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#12 Meet the Chair-men

Students sat at the chrome-and-leatherette desks in the Berkeley may be interested to know that these are original features, built at the Ardee Chair Factory in 1967 and then assembled on site, as the library began operations.

Last week we were delighted to welcome two of the craftsmen responsible for the construction and installation of the desks.

Image: Greg Sheaf

Patrick (Patsy) Gray (L) and Austin Nevin (R) are now in their late 70s and early 80s respectively, but gamely took the coach down from Co. Louth to join us for a tour and had many a tale to tell about the construction and fit-out of the New Library as-was. For example, a 24-foot girder to tie the desks together had to be installed. Unfortunately, the library was predominantly finished by the time it came to mount it; the site foreman from G & T Crampton, whose family knew Patsy’s family, was persuaded to have one of the windows removed so it could be installed.

The Berkeley Library in 1976, showing desks and chairs by the Ardee Chair Factory. Image: Tony Cains for the Library of Trinity College Dublin

Patsy presented us with one of the tools used to tighten the bolts that hold the desks together:

Image: Greg Sheaf

This was made from scratch by Patsy.  Such a tool was needed as, once the parts had been chromed, using pliers or the like to tighten the circular bolt-heads would leave marks. The tiny protuberances fit into a hole in the bolt-head to enable it to be turned.

Here it is in operation:

Image: Greg Sheaf

The amount of craftsmanship and detail involved in making each desk was stunning. If you look at the photo above, the curves were added by machining extra steel gussets and welding them to the straight frame. They were then sanded to remove burrs and weld marks, before being chromed. The quality of the finish means these desks look brand new, rather than half-a-century old. We suspect they will continue to look as good for years to come.

Main image: Architectural Press Archive/RIBA Collections.