The publication of of the programme Action on Architecture last April represented for Rachel MacRory the culmination of seven years intense focus within the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands on developing a Government policy on architecture.
Rachel MacRory, who died on June 29th aged 35, was born in Waterford on February 20th, 1967, to Paddy, a retired engineer, and Elizabeth (née Flynn), a former management consultant, MacRory. She was educated at St Louis Convent, Rathmines, Dublin and Rathdown School, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
In 1990, she was awarded an honours degree (history of art and German) at Trinity College Dublin. After her degree she spent a year on a non-degree post-graduate scholarship at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
In 1993, she returned to the School of Architecture UCD, (where she had studied before going to Trinity), to register for a masters degree in urban and building conservation. Her entrance paper - a study of the Museum (Engineering) Building at Trinity - has not been bettered. Her thesis for her degree in 1994, The Evolution of Policy for the Conservation of Historic Monuments in Ireland, documented developments in the 19th century, and examined them in the light of the present, to establish how current thinking had been flavoured by what had gone before.
In 1994, she joined the newly-formed Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, later to become the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, and was assigned to the new heritage policy unit.
Over the next two years she played the pivotal role in the writing and publication of two significant documents, Strengthening the Protection of the Architectural Heritage and Developing a Government Policy on Architecture. The former was published in 1996 and put forward a series of recommendations for legislative and an administrative framework for the preservation of Ireland's architectural heritage. The recommendations were the basis for the legislative and funding measures taken in recent years for protection of architectural heritage, including the putting of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage on a statutory footing, the enactment of new planning legislation in 1999 requiring the establishment by each local authority of a Record of Protected Structures, the creation of Conservation Officer posts in local authorities, the expansion of the Dúchas advisory service on architectural protection and the issuing of guidelines on protection of architectural heritage. Developing a Government policy on architecture was based on the results of a working group convened by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland at the request of the Minister for Arts.
Throughout her years with the Department Rachel MacRory established a network of contacts and dialogue with her counterparts in all of the other European countries and became an enthusiastic participant in the European Forum on Architectural Policies. The presentation of Ireland's Action on Architecture at the forum meeting in Helsinki last May gave her a deep sense of satisfaction particularly as the publication was applauded, not just for its content but also for its design and presentation quality.
Within the heritage policy unit she also participated in other aspects of its work, including the review of the National Monuments Acts and the development of the National Heritage plan. Even where issues and projects were not directly related to her area she was always willing to advise and encourage others.
Rachel MacRory was closely associated with and a good friend to the Irish Architectural Archive. Her connection began informally, as a researcher in the reading-room. Her commitment grew as she assisted with several Archive publications, in particular Daniel Grose: The Antiquities of Ireland (Roger Stalley ed., Dublin, 1991). As a member of the Archive's board of directors, on which she served continuously from 1994 (from 2000 as a nominee of the Minister for Arts) she was deeply involved in the planning for the Archive's next move, its proposed relocation to state-of-the-art facilities at 45 Merrion Square. This project, and the Archive generally, benefited immeasurably from her clear guidance and unstinting support.
In 1998, Rachel MacRory was elected by council of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland for honorary membership "for her promotion of the Irish Architectural Heritage through her service with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands".
Last year, she was elected president of the Irish committee of ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites). She had been an active member of this UNESCO-sponsored, conservation-focused international organisation from the time she started her masters degree. She was a central figure in the then small, but very active group. Over the years her tremendous intellectual strength, knowledge, her particular vision, boundless and inspiring capacity for work and her acute and incisive sense of the practical, all helped to shape the focus of the Irish committee over the years. She was also a member of the Cluid Housing Association, founder member of the Green Street Trust and a member of the design advisory committee to An Post.
Apart from her normal hobbies, swimming, photography, reading and drawing, Rachel MacRory was a collector of friends both adult and children alike. Her greatest dislike was unnecessary bureaucracy and pretention. Her favoured charity was the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin.
She is survived by her partner John Cahill; parents, Patrick and Elizabeth; sister Avril and brother Simon.
Rachel MacRory: born 1967; died, June 2002