In 1919, Albert Power produced decorative stone carving for the Royal Bank of Ireland on O’Connell Street, Dublin — part of the wave of substantial commercial building work along Dublin’s main thoroughfare in the years following the 1916 Rising, which had left much of Sackville Street (as O’Connell Street was then still known by many) in ruins.
Power’s contribution included a Medusa head set within garlands, lion heads, and carved animal heads positioned atop the building’s columns — decorative classical motifs typical of the grand commercial architecture being built in the rebuilding of central Dublin during this period. This commission sits alongside Power’s work on the nearby Munster & Leinster Bank (1917) and his later work on the Gresham Hotel (1926), forming a substantial body of his decorative architectural carving concentrated on O’Connell Street.