Civic Buildings

City Hall

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City Hall is one of the most splendid buildings of Cork. The current structure, replaced the old City Hall, which was destroyed in the 'The burning of Cork' in 1920. It was designed by Architects Jones and Kelly and built by Cork Company Sisks.  The foundation stone was laid by Eamonn de Valera, president of the Executive Council of the State on 9th July, 1932. The building was formerly opened by Eamonn de Valera on the 8th September, 1936 and the first meeting of the Council was held on the 24th April, 1935.

The building consists of three sections, two wings comprising the Council Offices and arranged around the fine concert hall, a venue used for concerts, festivals and functions.  

The building is designed on classic lines to harmonise with the examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture, fundamentally Georgian in character, that so richly endow Cork City. It is an imposing and dignified structure, and, with its long main front dominating the river, immediately attracts attention because of the excellence of its proportion and the simplicity of its treatment. The facades are of beautiful silver limestone from the Little Island Quarries, to the east of the city. Of particular interest are the Doric columns that grace the main and subsidiary porticos, which are of a slightly darker limestone from Co. Galway.

The main entrance to the offices is from Anglesea Street through a marble paved vestibule to the main staircase hall. The stairs are of polished marble and the balustrading of ornamental wrought iron. The Lord Mayor’s suite is located on the first floor over the entrance. The Council Chamber across the corridor is a galleried double height space, naturally lighted from an ornamental dome.  The mahogany furniture was specifically designed for the chamber by James and Kelly.

The City Hall contains works by Seamus Murphy, R.H.A., which includes busts of Lord Mayors Tomas MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney and a profile of the late US President John F. Kennedy erected over the main entrance door commemorating his visit to Cork in 1963.

The new Cork City Council Civic Offices is an extension of the existing City Hall.  Work began on this building in 2004 and it was completed in 2007.  The aim of building the extension was to amalgamate all Council services to a single city centre premises, consolidating its offices from a variety of disparate locations around the city into one City Hall ‘campus.’

The building’s project design team was led by ABK Architects. The result is a four storey building, faced in carrara marble, which was specifically chosen to work in harmony with the limestone used in City Hall. The central atrium stretches from the ground floor to the roof, five stories above, flooding all departments below with natural light. The atrium also features as a civic hall, designed to open up the extended City Hall to public use.  The new facility now provides a state of the art, one stop shop incorporating all Cork City Council services.

A tour of the City Hall will take place at 1.30 p.m., which will include the architecture and history of the building and finishing with a visit to the Lord Mayor's chamber where the Lord Mayor, Cllr Michael O'Connell will exhibit some of the Mayoral ceremonial artifacts.

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