User:Shard47/William Atkins (architect)

William Ringrose Atkins (1811–1887) was an Irish architect of the Victorian era.

A native of Cork, William R. Atkins is an architect whose fame has been lost to posterity, although in 1846 he received one of the largest public commissions in Cork city, to build the city and county asylum. This was a commission received from the Board of Works, and was being angled for at the time by the more established Cork architect Thomas Deane who was then engaged in the building of Queen's College Cork. Built in a revival Gothic style, 1846-53, this is popularly held to have the longest corridor in all of Europe - it is now converted into modern apartments. He also received the first prize for a design for a new town hall for Cork in 1851, although this was never built.

Early Life and Career




William Atkins was the fourth son of Ringrose Atkins, MD, and Sarah Atkins (daughter and co-heiress of William Atkins of Fountainville, Mallow, Co. Cork) was born at Firville, near Mallow, roughly around 1812. His father's youngest sister Margaret was the second wife of George Richard Pain, to whom he was apprenticed. In 1831 a drawing by Atkins was judged the second best architectural drawing in the exhibition of the Cork Society for Promoting the Fine Arts; his premium was, however, withheld. The drawing in question may have been the 'Design for a Temple to the Fine Arts' which he exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy the following year. Between 1845 and 1869 Atkins entered at least thirteen architectural competitions, achieving the rank of first place in five of them. Two of his successful designs - for Cork Town Hall and Killarney Railway Hotel, both of 1852 - were produced in collaboration with another architect. In the second half of the 1860s he designed several new Church of Ireland churches in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel, which suggests that he may have been a district architect for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in this period.

In 1845 Atkins married his cousin Louisa Gelston (1812-1904). Two years later he inherited half the estate of his maternal grandfather William Atkins at Fountainville. He farmed the property until 1854.

Death and Legacy
He died on 5 January 1887, at age 76, leaving a widow, three sons and a daughter and an estate of £5000 in Ireland and £500 in England. His pupils and assistants included Samuel Francis Hynes and Edward James Martin.

Estates
11 Morrison's Island, Cork, 1842-44;(8) Bridge Street, Cork, 1854;(9) 6 Adelaide Place, Cork, 1858-1860;(10) 22 Warren's Place, Cork, 1863;(11) 39 South Mall, and 6 Adelaide Place, St Luke's, 1867.(12) 39 South Mall, 1871.(13)