Rudolf Maximilian Butler

Rudolf Maximilian Butler, RIAI, FRIBA, RSAI, RHA, RIA, (30 September 1872 – 3 February 1943) was a well-known Irish Roman Catholic ecclesiastical architectural historian, academic, journalist, and architect of Dublin active, throughout late-nineteenth-century to mid-twentieth-century Ireland.^[1] He resided and worked at 23 Kildare Street, Dublin until he designed a new residence for himself at 73, Ailesbury Road.^[2] He was brought up a Moravian and may have remained in that faith throughout his life, however, he designed all of his churches for the Roman Catholic Church, particularly for the Passionist Fathers. He was a founding member of the AAI in 1896, editor of the Irish Builder from 1899 to 1935, and professor of architecture at University College, Dublin.^[3][4]

The RM Butler Architect Collection which covers both his work and his research into James Gandon is held by the library of University College Cork.^[2]

In 1911, he married Annie Gibbons, a catholic; their son and three daughters were brought up as catholics. He died on 3 February 1943 in Dublin. His practice, R. M. Butler & Co., was continued by his son, John Geoffrey Butler, and his daughter Eleanor Butler.^[1]