THE DOWNES BUILDINGS Architect Joseph Vincent Downes was born in Dublin in 1890. In 1920, he was one of the first graduates from the School of Architecture at University College, Dublin. Downes travelled widely in Europe and the United States and, in the course of his travels, built up a large collection of slides of modern buildings, which is now in the Irish Architectural Archive. In 1928 he became a partner in the firm of McDonnell & Dixon until 1935, after which he set up his own practice in Dublin and oversaw the construction of the Sligo Mental Hospital from 1935-36. These building now form part of the IT Sligo Campus and are to be the new home for the Department of Arts, Design, and Architecture. The building encapsulates the qualities of a formative period of modern architecture in Ireland during the years of the Irish Free State, from its founding in 1922 until the declaration of a Republic in 1949, and one in which Joseph Downes played a major role.
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Year Book 2019
