Sources of Information for these pages
The renovation of CTK Turners Cross has prompted a renewed
interest in the building, its history and architect. With the
advent of the Internet, it is now possible to extensively search
for information on Barry Byrne and his many buildings and
churches. We sincerely hope that this site will stand as a
tribute to a gifted architect.
Fortunately, many US parishes tend to have web sites and our
intense Internet searches on everything from Alta-Vista to Yahoo,
uncovered a lot of information. This included an on-line used
book store www.bibliofind.com where we sourced a copy of
"The Architecture of Barry Byrne and John Lloyd Wright". This
book featured in a 1982 exhibition of the work of both
architects, each a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The author of
the Barry Byrne section, Sally Chappell, wrote an in-depth dissertation
on Byrnes work in 1968. Sally is an expert on his work and was
fortunate to interview the man shortly before he was tragically
killed in a traffic accident. www.umi.com was used as a source for a
copy of her dissertation and it proved to be an excellent and in
depth source of information on his designs.
Specific to the Cork church, the Cork County Library Archive
was extremely helpful in providing transcripts of the original
Cork Examiner articles, detailing the opening of the Turners
Cross church in 1931. Also sourced from the archives was a 1981
Jubilee article from the Fold, a popular Catholic publication in
the Cork region.
The Chicago Historical Society Research Centre,
today holds many of Byrnes original drawings and photos. In
February 2001, we were holidaying in Chicago and arranged to view
some of these items. Among them were photographs of a clay model
for the Church of Christ the King, Turner's Cross. This was the
first design for a brick and wood construction, abandoned for its
cost. Other material included the original floor plans and
various revisions that resulted in the church we see today. It is
amazing to see the church as nothing more than a building site
with an old surrounding brick wall and old-style scaffolding
being erected. Also included in these images were photos taken in
the late 30's, 40's and 50's. As these were mostly the property
of Barry Byrne with many stamped with names of Cork & Dublin
photographers, It is likely that Byrne commissioned these as part
of his ongoing interest in the church.
All material on Barry Byrne is heavily copyrighted by CHS and
cannot be reproduced without paying royalty fees. The viewing of
the material is however free of charge and may be organised by
advance appointment. The society mailed me a copy of the
works-list they have on Byrne and we used that as a means of
arranging a viewing. All material is coded according to Job
references and these are used by the archivers when locating
items.
Consequently, all images of Barry Byrnes churches and
buildings, shown on this site were found either elsewhere on
Internet sites or were kindly donated by residents of the various
cities where his buildings stand. Usenet (Internet News Groups)
proved an excellent and effective tool in contacting individuals
in the various regions to request digital images. To date, only
six of his nine churches (CTK Turners Cross, St. Thomas the
Apostle Chicago, St. Patrick's Racine, Christ the King Tulsa, St.
Francis Xavier Kansas City and St. Columba St. Paul) have been
extensively photographed. Small images have been obtained for
some of the other churches. In the case of the elusive St.
Michaels Cedarville NJ., the Dioceses of Camden confirmed that
the comission never took place, despite being documented as a
built church.
On the building front, we have obtained images for only two of
his buildings, JT. Kenna Apartments and Immaculata High School.
There are many more buildings out there and several smaller
chapels and seminaries that Byrne designed, so the project is by
no means complete and will continue into the future.
John Storrs is also featured on this site for his major design
contribution in the figure of Christ. Noel Frackmans book "John
Storrs", was an excellent source of information on the artist,
his work and his tragic life after spending two world wars in
Europe.
Archiseek
Art critic Shane O'Toole, who writes for The Sunday Times has
recently published his 2002 article "Faith restored in Barry
Byrne's vision" on Archiseek