1965 – Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, Galway

The last large Roman Catholic cathedral to be built in Ireland, and quite possibly the oddest in design. In 1949 the planning of a Cathedral on the old Galway jail site was entrusted to Mr. John J. Robinson a prominent Irish architect. A period of planning took place when every aspect of design, construction and materials was carefully studied; sketches and models were made and the final plan gradually worked out. This took some years but was completed in 1954, when letters appeared in the local Press urging that the Cathedral should be built in Eyre Square. Many people thought the Jail site too remote from the centre of the city and felt that Eyre Square provided a better more prominent placement. Eventually, it was decided not to seek acquisition of Eyre Square, but to proceed with the Jail site.

Construction began in February 1958, and it was consecrated in 1965 just months after the death of its architect. With Spanish overtones, and constructed in limestone, the cathedral is a weird stylistic amalgam of Romanesque with Renaissance influences.