1928 – Ashe Memorial Hall, Tralee, Co, Kerry

Built as local authority offices, the Ashe Memorial Hall sits at one end of Denny Street, dedicated to the memory of Thomas Ashe. The building is built of local sandstone and houses the Kerry Museum and some civic offices. After the previous building was burned by the Black and Tans in 1920 a new premises was needed. In 1923 Thomas J. Cullen was awarded the contract. He opted to take advantage of the setting which was a cul-de-sac at the time and design a building to be both imposing (on a budget) and to be seated in its parkland setting. The building opened in 1928 and contained limited residential accommodation for a caretaker, civic offices, and a theatre.

Thomas Ashe was born in County Kerry and took part in the Easter Rising of 1916, commanding the Fingal battalion of the Irish Volunteers, which during the rising captured Ashbourne, County Meath. For his involvement in the Easter Rising, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and was imprisoned in Lewes Gaol. In August 1917 he was transferred to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, where on September 25, 1917, he died on hunger strike after being force-fed by prison authorities. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.