Honan Chapel - Patronage and Foundation

Patronage and Foundation

The chapel was consecrated on 5 November 1916. Although the chapel is dedicated to Cork's patron Finbarr, its name commemorates the chapel's benefactors, wealthy Cork merchants, the Honan family. When Isabella Honan died in 1913, the executor of her will, Rev. Sir John O´Connell, allocated £40,000 of the Honan estate to then Queen's College, now University College, Cork. Under the foundation charter of Queen's College Cork (1845) the college is non-denominational. As it had no place of worship, some of the money from the Honan estate was used to build a chapel to serve Roman Catholic students.

The foundation stone of the Honan Chapel was laid on 18 May 1915. The architectural style of the chapel cites the Hiberno-Romanesque tradition of the Middle Ages. The Chapel is most similar to the 12th century church of St. Cronan in Roscrea, County Tipperary, while its bell-tower on the north wall is inspired by round towers of monastic settlements so common in Ireland from the 9th century onwards.

Built by John Sisk & Son, it illustrates the role played by the Dublin schools in helping to renew Cork craftsmanship in the first decades of the twentieth-century. Rev. Sir John Robert O’Connell, educated by the Jesuits at Belvedere College, Dublin, was a driving force in its construction. The Irish Jesuits educated a number of the leading patrons of the Irish Arts & Crafts movement. Thomas Bodkin had attended Belvedere College and Clongowes Wood. He became Director of the National Gallery, Dublin (1927–35). One of the movement's internationally best-known craftsmen, Harry Clarke, a stained glass artist and book illustrator, was educated at Belvedere College. O'Connell worked closely with the president of University College Cork, Sir Bertram Allan Coghill Windle (1858–1929), to achieve his goals. The chapel and its liturgical collection are products of the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement (1894–1925). This accounts for the overall unity of style. It was envisaged that the chapel would serve the needs of college students residing in the nearby Honan Hostel (1914–1991).

John Robert O’Connell commissioned the Cork firm of Egan & Sons for work on the altar plate and vestments. Craftswomen played a significant role in the Irish Arts & Crafts movement. The names of seamstresses from the Egan workshop, formerly in 32 Patrick St. Cork, are inscribed in the lining of the Cloth of Gold. These items are a testament to the significant role played by women in the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement. These fragile items are currently in storage and in need of conservation. Students from the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, which became the Crawford College of Art & Design, were involved in the exterior carvings. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid on 18 May 1915. James Finbarre McMullen was the architect and John Sisk was the builder. Both were Cork firms. McMullen had a high profile in the city. He had been High Sheriff for the City of Cork in 1907-08. Significant works by McMullen in Cork city include: Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, Western Rd. (1897); conservation of the Firkin Crane, built in 1855 in the Shandon district of the city (1900); St. Finbarre’s West Total Abstinence Club, Bandon Road. (1900), formerly known as "Lough Rovers" and now as the "Spires" apartment complex and the remodeling Holy Trinity Church, Fr. Mathew Quay (1906–08). In 1996 Sisk & Sons worked as contractors on the O'Rahilly Building project. This complex was built on the site of the former Honan Hostel (1914–91).

The Honan Chapel is internationally regarded as representing the best artwork of the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement (1894–1925). However, socially, the commission was also significant because the project generated much needed work in Cork during the First World War (1914–18). The project fostered the revival of silver and textile craft working, once central to the Cork economy, and supported local firms, through patronage, such as the builders John Sisk & Son. Today Sisk is a construction firm of national importance. Egan’s of Patrick Street continued making liturgical altar plate and textiles until it ceased trading in 1986. As a central figure behind the Honan commission, Rev. Sir John Robert O’Connell was a catalyst in Irish cultural life at the turn of the twentieth century. His collaboration with Sir Bertram Windle between 1914-17 greatly assisted the physical expansion of University College Cork and the revival of craft industry in Cork.