The Church of St. Catherine situated on Meath Street in the Liberties, was designed by J J McCarthy, recognised as the leading architect in Ireland of the Gothic Revival. Constructed in 1859 the church contains high quality stained glass, a rare Irish made organ and some excellent stone carving, much of it from the arts and crafts period in the 1920s. A serious fire, caused extensive damage to the interior of the church and in particular the stained glass windows, organ and joinery elements. We led a large design team of consultants and specialist conservators to fully restore and where possible improve the fire damaged church.
There were three distinct phases – clean, sweep and salvage; trial repairs and enabling works; full restoration of the building including separate contracts for stained glass, organ and furniture restoration. During the restoration a number of unsatisfactory interventions were reversed or redesigned to improve the interior design of the main spaces. Original stone and tiled finishes, were uncovered, and the chancel area completely redesigned with new stone flooring, new limestone sanctuary furniture including altar and pulpit to a contemporary design, new shrines were created and a sophisticated new lighting scheme designed, with thirty different atmospheres to enliven the magnificent interiors. We provided full interior design services including- new oak parquet floors, re-framing of the stations of the cross, reordering of the Pieta shrine, all colour schemes and soft furnishings.
During the restoration a number of unsatisfactory interventions were reversed or redesigned to improve the interior design of the main spaces
