Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect and hotel proprietor. Edward Roche was born in 1847, the eldest of the five sons of William Roche (d. 1859?), founder and proprietor of Roche's Hotel, Glengarriff, Co. Cork. His descendants believed that the Roches had been builders in Killarney, Co. Kerry. Edward Roche was said to have received part of his education in Belgium before training as an architect. He practised for a time in Clifton, Bristol.(1) In July 1872, when he was still only twenty-four,(2) his mother died, causing him to return to Ireland to take over the hotel.(3) He married Mary Anne, daughter of Andrew Brophy, on 7 February 1874, and had several children; his third daughter, Elizabeth Margaret, married HARRY ALLBERRY HARRY ALLBERRY . He died suddenly on 26 March 1908. His only known architectural work in Ireland was a detached circular single-storey annexe to Roche's Hotel, which housed a number of bedrooms built round a central core containing the toilets and bathroom.

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References

All information in this entry is from notes supplied to Alfred Jones in 1969 by Elizabeth Hilda Allberry, grand-daughter of Edward Roche. A brief obituary is in IB 50, 4 Apr 1908, 198.

(1) It seems likely that he may have worked in the Clifton office of E.H. Godwin and Henry Crisp; Godwin was working on two projects in the south west of Ireland - Dromore Castle, Co. Limerick, and Glenbeigh Towers, Co. Kerry - between 1867 and 1871. He does not appear in the English census of 1871.
(2) This information conflicts with that in the obituary, which describes him as 'an architect of long experience…[who] practised for many years in England, where he was associated with the erection of several buildings of considerable importance'.
(3) According to the obituary, Roche came back to Ireland 'Some years ago…owing to the death of relatives'.


1 work entries listed in chronological order for ROCHE, EDWARD JAMES A.


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Building: CO. CORK, GLENGARRIFF, ROCHE'S HOTEL
Date: ?
Nature: Circular, single-storey annexe housing extra bedrooms round central core containing bathroom & toilets.
Refs: Information given to Alfred Jones, 1969, by Roche's grand-daughter, Elizabeth Hilda Allberry.