Dr. Ellen Rowley

Research Associate

Research interests

I am a historian of twentieth-century architecture. My research has been focused on compiling the first in-depth history of Irish architecture from c.1940 to c.1970, with a particular look at the development of Dublin’s built environment during this period. It is becoming increasingly clear that this research is playing a pivotal role in terms of safeguarding our built environment against reckless redevelopment projects. With colleagues in the fields of architecture, photography and film, I have co-founded the Irish chapter of DoCoMoMo (Documentation Conservation Modern Movement) and we are working towards shifting public perception of twentieth-century architecture in Ireland. I am presently engaged in the first inventory of Dublin’s twentieth-century buildings for Dublin City Council (2011 -).

Cycling with Ellen from Paddy Cahill on Vimeo.

My approach to architectural history tries to marry the differing approaches of my two mentors - the archival and formal rigour of Dr Edward McParland (TCD) and the cultural and philosophical leanings of Dr Dalibor Vesely (Cambridge). In this way, I am interested in situating buildings in terms of the discourse of architecture arising out of the evolving scenes of architectural education, of the architectural profession, and of national social, cultural and economic conditions. I enjoy the reciprocity between architecture and cultural theory, and have evolved a series of essay-like lectures coming out of this relationship. This way of thinking through architecture has brought about collaborations with artists, film makers and galleries and curators. It has also enabled a fruitful relationship with Dublin’s two schools of architecture, at DIT and UCD, through my lecturing and contributions to design studio.

I continue my “pursuit of teaching excellence” in Trinity College (I was awarded the Provost Teaching Award in 2005/2006 for my design and delivery of “art + society”, the Art History Broad Curriculum course), through my research association with the Department of History of Art and Architecture.

Recent Publications

• Ongoing, assistant editor of and contributor to Irish Architecture 1600-2000 –which is Volume 4 of the Royal Irish Academy’s seminal publication Art and Architecture of Ireland (London: Yale University Press, 2014)
• Edit and self-publish (with Maxim Laroussi, Architecture Republic), i.e. Patterns of Thought, collection of critical writings on Irish architecture including essays by Fintan O’Toole, Seamus Heaney, Robin Walker, Maurice Craig, Roger Stalley, Tim Robinson and Catherine Marshall. My essay - “Crisis-culture and memory-making across two generations of Dublin architecture” (funded in full by Arts Council of Ireland)
• “An Introduction to the History of the Dublin Corporation Flat Block” in Charles Duggan/Colum O Riordain (eds.), Dublin Flats: Photographs of Dublin Social Housing by Willem Heeffer (Dublin: Irish Architectural Archive, Dublin City Council, 2011)
• “The Conditions of Twentieth Century Irish Architecture” in Christina Kennedy (ed.), The Moderns: The Arts in Ireland from the 1900s to the 1970s (Dublin: Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2011)
• (Peer-Reviewed) “From Dublin to Chicago and Back Again: The Influence of Americanised Modernism on Dublin Architecture 1960 – 1980” in Linda King and Elaine Sisson (eds.), Ireland, Design and Visual Culture: Negotiating Modernity 1922-1992 (Cork: Cork University Press, 2010)
• (Blind Peer-Reviewed) “A Glimpse at the Endless House. Frederick Kiesler’s Vision of an Ideal Dwelling” in Sarah Williams Goldhagen, Cor Wagenaar, Eric Mumford (editors), Positions. Journal on Modern Architecture and Urbanism (Issue 2, Summer 2010) – editorial board includes Jean-Louis Cohen, Tim Benton, Beatriz Colomina, Hilde Hynen
• (Peer-Reviewed) “Transitional Modernism: Post-war Dublin Churches and the Example of the Clonskeagh Church Competition, 1954” in Carol Taffe, Edwina Keown (editors), Irish Modernism: Origins, Contexts, Publics (London: Peter Lang, Imagining Ireland Series, 2009)
• Exhibition review of “Le Corbusier – the art of architecture” at the Barbican Centre, London in Journal of Architectural Education (Vol. 61, September 2009)
• “Admitting the Light”, book review of North by Northwest, Liam McCormick in The Furrow (Vol. 60, No.9, September 2009)
• (Peer-Reviewed) “From Mitchelstown to Michigan: Kevin Roche’s Formative Years” in Irish Journal of American Studies (ed., Philip Coleman, Summer 2009)
• “Researching a History of the Architectural Association of Ireland: Part II – Built/Critical/Absent Reactions to the AAI Lectures, 1940 – present” in Building Material, ed. Orla Murphy (Dublin: AAI Journal, Winter 2008)
• “Hotel Ballymun: Site for Reflection in the Heady Days of Regeneration” in Aisling Prior (ed.), Hotel Ballymun. Seamus Nolan (Dublin: Breaking Ground, Ballymun Regeneration Ltd., 2008), also published in Architecture Ireland (Dublin: RIAI Journal, June 2007))
• “The Architectural Association of Ireland: Champion + Protectorate of the Art-of-Irish Architecture” in Magill Magazine (May 2007)
• “Establishing the Culture of Irish Architecture: Post-War History of Architectural Association of Ireland” in Building Material, ed. Brian Ward (Dublin: AAI Journal, No. 16, Autumn 2006)
• “Façade for Conservation?” in Architecture Ireland (Dublin: RIAI Journal, March 2006)

Dr. Rowley on the TCD Research Support System

Contact Details

Email: rowleye@tcd.ie