THE RUSSELL MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN IN LIMERICK – THE JAFFEE FOUNTAIN IN BELFAST IS A TWIN
The Peoples Park in Limerick has a number of interesting items including an ornate drinking fountain which, according to Wikipedia, is one of only two on the island of Ireland but I do not fully agree with that claim
I have photographed three Victorian era fountains – One in Belfast (no doubt a twin of the Limerick fountain), one In Limerick and one in Dun laoghaire (which does appear to be much more ornate). There is also a possibility that the 1929 religious shrine at the junction of Reginald Street and Gray Street in Dublin started out as a similar structure.
The Richard Russell fountain, which had been overseas for many months undergoing restoration, was returned to the People’s Park in November 2009.
The fountain was originally erected in 1877 to mark the gratitude of Limerick for Richard Russell, a highly regarded employer. The official unveiling of the restored fountain, which was attended by some one hundred people, was undertaken by the mayor of Limerick, Kevin Kiely.
The restoration process, which retained the original red colour of the fountain, was carried out in Britain at a total cost of €80,000. Two plaques on the structure give due recognition to Richard Russell.
THE IRISH YEAST COMPANY IS SLOWLY FADING AWAY – 29 MARCH 2021
Yesterday I published some photographs that showed the Dublin Yeast Company as it was back in 2007 and I promised that I would revisit and photograph it as it is today, assuming that it is still intact.
The good news is that it is still there but there is no doubting the fact that it is, like an old soldier, slowly fading away.
Early in 2018 the Irish Yeast Company building was placed on the market as John Moreland, who lived above the shop for forty years, had died and as no one was interested in taking over business as a going concern.
The building at 6 College Street sold for €850,000 to Declan Doyle the owner of Doyle’s pub next door to Bowe’s Pub on Fleet Street. The plan was to knock through the wall of Bowe’s pub into the mid-18th century building and combining the site at College Street and Fleet Street.
Sorry about the quality of the photographs but they date from 2007. I plan to revisit and take some more photographs, assuming that the building is intact.
The Irish Yeast Company is a protected structure limiting what alterations can be made to the structure.
The Irish Yeast Company in College Street was established in 1890 by Henry West who was a Barrister. At the time the main mission of the Irish Yeast Company was to supply and promote the use of yeast to all bakeries in the county.
The business changed direction when it was taken over by the Moreland family in the 1940s [according to some accounts it was the 1930s rather than the 1940s]. Although it still supplied fresh yeast, its main business focus was wedding cake and icing equipment and the windows were decorated with silvered cake boards, cake ornaments, pillars, icing syringes, nozzles and forcing bags, attracting customers from all parts of Ireland.
For a period of time the window was occupied by the resident cat.
Early in 2018 the Irish Yeast Company building was placed on the market as John Moreland, who lived above the shop for forty years, had died and as no one was interested in taking over business as a going concern.
The building at 6 College Street sold for €850,000 to Declan Doyle the owner of Doyle’s pub next door to Bowe’s Pub on Fleet Street. The plan was to knock through the wall of Bowe’s pub into the mid-18th century building and combining the site at College Street and Fleet Street.
THE JAFFE MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN – NOW LOCATED OUTSIDE THE VICTORIA SHOPPING CENTRE AND BESIDE BITTLES BAR
This is a favourite of mine and believe it or not it has a twin in Limerick known as the Russell Fountain [the only real difference is that one is yellow while the other is red … I prefer yellow].
Otto Jaffe, Belfast’s first and so far only Jewish Lord Mayor, was born in Hamburg on August 13, 1846. His father, Daniel Joseph Jaffe, was a merchant, who came to Belfast to set up a linen export business in 1850.
The Jaffe Brothers were based at Bedford Street in Belfast. Jaffe was educated at Mr Tate’s school in Hollywood, Co Down and spent the decade from 1867 working in New York. He then returned to Belfast in 1877 to take over the management of the family firm.
Jaffe erected the Jaffe Memorial fountain in 1874 to commemorate his father, who had funded the building of Belfast’s first synagogue at Great Victoria Street. Originally sited in Victoria Square, the fountain was surmounted by an ornamental weather vane and was later moved to the Botanic Gardens. Another memorial to Daniel Jaffe, a tall granite obelisk erected in City Cemetery on the Falls Road, has suffered considerable vandalism.
As well as having a successful career in business, Jaffe was a prominent public figure, active in Belfast civic life. His public positions included membership of the Harbour Commission, the Senate of Queen’s College, which later became Queen’s University and the board of Governors of the Royal Hospital. Elected to the town council in 1894, he was Lord Mayor in 1899 and 1904.
Life President of the Belfast Hebrew congregation, Jaffe paid for most of the cost of the community’s new Annesley Street synagogue, near Carlisle Circus and formally opened the building in his guise as the city’s Lord Mayor.
He set up Jaffe Public Elementary School at the corner of both the Cliftonville and Antrim Roads in 1907. However, Jaffe’s philanthropy was poorly rewarded during the first world war when a group of Belfast ladies refused to support the Children’s Hospital if ‘the Germans’, Jaffe and his wife, remained on the board.
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