Thomas Joseph Byrne

Thomas Joseph Byrne (15 November 1876 – 27 January 1939) was an English architect, and was principal architect to the Office of Public Works in Ireland who oversaw the restoration of a large number of public buildings in Dublin following the Easter Rising, the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.

Both of their sons, Niall C. and T. Brendan, became engineers, and his daughter, Ethna, was a lecturer in Romance languages at University College Cork.

Having passed his examinations,[4] he went on to become an assistant architect with the London county council, designing hostel accommodation, fire stations, and Rowton houses.

In this position he championed high standards in public housing in developments in areas including Chapelizod, Kilmainham, Rathfarnham, and Tallaght.

He was nominated by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) around 1918 as one of their three assessors for an architectural competition for housing schemes funded by the government.

[1][2] Byrne oversaw the restoration of a large number of public buildings in Dublin that had been badly damaged during the period from 1916 to 1923.

When the Office of Public Works was given the task of building an airport outside Dublin, Byrne was in charge of selecting an architect, ultimately choosing Desmond FitzGerald and his team in 1936.