Frank McCourt Museum

April 12, 2016
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The Frank McCourt Museum opened in Leamy House in 2011 and depicts the early life of Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt (1930-2009) who was a pupil there. Born in New York to Irish parents, McCourt lived in Limerick from 1934 to 1949 before returning to the USA where he lived for the rest of his life.

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
― Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes

Angelas-Ashes In 1996, his memoirs of his Limerick childhood were published under the title of Angela’s Ashes and became an international best-seller, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1997.

It was made into a successful film in 1999.

The museum includes reconstructions of a 1930s classroom in Leamy’s School and the McCourt home as described in the book and contains a collection of memorabilia donated by former pupils of the school and props from the Angela’s Ashes film.

The building was erected in 1843 through the munificence of William Leamy who, before he died some years earlier, left a large sum of money in trust for the education of poor Protestant boys. Due to dwindling numbers in 1880, the school became a National School for Catholic boys and thus it continued until 1953.

Three years later, the premises were purchased by the Crescent Clothing Company which engaged in the manufacture of men’s clothing until 1993. Through the intervening years various interests rented space in Leamy House but in 2009, Limerick artist, Una Heaton opened a gallery there, commissioned a bust of the late Frank McCourt and undertook the transformation of this unique listed building into the Frank McCourt Museum.