100 Buildings - Tuite's of Oldcastle and the architectural wonders of the roadside garage

Tuite’s garage in Oldcastle, County Meath reminds us of the influence automobiles exerted on twentieth-century Irish architecture.

They reoriented many urban centres around road infrastucture and enabled the suburban spread of cities, but they also produced a new architectural type: the roadside garage.

The car arrives

The first motor car was imported into Ireland back in 1896. The first garage, or 'motor works’, opened in 1900 on Catherine Street in Waterford. Henry Ford opened an assembly plant in Cork in 1917, initially for tractor manufacture but by 1921 it was producing cars.

In 1933, Seán Lemass, then Minister for Industry and Commerce, created a tax concession to companies who in assembling cars, signalling the start of light manufacturing in Ireland.

The story of Tuite’s

Tuite’s garage has stood on Cavan Street, in the town of Oldcastle in County Meath, since 1937 when it was opened by the young mechanic Patrick Tuite. The Tuite family already owned the tanyard next to the Smithy outside the town across from Oldcastle train station (closed in 1963). Tuite opted for the most modern design for his new garage.

What remains today is a simple, single-storey rendered building decorated with pilasters. Pyramidal capstones flank two openings for entry and egress of vehicles. A pediment and parapet hide the pitched roof. The front façade is painted white with an upper stringcourse painted in black and painted red bands at the sill level of the pilasters. The faint traces of the name PATRICK TUITE can be seen on the pediment behind replacement lettering of ‘Tuite’s’ in a rather inappropriate neo-Gothic style. Thankfully, the characterful original steel pivot windows are still in situ along with the timber-battened doors.

The pair of petrol pumps outside were added later, after the garage opened. The garage has, of course, been adapted and extended over time to accommodate larger vehicles and machinery, but many original features remain. Stepping inside the garage is like stepping back in time with the same painted timber cladded walls and exposed painted red steel beams on the ceiling. The internal timber office with hatch window is still intact and the three large steel windows and side windows flooding the garage with daylight.

The building design has been attributed locally to architect Michael Grace (c.1870s – mid 1950s), who was based in Oldcastle and was engineer to several rural district councils in County Meath from 1908, as well as running his own private practice until the fifties. However, this is yet to be confirmed and the garage is missing from the comprehensive list of works on the Irish Architectural Archive’s Dictionary of Irish Architects excellent database.

Forging ahead

When Patrick’s son, John, took over the garage, he purchased a nineteenth-century version of the automobile garage – a former smithy’s forge beside Tuite’s, which he refurbished as as an office. The forge, built in 1864, contains the typical horseshoe-shaped gable opening with rock-faced voussoirs.

The architectural and social value of Tuite’s Garage has been recognised by Meath County Council who have placed it on their Record of Protected Structures (RPS ref. 90271). However, Tuite’s provides a view that is fast disappearing throughout Ireland as small-scale garages and the mechanics who work there are replaced by generic multi-national forecourts.

Read more enries in the 100 Buildings series here.