Raymond McGrath was an Australian-born architect, illustrator, printmaker and interior designer who for the greater part of his career was Principal Architect for the Office of Public Works in Ireland.
15 Facts About Raymond McGrath
1.
2.
Herbert Raymond McGrath was born in New Zealand but his family had moved to New South Wales when he was a child and Edith Sorrell had been born in New South Wales.
3.
Raymond McGrath was educated at Paramatta North Public School until 1911 when he was moved to Gladesville Public School and from there in 1916 won a high school bursary to Fort Street Boys School in nearby Sydney.
4.
In 1921 Raymond McGrath enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at Sydney University but subsequently transferred to the School of Architecture.
5.
Raymond McGrath graduated in 1926 Bachelor of Architecture with first class honours and as the winner of the Wentworth travelling scholarship.
6.
The Wentworth scholarship allowed Raymond McGrath to move to London where he studied at the Westminster School of Art before taking up a fellowship at Clare College, Cambridge.
7.
Raymond McGrath was particularly interested in the architectural and decorative use of glass, writing several articles for the Architectural Review in the 1930s, and in 1937 publishing the highly influential book Glass in Architecture and Decoration.
8.
At the beginning of World War Two, Raymond McGrath wrote to the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, with a proposal to produce an illustrated book on war-time aircraft production.
9.
Raymond McGrath submitted some drawings of bomb damage in London which WAAC declined to accept.
10.
In 1940 Raymond McGrath moved to Dublin where he was appointed Senior Architect at the Office of Public Works.
11.
Raymond McGrath quickly took command of the resources which were available to give a recognizable "look" to Ireland's state buildings.
12.
Raymond McGrath acted as supervisor and co-ordinator of the decor as well as the architecture, using his extensive knowledge of Irish architecture of the Georgian period.
13.
Raymond McGrath had been appointed an associate member of the RHA in 1949 and became a full member in 1967.
14.
For many years, starting in 1946, Raymond McGrath championed and worked on the design for a National Concert Hall for Ireland which was to be built at Raheny.
15.
Raymond McGrath died in Dublin a few years later in 1977, at the age of 74.