The Chillingworth and Levie archive, which was acquired by the City Archives in 1988 with the assistance of Crawford Art Gallery, is a unique and important asset in understanding the heritage of our city. The archive, consisting of nearly 4000 architectural drawings, could easily have been lost only for the efforts of the Crawford Gallery and City Archives staff at the time. Curated by Louise Harrington, Architectural Historian, the exhibition gives the people of Cork an exciting opportunity to consider how some of our best-loved buildings were conceived and developed. The handmade drawings in the archive are a testament to the architect’s creative skills and drafting talent, with a variety of building types from cinemas, department stores, hotels, factories and houses illustrating a wealth of artistic detail. The exhibition and lecture series is being carried out with funding from the Government Policy on Architecture 2009-2015, at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Daniel Levie of Aberdeen, and Corkman, Robert Boyle Chillingworth, met at the offices of W. H. Hill & Son in 1903. They opened their own architectural firm on South Mall in 1911. Sadly, the partnership was not long-lived as Levie was left to continue on his own when Robert Boyle Chillingworth died of TB at the age of 38. John E Wilkinson joined as a partner in 1929 and it was William Macilwraith who finally wound up the company in 1994.
