Richard Barter (sculptor)

Richard Barter (circa 1824 – 5 January 1896) was an Irish sculptor and architect.

Richard Barter was born around 1824 in Macroom, County Cork. In 1844, aged about 20, Barter entered the Royal Dublin Society's School. While still a student in 1847, he won a prize from the Irish Art Union for his statuette Venus and Cupid. During this time, he became a friend of Daniel O'Connell. He moved to London for a few years, where he met and became life-long friends with John Henry Foley. He returned to Dublin briefly, but later moved back to County Cork, settling in St Ann's Hill, Blarney in 1853.^[1] He was also an architect and a musician, playing the flageolet,^[2].

In 1851, he exhibited as part of the Great Exhibition in London.^[2] He produced primarily portrait busts and small subject groups. In 1845, 1847 and 1851 he exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy, primarily miniature busts in ivory. Between 1864 and 1874 he occasionally exhibited with the Royal Academy.^[1]

Having settled at St Ann's, he became involved, early in 1856, in the building of a Turkish bath. His namesake, Dr Richard Barter, in conjunction with David Urquhart, author of The Pillars of Hercules,^[3] had been attempting to build such a bath at his hydropathic establishment there. They had been basing their design on the model of the Islamic hammam which Urquhart had described in his book, but their experimental bath failed because it was too steamy, and not hot enough for curative purposes.

At Dr Barter's request, Richard Barter travelled to Rome to study the ancient baths there.^[4] The knowledge he gained enabled the building, later in 1856, of the first successful Victorian Turkish bath—one specifically built for use by the hydro's patients and staff. In Europe, the Victorian Turkish bath is now often known as the Irish-Roman bath in honour of the two Barters.

Thereafter Richard Barter designed at least eight—possibly nine—Turkish baths for the doctor. Mrs Donovan, referring to 'Mr R Barter (artist)', wrote, 'This gentleman was, we believe, Dr Barter's only architect, and the baths all bear testimony to his architectural and artistic skill.'^[5] But the baths at Bray (1859) were an exception, being designed in conjunction with Sir John Benson; Barter was responsible only for the interior.^[6]

Victorian Turkish baths designed by Richard Barter included the first in Ireland to open for the general public, those in Grenville Place, Cork (1859),^[7] those in the grounds of the Killarney Hotel (1859),^[8][9] the pseudo-oriental-looking baths in Lincoln Place, Dublin (1860),^[10] that at Military Road (now O'Connell Avenue), Limerick (1860),^[11][9] the Donegall Street baths in Belfast (1860),^[12][9] the short-lived, externally non-oriental-looking Oriental Baths in Victoria Street, London (1862),^[13] and the doctor's final set of baths at St Ann's Hydro in 1870.^[14]

It is widely thought that Barter also designed the Turkish baths at Hardy's Road, Waterford (1861),^[15] but this has yet to be corroborated.

In 1867, Dr Barter severed his connection with the Lincoln Place establishment in Dublin and decided to build a new one in the city. He purchased the Reynolds Hotel in Upper Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), and renamed it the Dublin Hammam. Richard Barter would seem to have been in the process of supervising the construction of the new baths when Dr Barter died. His eldest son, also called Richard, inherited the hydro and decided to complete the Hammam, arranging for it to be run by a manager and a resident physician.^[16]

Richard Barter died at St Ann's on 5 January 1896, and is buried in St Finn Barr's Cemetery, Cork.^[1]

There has been much confusion over the possibility of there being a familial relationship between the architect and Dr Barter, some sources claiming he was the son, and others the nephew, of the doctor. However, Thomas Crosbie's obituary makes no mention of a family connection,^[17] and the physician's family friend Mrs Donovan, in her memoir Recollections, refers to the architect solely as 'This Gentleman'.^[5] The similarity of names is coincidental; Dr Barter's eldest son (also confusingly named Richard), although continuing to own the hydro and baths, was later knighted for his services to Agriculture, his main interest.

According to Professor Paula Murphy of UCD, contemporary critics commented that Barter would have achieved "much, much greater success if he had remained in London" rather than returning to Ireland as he did.^{[18]: 07:07}

• Bust of Daniel O'Connell (1847)^[19]
• Bust of Catherine Hayes (1851)
• Bust of Thomas Little
• Bust of Charles Stewart Parnell^[1]