A flier titled 'A plea for the Catholic Boy’s Brigade by E.D. Daly'. The flier refers to the good works performed by Boys’ Brigade members in the Church Street area and seeks subscriptions to aid the organisation. It reads: ‘At present Church Street is not quite up to the mark of its energetic past. The sites of several of its rookeries of wickedness are now covered by Police Courts, and by buildings in which Capuchins carry on their work. …. How long this breeding ground of sin and crime existed in the past must be left to imagination. What is certain is that this worst spot of the worst city in Ireland was selected by the Capuchin Order as a place in which to live, beside the poor, and to help them against temptations to crime and intemperance. To anyone who can feel for the poor, and understand evils around them which they do not realise themselves, the way to Church Street from Sackville Street is still like a descent into Hades, if traversed about 8 p.m. at this time of year’. The file contains three copies of the document.
Annotated photographic prints (black and white, half-length portrait) of William Coffey, ‘treasurer in the active workers’ and Peter Tierney, ‘the first organiser along with Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC’.
Reports commissioned by Dublin Corporation regarding the proposed scheme for the clearance of ‘insanitary dwellings’ bounded by Church Street, Stirrup Lane, Beresford Street and Mary’s Lane. The scheme called for the erection thereon of workmen’s dwellings. The scheme was established under the provisions of the Housing of Working Classes Act, 1890, and a similar amended Act of 1908. The reports were submitted by Councillor John Scully and Alderman William Doyle, Chairmen. The reports are numbered No. 5 and No. 99. The former has an appended printed map depicting the committee’s plan for the construction of 246 three-roomed houses (two storeys high) on Beresford Street and on Church Street. Printed by Sealy, Bryers & Walker, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin. See also CA CS/5/3/3.
A clipping from the 'Illustrated Chronicle' (5 Sept. 1913) referring to the rescued children from the tenement building at 67 Church Street. The caption to the image refers to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, one of the Capuchin friars who helped in the rescue.
A clipping from the 'Irish Independent' (6 Sept. 1913) showing the funeral procession for victims of the Church Street tenement disaster crossing Grattan Bridge.
Lease by William John Russell, Mountjoy Square, to Fr. Daniel O’Reilly OSFC, Fr. David Thomas Ashe OSFC, and Fr. Edmund Dillon OSFC, North King Street, of a parcel of ground and shed ‘formerly known as numbers “21” and “22” but now known as number “21” … situated on the east side of Bow Street … [with] the adjoining Chapel Yard’. The term is specified as fifty-nine years and the annual rent is £24 to be paid in two yearly half payments. With a coloured sketch map showing the premises referred to in the lease. The sketch map was complied by C. Carmody, 20 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin. Scale: 20 feet to an inch.
Conveyance of George Walsh to Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and other Capuchin friars, Church Street, of 25 Bow Street, in consideration of the sum of £50. The deed has a small sketch of the properties referred to in lease. Two copies are extant in the file.
An account book titled ‘Book of money received or expended in the building of the new church of St. Mary of the Angels’. The book comprises a record of monies collected and expenditure in financing of the construction of the church. Most of the expenditure is recorded as lodgements on account in the Hibernian Bank Ltd. Several annotations are made in the account book. On 7 June it was recorded: ‘N.B. Very Rev. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly and Fr. Joseph Martin Harkins raised in the National [Bank] the sum of £300 for building purposes. This loan was advanced at three months’ payment – in full. A condition I regard as very much disparaging to our credit. Indeed, if I were allowed to act I would close the account in the National’.
Plan by Charles James McCarthy (1858-1947), architect, 12 Westland Row, Dublin (the son of James Joseph McCarthy, architect of St. Mary of the Angels), titled ‘General plan showing proposed Third Order Chapel, Choir and Additions to Capuchin Convent’. Various annotations have been added to the plan. The proposed Third Order Chapel fronted onto Church Street and was designed ‘to accommodate 300 persons’. The plan also contains a note indicating that ‘sixteen cells are provided on upper floors of proposed additions to convent’. The additions (bordered in red ink) also consist of an entrance hall, a large parlour and two reception rooms. See also CA CS/2/6/2/1.
