KOUGH, Patrick (c. 1786-1863) was born in Wexford, Ireland and came to Newfoundland before 1810. He learned the carpentry trade and became a building contractor, and it was in this capacity that he was called upon to erect (and likely to design) the Court House & Jail at Harbour Grace, Nfld., 1830-31. In 1834 he was appointed Superintendent of Public Buildings in Newfoundland, a position which brought him much government work and yet the job was structured in a manner that permitted him to undertake private commissions such as St Thomas Anglican Church, Military Road, St. John's, 1835-36. He supervised (and may have designed) an addition to the Benevolent Irish Society Orphan Asylum, St. John's in 1841, and was later commissioned to oversee the reconstruction of the school adjacent to this Asylum in 1857. In 1850 he acted as 'Directing Superintendent', in collaboration with the builder James Purcell, for the Convent of the Sisters of the Presentation, Cathedral Square, St. John's. Kough later prepared the plans for the intended New Prison and Keeper's Apartments in St. John's in 1858, but it is uncertain if this austere three storey stone block was ever built.
Kough was active in colonial politics and held seats in the House of Assembly from 1833-36 and in the Legislative Council from 1860 until his death on 9 November 1863 (obituary in the St. John's Times, 11 Nov. 1863, 3; with Letter to the Editor regarding his death, 18 Nov. 1863, 3; obituary in the St. John's Courier, 11 Nov. 1863, 2; biography in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, ix, 1976, 435-6; Shane O'Dea, The Domestic Architecture of Old St. John's, 1974, 13-15)
HARBOUR GRACE, NFLD., Court House & Jail, 1830-31 (M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 23-4, illus.; H. Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 102, illus. & descrip.)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., St Thomas Anglican Church, Military Road, 1835-36 (Newfoundland Quarterly, xxxvi, Oct. 1936, 32, illus.)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., major addition to the Benevolent Irish Society Orphan Asylum, 1841, a project supervised by Kough, and perhaps designed by him.
(with James Purcell) ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., Roman Catholic Convent of the Sisters of the Presentation, Cathedral Square, 1850 (Patriot & Terra Nova Herald [St. John's], 31 Aug. 1850, 3; The Monitor [St. John's], 6 Oct. 1934, 4)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., New Prison and Keeper's Apartments, 1858 (PANL, original architectural drawings signed by Kough and dated January 1858)