for use as a public library at a cost of £75,000.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip-5AAAAIAAJ |title= Report from the Libraries Council of Ireland|year=1976|page=5|quote=Cobh: The council's proposal to reconstruct the arch building as a public library at an estimated cost of £75,000 was approved.}} The building also became the home of the local tourist information centre,{{cite web|url=https://cobhharbourchamber.ie/about-cobh-tourist-office/ |title=About Cobh Tourist Office|publisher= Cobh and Harbour Chamber| access-date=15 November 2023}} and the District Court also occupied part of the building until it closed in 2010.{{cite web|url=https://colaistemuire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cobh-A-Walking-Guide.pdf |title=Cobh: A walking Guide|publisher=Coláiste Muire |access-date=15 November 2023}} A significant programme of repair works, to restore the main frontage of the building, was undertaken in 2012.{{cite web|url=https://www.corkcoco.ie/sites/default/files/2021-12/cork-county-librarys-development-plan-pdf.pdf | title=Library Development Plan 2014–2019|page=8 |publisher=Cork County Library and Arts Service|date=1 May 2014|access-date=15 November 2023}}

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{{City and town halls in Ireland|state=collapsed}}

Category:Government buildings completed in 1806

Category:City and town halls in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Buildings and structures in Cobh