PROGRAMME. Civic Exhibition, Linenhall Buildings, Dublin. July 15th-August 31st, 1914. Official Daily Programme for Thursday, 6th August, 1915. Price 1d.

Dublin: Printed by Dollard and Published Kenny Publishing, 1914. pp. 20. Printed faded pink stapled wrappers. A very good copy.
No copy located on COPAC. Not in NLI.
On July 15, 1914, the doors of Dublin’s former Linen Hall on King’s Inn Street opened its doors to The Civic Exhibition, an exposition of town planning, an exploration of urban and rural life, and a study into industry and commerce. As well as exhibiting art, archaeological and historical artefacts, and running a town planning competition, it showcased local crafts and cultures: there were competitions in butter-churning and tea dancing; lectures from eminent town planners and businessmen, including Selfridges founder Gordon Selfridge. A central component was the Civic Institute of Ireland’s competition to draw up a comprehensive new town plan for Dublin. An all-encompassing civic showcase posing Dublin as a ‘Phoenix of Cities’, rising from its political and social strife, it was declared by The Irish Times as ‘one of the most important enterprises in modern Irish history’. In social and political history, it was overshadowed. Little over two weeks before opening, Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand was shot driving through Sarajevo; mid-way through the Civic Exhibition’s run, Europe was plunged into all-consuming war. The Civic Exhibition and its utopian visions of town planning would be rapidly swept away by the cataclysms of history.
Programme: The Gaiety Orchestra under the direction of W.S. Nabarro played in the Tea Gardens; The Band of the Royal West Kent Regiment played in the afternoons; The Artane Band in the Evening; Mr. Clarke Barry’s Band played in the Ballroom, etc

[CH 4]