THE BOOKSHELF
COFFEE HOUSE
FORMERLY CORK LIBRARY
Pembroke Street/South Mall, Cork
One of the assignments for student Leo McMahon during the Cultural and Heritage Studies course at Colaiste Stiofáin Náofa, Tramore Road, Cork in 2015-2016 was an urban archaeological trail and survey in the streets of Cork. One of the buildings which caught his eye was one at the junction of South Mall and 12, Pembroke Street known to many as the old Cork Library.
Since 2010, it is home to and most appropriately named The Bookshelf Coffee House run by Paul O'Carroll, being in former times, The Cork Library and after that a boutique and the offices of the late solicitor and former Lord Mayor Gerald Goldberg.
It is a terraced two-bay, four-storey Georgian house dating from around 1800 with a parapet wall over the ground floor façade and retains most original external features including timber sash sliding windows. The architect was Thomas Deane who also designed the nearby Imperial Hotel and other fine buildings in Cork and beyond. What really caught my eye (and subject of a question in the trail) was the very stylish entrance door in limestone grey on Pembroke Street featuring a pair of owls sculpted at each side in wood. There is also a doorway in the classical style on South Mall.
Research led me to www.buildingsofireland.ie which states that the doorway dating from around 1900 has fluted Doric pilasters and entablature surmounted by niches containing owl figures. The year of the library's establishment, 1792 is garlanded by a wreath. I looked up the definition of 'pilaster' and 'entablature'.
A pilaster is an architectural element in classical architecture used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function.
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals.
But what about the owls? I discovered that owls were the sacred bird to Minerva, the goddess of learning, which of course, was most appropriate given the fact it served for many decades as a library.
In 2005, when the Munster capital was European Capital of Culture, Cork City Council published 'A Grand Parade - Memories of Cork City Libraries 1855- 2005', written by John Mullins and Liam Ronayne.
It states that the emergence of a wealthy merchant class was reflected in the growth of cultural bodies such as the Royal Cork Institution (1803), the Cork Literary and Scientific Society (1820) and Cork Cuvierian Society (1835). Book shops and libraries also came into existence during this period.
In 1792, local intellectuals founded the Cork Library Society and the sign and date can be seen over the door in Pembroke Street which is in the classical design. Cork Library was open for five hours daily, six days a week and stocked a range of books, periodicals and newspapers on serious topics such as art, the ancient history, the classics, science and theology, for the promotion of knowledge. General access was limited by the high subscription rates (one guinea) and was therefore of real benefit to only the socially and educationally advantaged.
However, Roger Herlihy in his book 'A Walk through the South Parish - Where Cork Began', states that the Cork Library actually began in a rented premises in St Patrick Street following an advertisement the Hibernian Chronicle in 1792 seeking subscriptions and donations of books. It then relocated to Cook Street and eventually to Pembroke Street in 1819. In May 1872, a man was killed in the course of re-modelling work on the exterior of the building. Daniel Connell from Friars' Walk, was lowering timber from the top with a pulley when the rope he was using slipped from his grasp and the timber fell and struck him on the head. He died shortly after. Membership declined towards the end of the 19th century most noticeably when a public library service was established by Cork Corporation, in the centenary year of the Cork Subscription Library. However, it wasn't until December 1940, with a membership of only 142, that the Society, under the presidency of J.J. Horgan decided to close the library. The remaining volumes, which once numbered 20,000, were auctioned off in order to pay off debts.
