Desmond FitzGerald

Desmond FitzGerald (5 November 1911 – 14 January 1987) was an Irish architect. His most notable work is the original Dublin Airport terminal building.

Early life and family Desmond FitzGerald was born in Saint-Jean-du-Doigt, Brittany, France on 5 November 1911. His parents were Mabel (née McConnell) and politician and writer, Desmond FitzGerald. He was the eldest of four brothers, Pierce (1914–1986), Fergus (1920–1983) and Garret (1926–2011). The family moved often once they returned to Ireland, resulting in FitzGerald attending numerous primary schools such as Scoil Bhríghde and Fr John Sweetman's school in Wexford. He later attended Clongowes Wood College and Belvedere College, and Collège Cantonal Saint-Michel at Fribourg and the Collegio Don Bosco, Maroggia in Switzerland. There he became proficient in Italian and French. In October 1930, he entered University College Dublin (UCD) to study architecture.

In July 1938, he married Kay Gore-Grimes. They had three children, Catherine, Desmond and Caroline. From 1945, the family lived at St Declan's, Killiney, County Dublin. In accessing the building in relation to FitzGerald's later work, it is widely accepted that the design was not solely or mostly his, but the design of his team.

He was appointed president of the Architects Association of Ireland, and established his own architectural practice on Merrion Square, Dublin. From there, he designed the Moyne Institute, Trinity College Dublin in 1953, a compromise of modernism and traditionalism. Known for his cost control and business acumen, he was the designer of a large number of office and residential developments throughout the 1950s and 1960s. original terminal one building (1940) O'Connell Bridge House (1965) D'Olier House (c. 1970) St Ann's, a block of luxury apartments, Donnybrook Dublin Corporation flats on Dominick Street Headquarters of Cement Ltd, corner of Pembroke Street and Fitzwilliam Square EEC commission's Dublin office on Molesworth Street (since redeveloped) Former Department of Justice building, St Stephen's Green Moyne Institute, Trinity College Dublin (1953)