RTÉ Culture's 100 Buildings series has inspired a new book exploring modern architecture across Ireland.
This Modern Love: Architectural Gems of 20th Century Ireland, by architectural historian Emma Gilleece, will be published by New Island Books on 23 October.
The book draws on Gilleece’s popular series for RTÉ Culture, which examines significant buildings and structures nationwide, dating largely from the early to mid-20th century.
The series has featured a range of building types, including schools, hospitals, government offices, factories, churches and transport buildings.
Buildings examined include the original terminal at Dublin Airport, the Poolbeg Chimneys in Dublin, the former Kildare Fever Hospital in Naas, the Padmore and Barnes boot factory in Kilkenny and the original CIÉ bus station in Clonmel.
More recent entries have included the Cork Distillers Bottling Plant on North Mall in Cork, the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment on Kildare Street in Dublin and a Modernist vocational school building in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.
Gilleece’s articles have also examined the influence of social change and government policy on Irish architecture.
An article on the former fever hospital in Naas looked at the State’s hospital-building programme of the 1930s, while the piece on the Padmore and Barnes factory explored the Irish Free State’s drive for industrial development and self-sufficiency. The original Dublin Airport terminal, completed in 1940, was examined in the context of the development of civil aviation in Ireland.
This Modern Love takes its title from the architectural character running through the series, examining how Irish architects and clients adopted international Modernist ideas while forging their own architectural voice, shaping the first century of a new Republic.
This Modern Love: Architectural Gems of 20th Century Ireland, is published by New Island Books on 23 October 2026 - read selections from the 100 Buildings series here.
