The old firemen’s hut near the statue of Father Matthew in St Patrick’s Street, Cork (later the CIE hut), photographed around 1905.
Out of sight and left to rot for more than 20 years, a precious piece of Cork’s history and heritage has been restored to its former glory and will one day be a defining feature of the city’s streetscape.
Having borne witness to life on Cork’s main thoroughfare for over a century, surviving wars, floods, and fires, the 120-year-old ‘fireman’s rest’ was in a sad and sorry state after two decades ‘in storage’ in a council yard following its removal in 2002 for the St Patrick’s St revamp.
But thanks to field paintings by historians, retired bus drivers and firefighters, Cork City Council took advantage of the centenary commemorations and a small army of professional craftsmen to embark on the meticulous and faithful restoration of the little green cottage.
It has now been set up outside the city’s fire brigade headquarters on Anglesea St, where it will begin a new life next year as an interpretation centre, helping to tell the story of Cork City’s firefighters and in particular their heroic reaction to the Cork Fire through Crown forces in December 1920.
The remainder was then used exclusively through the CIE from 1931 to 2002, as a rest area for bus drivers and conductors, serving as a dining hall, visitor service desk, and unofficial lost and found office.
To the next generation it was known as the “smugglers’ hut”.
During his research, Poland discovered a connection between The Fireman’s Rest and The King of Siam, whose story animated Margaret Landon’s 1944 novel, Anna and the King of Siam, on which Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1956 musical The King and I, starring Yul Brenner and Deborah Kerr, was released.
McFarlane, who built the rest, created the exquisite blacksmithing of King Mongkut’s Grand Palace. The King’s grandson, motorsport legend Prince Bira, took second place in the 1938 Cork Grand Prix motor race at the wheel of a Maserati in a 6-mile, 30-lap two-lap circuit around Carrigrohane in April 1938.
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