Republic Of Ireland, Galway, General

Building Notes

In August 1962 Sir Basil Spence received a letter from Bord Failte Eireann, the Irish Tourist Board, which outlined their plans to sponsor a number of development schemes for tourist resorts in Ireland. Amongst these was the plan for a small recreation centre at the resort of Salthill, near the city of Galway. A limited competition was to be held for the project, which was to include a ballroom, auditorium, café and recreation grounds and which, it was hoped, would show communities in similar resorts, the standards that might be achieved by affordable, good design. Spence was asked to act as one of the assessors for the competition, which was only open to architects in practice in Ireland. However, by November 1962, the project was not yet underway with negotiations to purchase additional land adjacent to the site only just commencing. There are no further details in the Archive to say whether Spence’s obligation was met.

Archive Details and Summary

The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds one manuscript batch for this project. This consists largely of correspondence between Spence and a representative of the Irish Tourist Board. There are no photographs or drawings for the project.

This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.