Design Jones and Kelly Architects, Dublin were the winning design ahead of 12 other entries. Their Architectural partnership was formed between Alfred Edwin Jones and Stephen Stanislaus Kelly in 1919. In 1920 they won the competition for Ballymena Town Hall. The partnership lasted until Kelly's death in 1951. Jones & Kelly had a large and varied practice. Their work was primarily ecclesiastical and educational but also included public housing, cinemas, theatres, commercial and industrial buildings. They carried on the traditional apprenticeship system until the 1940s, and well over a hundred pupils were indentured to the firm in the period up to and including the Second World War. The building is designed on classic lines to harmonise with the examples of 18th and 19th Century architecture and other modern buildings, that so richly endow Cork City. The building design consists of 3 sections, with 2 wings comprising the Municipal Offices, and an Assembly Hall in Between. An imposing and dignified structure, with a long main front dominating the river, immediately attracts attention by reason of the excellence of its proportion and the simplicity of its treatment. The facades are of dressed limestone from the Little Island quarries.
The main entrance to City Hall is through a marble paved vestibule to the main staircase hall, the stairs are of polished marble and the balustrading of ornamental hammered wrought iron.
The Council Chamber is approached through a lobby and is lofty and spacious, and is naturally lighted from an ornamental dome. Galleries are provided for distinguished visitors and the public.
The assembly hall can seat over 2,000 persons.
Various design drawings created by Jones and Kelly Architects, 1923-1932
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