Survey Data
Reg No
20866155
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1925 - 1930
Coordinates
166371, 71508
Date Recorded
19/04/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Single-arch bridge over river, designed 1927; built 1928-9. Reinforced concrete walls between wrought iron lamp standard-topped rendered panelled piers with stepped dwarf parapets supporting wrought iron railings. Single reinforced concrete segmental arch with arcaded spandrels. Set in grounds shared with University College Cork spanning River Lee (South Channel) with uncoursed cut-limestone retaining walls to embankments having chamfered coping.
Appraisal
A bridge representing an important component of the early twentieth-century civil engineering heritage of Cork. The bridge, recently named Alumni Bridge (2019), forms part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent lodge (see 20866154) and nearby gateway (see 20866156) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement at a park-like entrance on to the grounds of University College Cork. NOTE: The bridge is the third bridge crossing this point of the River Lee: the first, a bridge of Oregan pine, was built (1879) during the presidency of William Kirby Sullivan (1822-90) but, requiring regular maintenance and repainting, was eventually assessed as beyond repair (1910); the second, a ferro-concrete bridge built (1911) to designs by James Hardress de Warenne Waller (1884-1968), was short-lived and was destroyed during a storm (17th-18th November 1916). The present bridge was designed by O'Flynn and O'Connor of South Mall and features iron work by John Buckley and Sons of Half Moon Street (Cork Examiner 21st October 1929, 4).