Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect and surveyor with the Royal Engineers, active from the 1880s until 1910 or later. John Todd Rea served a four-year pupillage with YOUNG & YOUNG & amp; MACKENZIE  MACKENZIE in Belfast, followed by a further year in the office as an assistant. He then spent a year as a draughtsman in the Royal Engineer Office in Belfast,  After passing the qualifying examination in 1891, he joined the permanent staff of the Royal Engineer Department as a surveyor.   During the 1890s he spent some time in the West Indies  as evidenced by his publications Building in St Lucia. (Inverness: Association of Surveyors, 1898) and Glimpses of the West Indies (Dublin, 1901).(1)  By the autumn of 1899 he had been appointed assistant surveyor of the Curragh District(2) where he remained until the end of 1903, when he was promoted to a post in Singapore.(3)



In addition to the two books mentioned above, several items by Rae appeared in the Irish Builder. In 1888, when he was living in Holywood, Co. Down, he published drawings of the ruined church at Holywood and the Priory of St Columba, Newtownards, and while he was employed at the Curragh, he contributed several articles to the journal.(4)  It is not clear whether he had returned to Ireland when his final contribution to the Irish Builder, 'Memoranda for road construction', appeared in 1910.(5)



RIAI: elected member, 16 December 1899, having been proposed by GEORGE PATRICK SHERIDAN GEORGE PATRICK SHERIDAN , seconded by RUDOLF MAXIMILIAN BUTLER RUDOLF MAXIMILIAN BUTLER ;(6) no longer a member after 1904.

Surveyors' Institution: fellow by 1901.



Addresses: Glenside, Holywood, Co. Down, 1888;(7) Curragh Camp, 1899; Gordon House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, 1901-3; Royal Engineer Office, Singapore, 1904.



See BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise attributed is from IAA, RIAI office archives (Acc. 93/136), membership forms 1878-1909 (extremely fragile) and RIAI lists of members.

(1)
He also read a paper, 'Buildng in the West Indies', to the AAI in 1900; see IB 42, 15 Feb,1,15 Mar 1900, 283,301,310.
(2)
Post Office Dublin Directory (1900), 86.
(3)
IB 46, 13 Feb 1904, 69.
(4)
IB 30, 15 Sep,1 Nov 1888, 229(illus. in supplement),273(illus. in supplement).
(5)
IB 52, 25 Jul 1910, 459-461.
(6)
RIAI general meeting minutes, 16 Dec 1899, 340.
(7)
IB 30, 1 Nov 1888, 273.


Author Title Date Details
Rea, John Todd Building in St Lucia
1898 Inverness: Institute of Surveyors, 1898.
Rea, John Todd 'Useful memoranda for builders' 1900 IB 42, 15 Aug,1 Sep,15,1,15 Oct,1,15 Nov,1,15 Dec 1900, 447,462,477,491,501,507,579,525,543,546,558,565,580.
Rea, John Todd 'Quarrying' 1901 IB 43, 12 Sep 1901, 866.
Rea, John Todd Glimpses in the West Indies
1901 Dublin, 1901.
Rea, John Todd 'The elements of road construction' 1902 IB 44, 31 Jul,14 Aug 1902, 1336-1338,1353-1356.
Rea, John Todd 'How to estimate, being an analysis of prices' 1903 IB 45, 15 Jan 1903, 1552.
Rea, John Todd 'Memoranda for road construction' 1910 IB 52, 23 Jul 1910, 459.
Rea, John Toddj 'Building in the West Indies' 1900 IB 42, 15 Feb,1,15 Mar 1900, 283,301,310. (Paper read to AAI, 6 Feb 1900.)