Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, engineer and surveyor, of Dublin and Belfast.  Denis Mahon Turner, son of Francis John Turner, government clerk, of 90 South Circular Road, Dublin, and his wife, Annie, was born on 1 May 1886.(1) He attended school at the King's Hospital, Dublin,(2) but details of his professional training are not recorded.   His only significant work to be noted in the Irish Builder is the conversion of the former male prison at Wexford into St Brigid's Female Certified Inebriates' Reformatory in 1910.(3) From about 1913 he was in India, serving in the Indian Army during the First World War. He returned to Dublin in 1921.(4) During the 1920s he appears to have worked in a temporary capacity for the Board of Public Works, as he is mentioned as having assisted in the restoration of the General Post Office.(5) In 1932 or 1932 he moved to Coleraine and thence to Belfast. In the membership lists of the AAI he is styled 'Captain' from 1928 onwards and 'Registered Architect' from 1933.  He died in 1949 and was buried in Dundonald cemetery, Belfast.(6)

AAI: elected member, 1904; hon. treasurer, 1929-32; no longer on list of members after 1934.

Addresses: 2 Carlton Terrace, Rathmines, <=1905-1911; 23 Suffolk Street, 1909;(7) c/o Mssrs. Richardson & Cruddas, Bombay, 1913-1921; Tower  Avenue, Rathgar, 1922; 19 Hollybrook Avenue, Ranelagh, 1923; 16 Kenilworth Park, Dublin, 1924-1927; 8 Rathmines Park Terrace, 1928-31; 16 Nursery Avenue, Coleraine, 1932; 11a Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, 1933-34.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from lists of members and officers amd from War Roll in AAI Green Books.


(1) http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/c9d77e0560637 (last visitedJul 2011).
(2) Information from Andrew Whiteside, King's Hospital Archives, Jul 2011.  Turner also appears as a pupil at the school in the 1901 census.
(3) IB 52, 19 Feb 1910, 117-8.
(4) Information from Andrew Whiteside, as above, citing passenger list.
(5) IB 71, 20 Jul 1939, 663.
(6) Billion Graves, http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/DenisMahonTurner/4169685 (last visited Sep 2013).
(7) IB 51, 20 Mar 1909, 175.


3 work entries listed in chronological order for TURNER, DENIS MAHON


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Building: CO. WEXFORD, WEXFORD, ST BRIGID'S FEMALE CERTIFIED INEBRIATES' REFORMATORY
Date: 1909-1910
Nature: Conversion of former male prison into reformatory to house 66 females. Tenders invited, Feb 1909.Reconstruction involved taking down most of interior and building dining hall with day rooms and dormitories forming wings to same.Chapel remodelled and governor's house reconstructed as admin. block for nuns. Cost: c.£2,300. General Contractor: O'Connor & Sons, Wexford.
Refs: Freeman's Journal, 13 Feb 1909; IB 51, 20 Feb 1909, 114; 52, 19 Feb 1910, 117-8.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET LOWER, GENERAL POST OFFICE
Date: 1924p
Nature: DMT member of design team  for reconstruction of same headed by T.J. Byrne.  For Office of Public Works
Refs: Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005),  147.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DALKEY, VICTORIA ROAD, ?
Date: 1931
Nature: Alts.
Refs: IB 73, 15 Aug 1931, 726