1959 – The Building Centre, Baggot Street, Dublin

The original Building Centre in London was established in 1931 by Frank Yerbury (1885-1970) as a hub for the built environment, providing a platform for the exchange and development of knowledge. Originally started life as a building materials bureau at the Architectural Association in 1931 but moved to its own home in 1932. “The basis of the Centre must always be an Exhibition of Materials, and the policy should be that only such things are shown are of value to the building industry and the public” – Frank Yerbury, 1937

By 1961 the Building Centre had gone global with the International Congress of Building Centres to which over 60 Centres belonged, including Dublin’s on Baggot Street. Michael Scott was the co-founder and chairman from 1958-77 and knew Yerbury from his lectures to the AAI in the 1930s. The opening, by Sean Lemass, was on 1 July 1959, and was attended by Yerbury.

According to Shane O’Toole, “It seems the idea was to get materials manufacturers to create physical exhibits of their architectural materials (for a fee) and for the income to facilitate exhibitions and the likes that would draw architects in (when they would also see the material exhibits). Scott pitched it to Government as a keyway for the Irish construction industry to be kept abreast of the latest technological developments coming out of Britain and Europe. Lemass, as Taoiseach and former Minister for Industry & Commerce, would have been alive to that.”

There was a Le Corbusier exhibition in August 1959, probably the same one that was on display in London in early 1959. Scott attended the Vienna Congress of Building Centres in 1961. When it closed, the premises became Hackett’s, known to generations of architecture and designers as the drawing materials supplier.