DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY
Joseph Michael Meade
(1839-1900)
• Alderman & Lord Mayor (1891 & 1892)
• Parnellite Nationalist
• Builder employing 900 men
• Masonry Loop Line Bridge,
• Guinness Printing Works
• Little Sisters Convent S.C Rd.
• Company Director
• Philanthropist
In twentieth-century history books he is chiefly remembered as a slum landlord and despoiler of Georgian Dublin; he stripped out original features in the houses he owned and subdivided them. However, he enjoyed a good reputation during his lifetime; his obituaries testify to his geniality, his common sense, and his ability to make friends across the political divide. He was admired as a philanthropist and was among the founders of the Association for Housing of the Very Poor.
Rathgar Avenue 4 houses built by Michael Meade 1857-59
Rathmines Township established 1847.
Turkish Baths Lincoln Place. Opened February 1860
Site of Turkish Baths Lincoln Place
Cattle Market North Circular Road opened 1863 - Closed 1st October 1971
St Patrick’s Monkstown 1865 Architects Pugin & Ashlin
St Patrick’s Monkstown 1865 Architects Pugin & Ashlin
Sacred heart donnybrook
From the early 1860’s Joseph becomes a partner in the business
St Colman’s Cathedral Cobh 1868 Architects Pugin & Ashlin
St Colman’s Cathedral Cobh 1868 Architects Pugin & Ashlin
St Colman’s Cathedral Cobh 1868 Architects Pugin & Ashlin
Mount St Michael - Meade Family Home 1868
Pembroke Township established in 1863
Ailesbury Road. Michael Meade sold only one of the twelve houses he built on the road
Lunatic Asylum Architect William Fogerty Built 1868. Accommodation for 647 inmates
Ennis
O’Connell Tower 1870, Glasnevin Cemetery.
St Joseph’s Glasthule1869 Architects Pugin & Ashlin
St Kevin’s Heytesbury Street 1870. G Ashlin Architect
St Kevin’s Heytesbury Street 1870. G Ashlin Architect
Joseph Meade married Katherine Carvill in 1870
The Meade Family c. 1883. His wife Katherine died 1884 aged 33 years
Gaiety Theatre Nov 1871. Architect CJ Phipps. Completed in 25 weeks
Gaiety Theatre. Original capacity 1900 patrons.
Redemptorist Convent & Chapel Drumcondra 1873 - Ashlin Architect
John’s Lane begun 1862 consecrated 1874. Architect EW Pugin. Altar Pearse & Sons
John’s Lane. Known as the Fenian Church
Michael Meade died 1886. Memorial erected by his son Joseph
Grand Lodge of Freemasons 1870. Meade Contractor. Edward Holmes Architect
St Michael’s Hospital Dún Laoghaire 1875.
Site of old Town Hall and managed by Sisters of Mercy
St Teresa’s Carmelite Church, Clarendon St 1877
St Teresa’s Carmelite Church, Clarendon St 1877. Altar by Pearse & Sons
St Paul of the Cross Mount Argus Architect JJ McCarthy. 1878.
Mary Immaculate Inchicore. 1878
Ashlin Architect
Altar by Pearse & Sons
Our Lady Queen of Refuge Rathmines
1878 Architect Patrick Byrne
Town Hall Dún Laoghaire1878
Town Hall Dún Laoghaire1878
St Vincent De Paul Orphanage Glasnevin
JL Robinson Architect
Jervis Street Hospital 1879 - Final Cost £55,161
Holy Cross Dundrum 1879 Architect GC Ashlin
St Patrick’s Monkstown
Phoenix Park Assassinations. Saturday 6th May 1882.
Thomas Burke Permanent Under-Secretary and Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish murdered.
Built in 1863 by Meade’s. Architect
Matthew Digby Wyatt.
James H North, Estate Agents 110 Grafton St 1890. Architect George Henderson.
Irish Builder June 1859
Little Sisters of the Poor S.C.Rd Kilmainham 1883. Architect William H Byrne
The Annunciation Rathfarnham 1878 George Ashlin Architect
Tallaght Church and Dominican Priory 1886.
Death of Michael Meade
1885 Morehampton Road
The west side of the street was bought by Joseph Meade in 1892 from the estate of Tristram Kennedy (1805-1885)
Ada Louise Willis. Second wife of Joseph Meade
They married in February 1887.
Parnell cited as co-respondent in divorce case 1890
Katharine O’Shea and Charles Stewart Parnell
Elected to Dublin Corporation in 1886 Lord Mayor of Dublin 1891 and 1892
Loop Line Bridge 1889-1891
Westland Row Station totally revamped for Loop Line 1889-1891
Arches from Pearse St to Townsend St
192 Cottages for the Dublin Artisan Dwelling Company 1892
St Mel’s Cathedral Longford
Portico - G Ashlin Architect 1893
Apartment Blocks for the Iveagh Trust 1893-1900
St Andrew’s National Schools. Pearse St 1895 William Hague Architect
Holy Redeemer Bray 1898 WH Byrne Architect
Lyric Theatre, Burgh Quay. Originally the Conciliation Hall (1834).
Theatre of Varieties, repurposed by J Meade in 1897.
Lyric
Numbers 6 & 8 Shrewsbury Road. Last project seen to completion 1900.
