Search Results for 'Flahertys Pub'

Augustus John was one of the great painters of the last century. He knew and painted many of the most famous people of his time, including prominent figures of the Irish Literary Revival such as Yeats, Seán O’Casey, and George Bernard Shaw.

Around the year 1890, this four storey building at the top of Prospect Hill was derelict. It was bought by the Sisters of Mercy and used by them as a ‘House of Mercy’, a training centre for girls. The nuns called it St Patrick’s House but their scheme failed due to lack of finance and staffing problems, so they let the building out on rent.

The tall building in the centre of our picture of New Docks Road taken in 1903 was known as “Gas Tank” Flaherty’s pub. We presume he got his nickname because of the gasworks across the street. It was here that the distinguished English painter Augustus John lived for several weeks in 1914. He did a lot of painting and drawing around the city and especially the docks area, but when the World War I started, he began to worry that the locals would regard him as an English spy, so he went back to England.