3 minute read
Keynote Lecture Ballyfin Demesne Nina Campbell in conversation with Fred Krehbiel, Jim Reynolds and Colin Orchard
Ballyfin Demesne: The Restoration of an Irish Country House
Nina Campbell in conversation with Fred Krehbiel, Jim Reynolds and Colin Orchard Friday, January 31 • 11:00 am
American businessman and art collector Fred Krehbiel, along with Irish Master Gardener Jim Reynolds and English Interior Designer Colin Orchard, appear together for the first time to share the restoration odyssey of Ireland’s Ballyfin, an 1820’s Regency manor house situated on 614 acres in the Irish Midlands. Moderator Nina Campbell, world-renowned interior designer, guides the conversation among the three visionaries who dedicated a decade to the renovation of Ballyfin—a testament to Irish art and architecture. The home was built for Sir Charles Coote and remained in the family for 100 years until the owners sold the house to the Patrician Brothers who ran a much-loved school. When Mr. Krehbiel purchased the house in 2002, he and Mr. Reynolds greeted the project with enthusiasm because the “pristine state of ruin” allowed them the aesthetic authority to return the house and grounds to the original splendor of a 19th century Irish country house built for entertaining. Today Ballyfin is a five-star luxury hotel featuring 21 individually designed rooms and suites, lavish interiors decorated with Irish art and antiques, and rolling private grounds including a man-made 28-acre lake, ancient woods, follies and grottoes. Ballyfin continues its legacy of hospitality, where former pupils are now employed in the great house and greet visitors from all over the world with a warm Irish welcome.
“We have a special place for historic houses in a ruinous state. Nothing better than wandering past falling columns into dark, damp rooms with collapsing ceiling, rotting floors, broken windows yet still so magnificent and filled with stories of past glories, eccentric owners, impending disasters. These places call out to be remembered and restored to the life they once knew. BALLYFIN’s call had to be answered and we did!”
—Fred Krehbiel
Fred Krehbiel is the owner of Ballyfin, considered the most lavish Regency mansion in Ireland. Mr. Krehbiel is credited with saving one of Ireland’s most endangered great houses while highlighting the talent of Irish craftsmen whose traditional building skills were necessary to repair elaborate inlaid floors, gilding, and stucco work. Every single aspect of the house from the roof down required attention. Mr. Krehbiel’s devotion to detail included locating original Coote family portraits, china and silver.
Jim Reynolds serves as the Managing Director at Ballyfin Demesne. Mr. Reynolds is also well-known in Ireland for his personal gardens, Butterstream, which received the prestigious “two-star” rating from the Good Gardens Guide in the UK. Mr. Reynolds’ horticultural knowledge and individual talent are seen in all of his projects, and especially in the restoration of the gardens and demesne at Ballyfin. Mr. Reynolds served as Director of the Restoration at Ballyfin. A former archaeologist, Mr. Reynolds possesses immense knowledge and passion for the medieval period, social history and the origins of garden design.
Colin Orchard is a London-based interior designer particularly well-known for his adaptation of the classic country-house style. A former Colefax & Fowler designer, Mr. Orchard trained under the firm’s decorating doyenne Imogen Taylor for eight years. Soon thereafter, he created his own Chelsea-based firm in London. Rising to the modern-day challenge at Ballyfin, Mr. Orchard was tasked with researching historical colors, furniture collections, lighting plans, decorations and furnishings. With Mr. Krehbiel’s extensive collection of decorative and fine arts, as well as with carefully curated antiques sourced from England and Ireland, Mr. Orchard relaunched the Irish country house of Ballyfin into the #1 Top Resort Hotel in the UK and Ireland for 2018.
Nina Campbell is one of the world’s most respected and influential interior designers. Ms. Campbell started her design career at the age of 19 when she worked as an assistant to John Fowler at the prestigious Sybil Colefax & John Fowler Company. Her design expertise is unparalleled and her client list reads like an international ’Who’s Who’. Renowned for her contagious wit and brilliant sense of personal style, her interiors appeal to both young and old and work perfectly in both contemporary and traditional settings.
