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Life
1886-1962 [Dr. Padraic Gregory; freq. Padraig; occas. Padric]; b. Belfast, Sept. 1886; ed. Ireland and Colorado, USA - where his parents moved for some time about his eleventh year; grad. RIAI, 1920; elected RIBA licentiate, May 1931; member or RSUA in 1931; fellow in 1937 and President and Hon. Sec.; designed Christ the King Catholic Cathedral in Johannesburg, and church buildings in Ireland including St. Malachy’s, on Nursery Ave. in Coleraine (Co. Derry); he also designed the original plan of Johannesburg Cath.; published Old World Ballads; Love Sonnets; Ulster Songs and Ballads [1920] and The Anglo-Irish folk-Songs of Padraic Gregory [2 vols.] Gregory was a contributor to Irish Book Lover and Capuchin Annual; he received an honorary degree of the National University of Ireland [NLI] in 1942; he lived in Killough, Co. Down.
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Works
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References
British Library holds Poems of J. F. Mac Entee ed. by Padraic Gregory (1917); Complete Collected Ballads of Padraic Gregory, 1912-1932 (Lon;Gates & Co. 1935), x+166pp. [port.]; Coming of the Magi, a sacred drama of the Epiphany, 4 acts and prologue, verse (Dublin: Talbot [1931]), 103pp.; Ireland, a Song of Hope and Other Poems (Dublin: Talbot; London: Unwin 1917), x+116pp.; Love Sonnets (Belfast: G. M. Harvey 1914), 15 copies only; Modern Anglo-Irish Verse, an anthology (London: Davitt 1914); Old World Ballads (London: David Nutt 1913), 66pp.; The Ulster Folk, verse (London: David Nutt 1912), 40pp.
Dictionary of Irish Architects, 1720-1940: Architect, of Belfast. Patrick Gregory, a native of Belfast, was born in September 1886.(1) The 1911 census indicates that his parents had moved to Colorado by the time he was nine and had remained there for at least four years, but by the time of the census his mother had returned to Belfast with three of her children and was living with her sister who ran a grocery business. Patrick was articled to JOHN J. O’SHEA of Belfast and studied surveying under Thomas Pentland, also of Belfast. He commenced independent practice in Belfast in 1906, entering into partnership with J. Norman Hall to form the practice of Gregory & Hall, which was working from 124 Donegall Street, Belfast, from circa 1907 until at least 1912. The partnership had ended by the beginning of 1913, when notices of works first appear in the Irish Builder under the name of Patrick B. Gregory only but still with the address of 124 Donegall Street. In 1920 the Downpatrick Town Commissioners appointed Gregory architect under their housing scheme. Gregory remained at 124 Donegall St until at least 1922 but by 1924 he had moved his office to 25 Gresham Street.(3) For a period of about five years, between 1931 and 1935, he worked from 3 College Square North,(4) but in 1936 he returned to 25 Gresham Street, where he remained for the rest of his life. From 1935(5) his name begins to appear in the Irish Builder in its Irish form also, as Padraig Gregory. In 1951 or 1952 he formed a partnership with his son Patrick Brian Gregory;(6) the practice was known thereafter as P. & B. Gregory. Gregory died in 1962, survived by his wife, five sons and a daughter. A committed Catholic, he designed many Catholic churches throughout Northern Ireland and was responsible for the original scheme for the Cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg. In addition to his architectural interests, he is described as having been ‘a poet, folklorist, art and literary critic and sacred dramatist ’. He was associated with the Ulster Literary Theatre since its inception in 1916 and was a collector of traditional Irish music. He was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the National University of Ireland in 1942.’ (Available online;
Belfast Public Library holds Coming of the Magi (1932); Complete Collected Ballads (1913); Ireland, Song of Hope (1917); Modern Anglo-Irish Verse (1914); Love Sonnets (1914); Old World Ballads (1913); Selected Poems (n.d.); Ulster Folk (1912) Ulster Songs and Ballads (1926); When Painting was in Glory 1280-1580 (1941).
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University of Ulster Library, Morris Collection holds Ulster Songs and Ballads (Dublin ?1920); Complete Collected Ulster Songs and Ballads, pref. by E. Estyn Evans, QUB (Belfast: William Mullan 1959), 100pp.
Cathach Books (Cat 12), lists The Coming of the Magi (Dublin 1932); The Complete Collected Ballads of Padraic Gregory, 1912-32 (London 1935); Modern Anglo-Irish Verse [1st ed.] (London 1914).
Emerald Isle Books (Cat. 1995) lists Ulster Songs and Ballads (Dublin: Talbot [n.d.]).
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Notes
Portrait: there is a photo port. of Padraic Gregory in Capuchin Annual (1946-47), p.523.
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