Irish Georgian Society Review - 2018

2018

Design by Aad

The vision of the Irish Georgian Society is to conserve, protect and foster an interest and a respect for Ireland’s architectural heritage and decorative arts. www.igs.ie

In this issue Regulars

Features

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President’s Letter Sir David Davies

Our President reflects on the Society’s activities over the past year

A tribute to our friend and former colleague (1936–2017)

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City Assembly House Update Donough Cahill

Our Executive Director reports on the successful conclusion of the CAH restoration programme

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Heritage Update

An overview of the activities undertaken by the Architectural Conservation and Planning Committee Conservation Grants Scheme Ashleigh Murray

With the assistance of IGS London, a number of worthy projects received funding to maintain their structures

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Conservation Education Programme Emmeline Henderson

verview of the Society’s Conservation O Education Programme Events Round-Up Róisín Lambe

An overview of members’ events, outings, walks and talks over the past year

Irish Georgian Society 858 West Armitage Avenue Suite 286 Chicago, IL 60614 USA

T + 353 1 679 8675 E info@igs.ie

T + 1 312 961 3860 E info@irishgeorgiansociety.com

The Irish Georgian Society’s conservation programmes and activities are funded through the generous support of our members and private donors. As the Society has charitable status in Ireland

Irish Georgian Foundation: CHY 6372), the UK (Irish Georgian Trust: Chy. no. 3092084), and in the USA (Irish Georgian Society Inc.), donations are eligible for tax relief.

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Front Cover Castleboro House, Co. Wexford, John Nankivell.

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Chapter Reports Birr/Midlands Elizabeth Fogarty Cork Kevin Hurley Limerick Ailish Drake IGS London Ashleigh Murray IGS Inc. Michael G. Kerrigan

Editor Letitia Pollard Assistant Editor and Advertising Sales Zoë Coleman

Editorial Committee Donough Cahill Zoë Coleman Rose Mary Craig Letitia Pollard

Vain Transitory Splendours Kevin V. Mulligan

The Irish country house and the art of John Nankivell

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Castletown’s 50th anniversary Christopher Moore

Recalling fifty years of public access to one of Ireland's great houses

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Irish Georgian Society City Assembly House 58 South William Street Dublin 2 Ireland D02 X751

Mary Bryan: A Tribute Edward McParland

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The Early Days of the IGS Rose Mary Craig

Reminiscences of times past - and still present...

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Who are the YIGs anyway?

Zoë Coleman

Our Young Irish Georgians are the next generation of Georgian enthusiasts!

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Building the Exhibition: Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland Ruth Kenny

How our successful commemorative summer exhibition was planned

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The Small Works Grant Scheme at Newtown Pery Conor Hourigan

Historic railings and ironwork are often the casualties of neglect, not so in Limerick

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President’s letter

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Sir David Davies

City Assembly House Conservation Update

IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY REVIEW 18

Donough Cahill

This last year has been an exciting period for the Society in which we saw the completion of the City Assembly House and a major exhibition of 18th century Irish art in the building’s octagonal Knight of Glin Exhibition Room. The celebratory events in June brought together many of those who were involved and provided an opportunity to thank them for their support.

These two great achievements reflect the Society’s role as a champion of Ireland’s architectural and decorative arts heritage and were made possible through the generosity of its supporters, especially those in the United States, and through the active participation of many of its members.

The summer’s events have been followed in September and October by an exhibition of John Nankivell’s exceptional drawings of Irish country houses and the publication of an accompanying and highly informative catalogue by Kevin Mulligan. I have known John since I first acquired drawings from him at an exhibition in London in 1988 which amazingly is the last exhibition of his Irish pictures there has been. 28 years later John made contact with the Feeney family, sending them a drawing of Ledwithstown, their home in Roscommon which they have so lovingly restored. “What do I do with about 70 Irish drawings I’ve never exhibited but which I drew over 12 years at least… Sadly the Knight of Glin always wanted me to have my own exhibition…”. Lo and behold, here it is! We must thank Susan and Coley Burke for their generosity in making this happen. The Society has retained a significant portion of John’s drawings to hang as part of our collection of art in the City Assembly House.

2018 has seen the fifth consecutive year of the Society’s Conservation Grants Programme which has largely been funded through our London

chapter and this year is also receiving support from the United States.

Grants totalling €250,000 have been awarded to over forty projects with a wide range of building types benefitting from the scheme. London will continue to support the grants programme into 2019 though we need to raise a further €25,000 if funding is to remain at the same level as previous years.

Since the government introduced its Built Heritage Investment Scheme in 2016 with an initial allocation of €2million, it has provided significant support for conservation projects around the country. 2017 saw the amount awarded increase to €3.5million which was an important and most welcome commitment to our Built Heritage. Inexplicably, this year funding has been brought back to €2million which is made all the more alarming given the buoyancy of the economy. The Society made a robust submission to Government urging the reinstatement of funding at least to the 2017 levels and recommended that an overall review of the scheme to ensure consistency in its delivery. To date we have received little or no response from the Department or from the many TDs or Senators to whom we also sent the report. This just isn’t good enough!

An important initiative the government has yet to conclude is its review of Section 482 tax relief. In its submission on this review in 2017, the Society emphasised the important role tax relief plays as an incentive to protect our Built Heritage and, crucially, that it also facilitates public access. With minimal and a seemingly reducing pot of grant aid available to support conservation works, it is important that the government pledges its support for Section 482 so as to provide certainty to those who are or might in the future avail of it.

I was delighted to announce at this year’s Annual Meeting, the

appointment of Camilla McAleese as Vice President of the Irish Georgian Society. Camilla has been a trojan supporter and active member of the Society through the years as well as being a hard-working member of the board. I look forward to working together with her in championing the work of the Society.

Most recently we held our annual lunch for Patron and Benefactor members in Strancally Castle and Dromore Yard along the banks of the Blackwater River. I was glad to be able to thank those present for the additional support they kindly give every year. I am very grateful to Michael and Gianni Alen-Buckley for hosting us and would like to emphasise that this is always a s pecial occasion. Do plan to join the 8 Benefactor and 44 Patron Members we currently have and join us next year!

These last twelve months have been a period of sadness for the Society. In October 2017, the great Mary Bryan passed away and a touching tribute to her by Dr Edward McParland is included in these pages.

Myrtle Allen, the longstanding Patron of our Cork Chapter died in June this year, and we have also had to say farewell to Dr Nicola Gordon Bowe who was a member of the Desmond Guinness Scholarship committee, and to Rob van Mesdag who served as Treasurer of our London Chapter for years. May they rest in peace.

The Society is in the best of health. We believe we are meeting our ambition to become the voice of Ireland’s architectural and decorative arts heritage which people listen to for informed views and advice. The support of our members in this regard is paramount.

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01 Restored façade of the City Assembly House, Summer 2018. 02 Elevation prior to commencement of works with cement pointing to brick and stone work and 20th century sash windows.

In 2011 the Irish Georgian Society launched a capital fundraising campaign with the aim of restoring and revitalising the City Assembly House on Dublin’s South William Street as a new headquarters and as a cultural venue accessible to all. Through the support of Dublin City Council and the generosity of supporters in Ireland, the UK and especially the USA, this ambitious project was successfully completed in May this year.

The restoration of the City Assembly House was undertaken in two phases. The first of these saw the provision of a new educational

and gallery space in what is now called the Daniel O’Connell Room, the provision of offices on the top floor, and the opening of a bookshop and a small meeting room on the ground floor. The completion of this first phase allowed the Society to move into the building in 2013, with further works in 2016 seeing the transformation of the front elevation with the repointing of its brick and stone work and the reinstatement of Georgian-type windows.

In April 2017 the second phase of the project began with the goal of completing the full restoration of the octagonal room as the Knight of

Glin Exhibition Room. In doing so, the space was refurbished to meet the curatorial standards required by museums and galleries and was also provisioned for use as a venue for musical performances and educational activities. A new oak floor was laid in place of 1950s parquet, whilst panelling was provided to conceal an environmental control system to manage heat and humidity levels. Decorative plasterwork was restored and a new rooflight was installed to both control lighting in the room and to comply with building regulations.

A major part of the building works

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CITY ASSEMBLY HOUSE CONSERVATION UPDATE

IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY REVIEW 18

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01 The Knight of Glin Exhibition Room during the ‘Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland’ exhibition which ran from 16 June to 29 July 2018 (Photo: Gillian Buckley). 02 Daniel O’Connell Room restored through the generosity of the Jerome L Greene Foundation (Photo: Gillian Buckley). 03 Exhibition Room before restoration (2011). 04 Daniel O’Connell Room before restoration (2011). 05 Entrance Hall restored in honour of John & Nellie Tormey and family.

06 Stairhall restored with the support of Fred and Kay Krehbiel.

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involved the installation of a lift for universal access to the Exhibition Room and the provision of a fire escape route. A new commercial unit lying beneath the octagonal room and facing onto Coppinger Row has also been provided and will be let out to generate income for the building.

The City Assembly House will continue to serve as the headquarters of the Irish Georgian Society and through its restoration and revitalisation, validates the organisation’s commitment to its vision of promoting and protecting Ireland’s architectural heritage and decorative arts.

The public spaces in the building, and in particular the Knight of Glin Exhibition Room, will provide an annual focus for the Irish Georgian Society’s mission. The exhibition, Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland, comprises the first of these events; its great success serves as a template for similar future exhibitions, in terms of its standard and aesthetic credibility. In addition to annual exhibitions, a programme of smaller art and photographic exhibitions, musical performances, and lectures will be delivered each year.

The Irish Georgian Society’s restoration of the City Assembly House demonstrates how a notfor-profit organisation can work effectively with public bodies in revitalising an important but neglected building. This Georgian gem is, once again, a publicly accessible cultural venue that will benefit the people of Dublin and those who visit the city.

City Assembly House Founders Apollo Foundation Sir Francis Brooke Elizabeth Burke Susan & Coleman P. Burke Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Margaret Wellington & Bill Constantine Jerome L Greene Foundation The Ireland Funds Friends of Fred Krehbiel Brendan Hynes & Jean Hutar Michael & Pepper Jackson Elizabeth B. Dater and Wm. Mitchell Jennings Jr. Jane & Tom Kearns Fred & Kay Krehbiel Jay & Silvia Krehbiel Annette Lester Gordon & Martha Mark John & Pat O’Brien Sheila O’Malley Fuchs John & Heather Picerne Michael & Helen Roden Susan Wood Richardson John L. & Nellie A. Tormey Tom Tormey Government support Dublin City Council Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht

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Heritage Update

Site visit by IGS to Aldborough House, Dublin 1 (September 2016).

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Led by its Chairperson, Amy Hastings, the Architectural Conservation and Planning Committee prepared a range of submissions on planning and policy matters over the last year, which are reviewed here.

The Committee relies on the tireless efforts of committee members Sunni Goodson, David Johnson, Frank Keohane, Dr. John Olley, Susan Roundtree, Michael Wall and Primrose Wilson, and the assistance of Donough Cahill, IGS Executive Director, and Emmeline Henderson, IGS Assistant Director and Conservation Manager.

DUBLIN ‘Dublin Mountains Visitor Centre’ development at Coillte’s Hell Fire and Massy’s Wood forest properties The IGS made a submission to An Bord Pleanála on an application by South Dublin County Council on proposals for a ‘Dublin Mountains Visitor Centre’ and associated development on lands in the townlands of Mountpelier, Killakee and Jamestown in South Dublin. The hunting lodge constructed for William Conolly in 1725, known as the Hellfire Club, is located on these lands, and the 19th-century-designed landscape of the Massy Demesne forms part of the application site. The Society’s submission focused on the failure of the application to include any analysis of the historic landscape (including the setting of the Hellfire Club and the character of the designed landscape of the Massy Estate) and the apparent failure to refer to available sources, such as historic mapping and historic papers associated with the Massy Estate, in the formulation of the design response for the proposed visitor centre. The Society submitted that, aside from the obvious

consequences that failing to correctly interpret the design of the historic landscape would have on the integrity of the landscape, the use of inaccurate information in preparing a design response for the setting of buildings of high architectural heritage significance (e.g., the Hellfire Club, Rathfarnham Castle and Castletown House) has the potential to result in considerable negative impacts on those structures. A decision on the application will not be made by An Bord Pleanála before late-2018.

Herbert Park Conservation & Management Plan For some years, the Society has engaged with Dublin City Council in an effort to have the pergola, which was lost after the heavy snow of 2010, reinstated. The Society wrote to Dublin City Council to express concern about this and the loss of further structures from the park and to query proposals for the relocation of other structures original to the 1911 design by Ernest Chearle (e.g., the bandstand). The Society met with Dublin City Council in July 2018 to discuss the loss of structures within

the park; potential design approaches for a new pergola; and mechanisms, such as statutory designations, for the better protection of the park.

Correspondence with Dublin City Council is ongoing.

Aldborough House, Portland Row, Dublin 1 Aldborough House on Portland Row— constructed for Edward Augustus Stratford, 2nd Earl of Aldborough, between 1793 and 1799—was the last great Georgian townhouse built in the Palladian style to be completed before the decline of Dublin following the passing of the Act of Union. Aldborough, which is at least of national, if not international importance, particularly when considered as an integral element of the Georgian core of Dublin, suffered from neglect, lack of essential maintenance and criminal vandalism since falling into vacancy subsequent to the downturn in the property market. A late-2017 application for a new commercial development, proposed the conservation and conversion of the house into office use and the construction of two

new five-storey-over doublebasement wings. In making a submission on the application, the Society acknowledged that some level of enabling development would be required in order to fund the restoration of the house, but requested a number of changes to the design, including (i) the omission of the proposed mezzanines in the first-floor rooms with Aldborough House; (ii) the omission of the corridors linking the office blocks to the main house at second-floor level; and (iii) revision of the design of the new office blocks (and, in particular, the height thereof) to reduce the impact of the new wings on the character and setting of the protected structure. In granting permission for the proposal on a subsequent appeal, An Bord Pleanála addressed a number of the Society’s concerns by inserting conditions requiring the omission of the proposed mezzanine floors and the removal of the topfloor level of the link corridors. An Bord Pleanála also required that the restoration of Aldborough House be completed before any part of the new development could be occupied.

Donaghcumper House, Celbridge, Co. Kildare (c. 1890s, Lawrence Photo Collection, National Library of Ireland).

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MEATH N2 Slane Bypass

KILDARE St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Mill Street, Maynooth, Co. Kildare St. Mary’s was built 1834-40 in a Gothic style, immediately following Catholic Emancipation. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) observes that externally the church “retains many important early or original salient features” and that it is “fronted by a simple gateway that again reveals high craftsmanship, together with early examples of iron work”. It continues to note that the church “is a prominent landmark in the locality, forming an imposing feature on the streetscape of Mill Street, and is identified in the landscape by the soaring tower that also provides incident to the skyline”. The Society objected to an application for the development of 135 apartments in three blocks on lands that were originally associated with St. Mary’s Church, on the grounds that the proposal would, by reason of its height, scale and proximity to boundaries, have a considerable detrimental impact on the character and setting of this

protected structure. The Society submitted that the Church should be the dominant building in views of the site, particularly in views from the historic centre of Maynooth. A decision on the application is due in late-September 2018.

Donaghcumper - Celbridge Local Area Plan 2017-2023 (Direction 2017) Lands at the Donaghcumper Demesne have been zoned for development in the relevant statutory plan since 2002. Since that time, several applications have been made for major development of the demesne, but all have been refused (including applications for infrastructure only) due to a variety of reasons, including significant negative impact on the architectural heritage of Celbridge, on Donaghcumper and on neighbouring Castletown House. In the Celbridge Local Area Plan 2017-2023, Kildare County Council changed the zoning of the Donaghcumper from town centre use to open space. Damien English, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, issued a draft Ministerial Direction to Kildare County Council in September 2017,

directing Kildare County Council not to change the zoning of the Donaghcumper lands in the Local Area Plan.

Kildare County Council held a very brief public consultation on the Draft Ministerial Direction, during which time the Society made a submission suggesting that the town centre zoning itself contravenes statutory guidance as, due to the international heritage importance of the Castletown/Donaghcumper/ St. Wolstan’s historic designed landscapes, and having regard to the planning history of the site at Donaghcumper, an objective for town centre development on the site could never be implemented.

Notwithstanding this and significant submissions and protest from local organisations, including the Celbridge Local Action Alliance, the Minister issued the Ministerial Direction in November. However, legal action brought by a developer against the Minister resulted in Judge Robert Haughton of the High Court quashing the Minister’s Direction in May 2018.

Slane, its environs and the wider Boyne Valley area is characterised by a dense concentration of buildings, sites and landscapes of very significant regional, national and international heritage importance, including the World Heritage Site at Brú na Bóinne. The international importance of the historic landscape at and around Slane formed the principal reason why the development of a new road bypassing Slane was refused permission in the past. In response to a public consultation on options to address the traffic and safety issues on the N2 National Primary Route at Slane Bypass, the Society submitted that the option likely to result in the lowest extent of intervention should be considered. Given the potential for significant negative economic impacts and given the likelihood of negative impacts on buildings, sites and landscapes of heritage significance, the Society submitted that traffic management options should be thoroughly exhausted before any consideration is given to the construction of new road infrastructure.

POLICY MATTERS Funding for and the structure of the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) Launched in 2016, the BHIS aims “to leverage private capital for investment in…small-scale conservation projects” and to “support employment…in the repair of the historic built environment”.

The Irish Georgian Society made a comprehensive submission to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht during the summer of 2018 to highlight the one-third reduction in the Department’s Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) from 2017 levels. Funding was inexplicably reduced from €3.5m in 2017 to €2m in 2018, in spite of the recognised benefits of public grant aid in generating investment in conservation projects and consequent jobs creation. The submission notes how an adequately resourced grants scheme is consistent with commitments made by the State under the Granada Convention for

the protection of the architectural heritage of Europe, which it ratified in 1997, as well as national policy commitments such as those set out in Ireland 2040: National Planning Framework. The Society also questioned the inconsistent manner in which grants are allocated both to local authorities and to individual projects, noting that some local authorities receive substantially more funding per protected structure than others, and that the average size of grants awarded can vary substantially from one county to another. The Society has called on the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to reinstate funding for the BHIS to the 2017 level at the very least, and recommends a review of the scheme so as to ensure consistency in the allocation of funding to local authorities and the awarding of grants for conservation projects. The campaign for the improvement of the BHIS is ongoing.

Other policy documents on which the Society made submissions include: Valuing People and Place: The Heritage Council’s Strategic Plan 2018-2022 Ireland 2040—Our Plan: The Draft National Planning Framework THE SOCIETY ALSO MADE THE FOLLOWING SUBMISSIONS To Transport Infrastructure Ireland, raising concerns about the impact of the preferred route for the Metrolink public consultation 2018 To Cork City Council, in relation to the condition of the Southwell Gifthouses/Almhouses, The Mall, Kinsale, Co. Cork To Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, regarding works carried out at 33 Corrig Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin To Wicklow County Council, regarding the removal of a Victorian shopfront at Hall of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Church Hill, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow To Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, on the draft Marlay Park Master Plan

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Conservation Grants Scheme

Lexlip Boathouse, Lexlip Demesne, Co. Kildare (1874 photograph)

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Ashleigh Murray

The Irish Georgian Society (IGS) is delighted to announce that we have completed a fifth year of the Conservation Grants Scheme, which has been funded by the Irish Georgian Society London since 2014. Although last year was to be the final year of the scheme, its importance is very much recognised and London has, therefore, extended it by a further year, due to part funding received from our American Chapters. The â‚Ź50,000 available funding this year was distributed among thirteen successful projects, which ranged from small landmark structures to large country houses.

We are pleased to support the boathouse on the grounds of Leixlip Castle, Co. Kildare, which belongs to the Hon Desmond and Penelope Guinness. Leixlip Castle was originally built in 1172 (rebuilt in 1837) by Adam de Hereford, a follower of Strongbow. The boathouse structure was erected in the late-18th century and represents the expansion of the estate as part of a gentleman’s residence. The domed boathouse roof with its striking brick chimney is a distinctive feature that was originally clad in copper. The works involve the revival of this important landmark structure with the reinstatement of a metal roof, in addition to other repair works.

Assistance is also being provided to the repair of another landscape structure, the seven arched bridge in Co. Meath. This stone bridge is believed to have been erected in the late-17th century or early-18th century and likely functioned as a pack-horse bridge to allow the carriage of aggregate from Bearmount Quarry to Trim.

Funds will support the restoration of the stone arches, which will be undertaken by Scurlogstown Olympiad, a community organisation.

A number of other notable organisations also require assistance.

The independent charitable organisation, Dublin Civic Trust is restoring two adjoining townhouses in Dublin city centre. In 2016, this scheme supported the reinstatement

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of missing windows at 18 Upper Ormond Quay, while this year the Trust is restoring and part reinstating a Rococo cornice that originally served a double-height space in the adjacent 67 East Arran Street (c.17601770). This space, now subdivided, is believed to have been a retail floor, designed for the display of high-status goods.

Financial support is also being offered to Irish Landmark Trust, a non-profit organisation that is currently converting the unoccupied gate lodges of Saunderscourt, Co. Wexford, to short term holiday use.

The main house was erected in the late-17th century but abandoned in c.

1809 and demolished in the late-19th century. However, two late-18thcentury gate lodges connected by a triumphal arch survive, which fell into disrepair as early as c. 1809.

Undertaking initial investigations and assessments of historic buildings is vital before any works take place.

Two-staged funding is proposed at the 18th-century Bantry House, Co. Cork (remodelled in the early19th century). The artificial-stone capitals of the pilasters decorating the building’s exterior are to be inspected to support conservation recommendations, followed by the appropriate restoration of these important features. At the former Christ Church, Rathcormac, Co. Cork, a Conservation Assessment and Condition Report of this 1775 church with its 1828 vestry will be produced, to establish the significance of the building and inform the conservation approach.

Several other church buildings require help this year. Abbey Leix Old Church, Co. Laois, is a c.1750 church (later extended) on the site of a pre-Reformation church that is one of the few surviving indicators of the relocation of the town further northeast by the first Viscount de Vesci (1735-1804). A limcrete floor is proposed to address damp issues affecting the effigy tomb of Emma, Viscountess de Vesci (d. 1884). Other churches are undertaking window repairs, including the 1809 Ardrahan Church, Co. Galway and St Carthage's Cathedral, Lismore, Co. Waterford, a major religious site dating from the early Christian era.

The repair of an oriel window is required at Myrtle Grove, Youghal, Co. Cork, a rare example of an

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Mary Bryan: A Tribute Dr. Edward McParland

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01 Entrance of Myrtle Grove, Youghal, Co. Cork (Image courtesy of Bord Fáilte). 01 Lexlip Boathouse, during conservation works. 03 Bantry Hous, Co. Cork. 04 Abbey Leix Old Church, Co. Laois. 05 Saunderscourt Gate Lodges, Crossabeg, Co. Wexford. 06 St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, Co. Waterford.

unfortified 16th-century Irish house.

This window faces the medieval St Mary’s Collegiate Church and is where Sir Edmund Spenser is said to have written the ‘Faerie Queen’. Works will also take place at another early building, the c. 1680 former hunting lodge of Ballyarthur, Ballanagh, Co. Wicklow, where it is necessary to extensively repair a gable wall.

Furthermore, we are also pleased to support the c.1750 Bridge House, Westport, Co. Mayo. Previously we helped with roof repairs, while this year works include the repair of ceilings and floors. Ceiling repairs are also required in the impressive entrance hall of Curraghmore,

Portlaw, Co. Waterford. This country house was continually developed since medieval times and comprises a classical c.1755 house incorporating earlier fabric.

As demonstrated above, this important scheme helps owners of historic structures to fund essential works, which can often incur financial pressures. Therefore, we would like to thank all our London members and our friends in America for making this year’s scheme possible. It is very much hoped that, subject to available funding, we can extend the scheme beyond 2018 to continue this particularly worthy cause.

Mary Bryan’s death on 26 October 2017 was a great loss to her family, friends and acquaintances across many areas of life: sporting, academic, architectural and conservationist. Over a long life— she was born in 1936—she was brave (she fought and vanquished her first cancer in the 1990s), distinguished as a sportswoman (in both tennis and badminton), deeply committed as a conservationist (her work for the Irish Georgian Society was invaluable), and an hispanophile (she lived in Spain with her family from 1974 to 1981).

And through all this, her family came first.

Born Mary O’Sullivan in Tralee, she was schooled by the Dominicans in Sion Hill, after which she took a degree in Architecture from UCD. While she was a keen tennis player— she won the Junior Irish Open Championship in 1954, and played in singles and mixed doubles in Wimbledon—she was reckoned to be among the top five badminton players in the world: she was the first lady captain of badminton in Ireland, and had many international caps.

After graduating, she worked as an architect for Guinness in both London and Dublin. On marrying Eddie Bryan, she devoted herself to home and family. The move to Spain in 1974 stimulated new commitments: the children were sent to Spanish, not international, schools, and her three surviving children have all settled in Spain. Mary’s paella parties (even

those in the rain of Kill O’ the Grange) will be remembered happily.

The mid-1990s brought her back to the academic life, with the award 05 of the degree of Master of Urban and Building Conservation from UCD in 1995. As part of her degree she prepared an important dissertation on Fitzwilliam Square.

By this time she was already involved with the Irish Georgian Society, helping to organise a tour of the Czech Republic with Jeremy Williams, and sharing some of the administrative work of the Society and Foundation with Jane Fenlon.

In 1995 she succeeded Jane and was appointed as Executive Secretary and Conservation Officer.

Ten years later she retired from the IGS upon her appointment as a member of An Bord Pleanála, on which she served until 2010. In that year she joined the Committee of Management of the Irish Georgian Foundation, acting as its chairwoman until 2013. Following the usual rules of rotation and retirement of directors, she left the board in 2016.

It was in Irish Georgian circles, and as a personal friend, that I knew Mary and came to value her remarkable qualities. She was a great friend of the Knight, and he relied heavily on her judgement. She was level-headed during contentious discussions, and decisive—if discreet—in her opinions.

She was wise in foreseeing and avoiding unnecessary problems. She was patient with, if not approving of,

the wilder currents of opinion that washed around the Georgian board room. She enjoyed the company of colourful people, whose help she sometimes effectively solicited for the Society. She was full of energy, and up to a year or two ago she organised the IGS Conservation Awards Scheme, enjoying to the full the fun of travelling around the country to view all the short-listed submissions.

There was a directness about the way she conducted meetings, a straightforward integrity, that rose above personalities and eased the conduct of business.

She was much loved by an unusually wide variety of friends.

And she was fun! We all remember, and always will remember, her laughter. The bar in The Merrion Hotel will forever be for me the rendezvous where Mary and I met every month or two to discuss Georgian affairs in the company of the friend we called ‘Padre Pinot Grigio’. And whatever confidences were shared on those merry occasions, no malicious or gossipy word ever passed her lips.

The Georgians and Mary Bryan’s friends owe her a great debt for having enriched their lives. The Simon Community and Dogs for the Blind have lost a generous supporter. All we can do is to hope that her family will somehow manage to find some consolation in their loss.

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‘Vain Transitory Splendours’: The Irish country house and the art of John Nankivell Kevin V. Mulligan

Elizabeth Bowen wrote that Ireland is a country of ruins that “feature the landscape” whether “Lordly or humble, military or domestic, standing up with furious gauntness… or shelving weakly into the soil”. She saw in them an implicit truth: “a ruin stands for either error or failure, and in this country are accepted as part of life”.

The desolation of country houses and their demesnes would, by the end of the 20th-century, become an all too familiar part of the Irish scenery: miles of crumbling stone walls interrupted by the casual insertion of bungalows, abused entrances with toppled piers and twisted ironwork, bramble engulfed lodges, deeply-rutted carriage drives leading aimlessly through a wasted park, amidst a few bereft resilient trees—looked upon forlornly by the gutted house, a still-proud block staring, blindly out over the scene “in fright and amazement at the wide

light, lovely, unloving country, the unwilling bosom whereon it was set”.

Once a constant in the landscape, with a seeming eternal presence and authority that offered stability with its paternal customs, focused on a largely pliant and dependent community, the Irish country house eventually became “vain transitory splendours”, no longer immune from the vicissitudes of life, the passage of time, or the powers of nature. As the old order was turned on its head, the buildings and their demesnes were quickly transformed into the “visual and cultural apparatus” of

a social system that was vanishing, an anachronism that needed no replacement in the modern age, and were thus bound to succumb to the eventual process of being “naturalised to the soil”.

The true extent of the architectural losses accruing in a distinctly apathetic age was made all too apparent across the pages of Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland, a book published jointly by the Irish Architectural Archive and the Irish Georgian Society in 1988. Coinciding with the publication, an exhibition at Kyburg Gallery in London, organised

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VAIN TRANSITORY SPLENDOURS

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at the instigation of the late Knight of Glin, brought to light a series of arresting drawings of Irish houses and castles by the distinguished English artist John Nankivell. This was the culmination of more than two decades of travelling in Ireland, recording the sad decline of Irish architectural heritage. What began as fleeting glimpses of distant, decaying ruins from his parents’ car, as they explored Ireland on family holidays, had gradually resulted, year-byyear, in a remarkable collection of pencil-drawn views that are at once romantic and atmospheric—as well as saddening (to those who cared) and reproachful (to those that didn’t)— love songs to the fast-fading glories of the Irish country house. The sense of poignancy and pathos embodied in these buildings are subjects that naturally appeal to the artist. To the aesthete, ruins have the potential to become beautiful with the passage of time, especially once the precise events and circumstances that led to decay or destruction become fading memories or have been lost in their myth-embroidered stories—or until a disinterested observer like John Nankivell, passionate and concerned about architecture, comes along and praises them in art. And in Irish visual art, no one has ever exploited this more effectively and thoroughly than Nankivell.

Fortunately the ‘consecrating hand of time’ has changed attitudes; the old wounds were slowly healed as negative sentiment moved towards a more benign nostalgia, and so on to the present, where interest in the Irish country house is

now part of the serious business of academic research and professional conservation. By the time Vanishing Country Houses was published, there were already indications of a turning tide as political and social life in the new Republic became settled and secure, moving to an acceptance that these houses were, as Yeats argued in his poem Purgatory, “bricks and mortar possessed by history” and so, intrinsically Irish, and thus part of a greater Irish cultural heritage.

Just as the country house, in dying as a social actuality, was becoming sanctified in Irish literature, in the poems of Yeats (and also of John Betjeman, one of Nankivell’s earliest admirers) and the novels of William Trevor, Aidan Higgins and Jennifer Johnston, so too was its spirit being revived in Nankivell’s drawings— suitably redeemed and memorialised as great works of art. Now, through the generosity of Susan and Coleman Burke, all the drawings have been brought together in Ireland for the first time in an exhibition at the former City Assembly House in Dublin, where the core of the collection will be retained to form part of the Irish Georgian Society’s permanent collection.

Kevin V. Mulligan is an architectural historian and author.

This text is based on the introduction to the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition. The catalogue is available to purchase from the IGS bookshop instore or online (shop.igs.ie), priced at €25.

Limited availability.

Previous Mosstown Pigeon House, Mosstown Demesne, Co. Longford.

01 Rosmead, Co. Westmeath 02 Tudenham, Co. Westmeath 03 Ballynegall, Co. Westmeath.

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Tyrone House, Co. Galway.

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CASTLETOWN AND THE IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY

Castletown and the Irish Georgian Society Christopher Moore On 23 June this year, Castletown celebrated 50 years since it was officially opened to the public by Erskine Childers, the then Minister for Tourism, in June 1968. This year’s event was organised by the three bodies who have orchestrated the restoration during this period—the Irish Georgian Society, the Castletown Foundation and the Office of Public Works. The event was held to acknowledge the involvement, much of it voluntary, of so many people during the past five decades. The trials and fun of the early days of clearing and restoration were outlined by Professor Roy Foster in his June address to the guests in the Long Gallery, but in particular he stressed the long and critical involvement of the Irish Georgian Society in securing a viable future for the house.

Today Castletown is of course State-owned and has, since 1994, been expertly conserved and developed as a cultural and tourist attraction by the OPW who run the house, aided by the Castletown Foundation in an advisory capacity.

The significance of the house and the scale of the project captured public attention in the late-1960s and gave the Society publicity and a definitive following, both in Ireland and abroad.

Robert O’Byrne in the 2008 The Irish Georgian Society: a Celebration has chronicled the Society’s role in and heroic struggle saving the house from its 10th anniversary in 1967, when it

moved its headquarters from Leixlip Castle to Castletown. After Desmond Guinness had purchased Castletown and 166 acres, the house and its immediate surroundings were held by the Castletown House Co. Ltd., then by the Castletown Trust, and finally in 1979 by the Castletown Foundation, which achieved its own charitable status. Until the Society moved back to Leixlip Castle in 1983, Castletown was its principal focus, and even after that date the Society’s fortunes were inextricably linked in the public mind with that of the house.

Castletown features in the earliest issues of the Bulletin: in 1962 there was a notice regarding the opening of the house, described as “one of the most fascinating houses in Ireland”, in August by the Conolly-Carew family; entry was 2/6d in aid of parish funds. The first issues of the Bulletin in 1958 featured the Conolly Folly on their covers, and throughout the 1960s, the publication frequently pictured engraved images of either the folly, the sphinx gate piers, or the Print Room photographed by Lucinda Lambton— indicating that the importance and fate of Castletown was firmly on the Society’s agenda.

The first actual involvement in either Castletown, indeed the first active conservation project for the Society, was the 1962-5 restoration of the Conolly Folly, then owned by Lord Brocket. The formula for future campaigns was immediately set: a fund raising event lead by Mariga and

Desmond, a public appeal with lists of subscribers, and ultimately contributions from Bord Fáilte and a government Amenity Grants Scheme.

When, in 1968, the Society bought the folly for £1,000, the funds came from Rose Saul Zalles, thus commencing the long American involvement in the saving of Castletown.

From 1967, many editions of the Bulletin chronicle the enormous task involved in readying the house for opening and the slow process of restoration. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the challenge that lay ahead, perhaps more so than in any other project subsequently undertaken. As well as the lists of repairs needed to make the house safe and usable, the restoration of the kitchens, the Boudoir painted surfaces, the cleaning of the Hall overmantel landscape, the painting

by Roland Pym of murals, and the presentation of the rooms were described. From the very beginning the success of Castletown relied on volunteers, and the Society was careful to acknowledge and thank all those who came to clean the rooms and guide visitors. Clearly this was a lot of fun and in later years Anne Crookshank recalled the satisfaction she had in rolling slices of fresh white bread down the delicate walls of the Print Room in order to remove layers of grime.

Realising the limited appeal of even a house as great as Castletown, the Society was keen that the house

With the passage of time and the advent of other projects, it is easy to forget that Castletown is the greatest success story of the Irish Georgian Society to date.

become a vital part of cultural life in Ireland and be available to everyone: from the very beginning the Bulletin lists all manner of performances held in the house, including those by the Chieftains, Siobhan McKenna, the Dublin Shakespeare Society, the Dublin Baroque Players and the Festival of Music in Great Irish Houses. In addition there were ‘musical picnics’, lectures, a planning conference and the well-publicised hunt balls, ensuring that the house came to life. Exhibitions relating to the decorative arts widened the appeal: in 1970 Patricia Cockburn’s shell pictures were shown; and in 1971, as part of Rosc, Patrick Hickey organised the Irish Delft display, which drew 1,000 visitors between October and December.

Furnishing Castletown was a primary objective for the Society.

Desmond had of course bought the core of the original contents from the Conolly-Carews both before and at the 1966 auction, and these remained on loan until the late-1980s, when they were bought by the Castletown Foundation. These original items gave an authenticity to the displays, particularly in the Red Drawing Room—but with 16 or more rooms open to the public, the overall impression was of an empty house. In 1968, Desmond wrote in the Bulletin about the difficulty of opening the house, how its

character was bound to change and how “books propped open by old fashioned spectacles....help dispel the rusty atmosphere of the museum”. Lists of items that were required included leather bound books (“not necessarily readable”), items that came from Castletown, Irish ‘Chippendale’ furniture, silver and glass, maps and architectural drawings. These appeals were successful, and in this way, not only did the rooms regain some of their former appearance, but significant Irish and Continental pieces were introduced to the collection, including the Headfort suite and the Lucca Bed. While most of these were not original to the house, many of these items were fine examples of Irish furniture of the 18th or 19th centuries and in some cases very similar to items recorded in the early inventories.

These gifts became part of the impetus to set up a charitable trust; hence the Castletown Foundation was established as an educational trust, with an emphasis on the fine arts, to take over ownership and administration of the house and continue the programme of restoration.

The purchase of the Lucca Bed for £3,500 in 1971 from Geoffrey Bennison by the newly founded Dallas Chapter, is indicative of the importance of the American chapters of the Society to the

01 The Red Drawing Room, 2018 (Photo by Paul Tierney, The Office of Public Works).

02 Lady Emily Mary Lennox, wife of the 1st Duke of Leinster, by Gustavus Hamilton, in a carved wooden frame. 03 Settee, part of the Headfort suite.

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Some Memories of some Early Irish Georgians In conversation with Rose Mary Craig 02

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Castletown cause. The chapters in London, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York and Massachusetts in particular raised money, repatriated original items and gave other crucial gifts to the house. In addition, charitable foundations (for example, the John Brady Foundation, the Patrick and Aimee Butler Foundation, and the Lehmann Foundation), as well as scores of individuals, generously gave funds and items to the cause. The long list of those who donated generous gifts and loans has in recent years been recorded on donor boards in the east ground floor axial corridor at Castletown.

Over the years, as the Society developed, other campaigns dominated its agenda, but even after the office moved back to Leixlip Castle in 1983, the commitment to Castletown continued with events like the 25th Anniversary Silver Ball held in the house in aid of the restoration of the Green Drawing Room, which was also funded by the Chicago Chapter. This project was followed in 1989 by a major restoration of the Long Gallery, once again funded by the Chicago Chapter.

During the lean years, when the house was owned and run by the Castletown Foundation, its income was derived from door receipts and the rents from six flats and the restaurant. This was not sufficient to maintain the building, and funds raised in America and the UK through the chapters were vital in keeping the house open. Just

To commemorate the founding of the Irish Georgian Society sixty years ago by Desmond and Mariga Guinness, this summer Rose Mary Craig spoke to several longstanding Irish Georgian Society members about their part in events Desmond and Mariga Guinness either organised or inspired in the late 1960s and 70s.

as important were the funds raised by the chapters (in particular IGS London) to help secure the original contents that the Castletown Foundation had succeeded in purchasing from Desmond Guinness by 1988.

Perhaps the greatest continuing legacy for the Society at Castletown are its important furnishings, which are displayed in the house. Most of these were conditional gifts made through the Society to the house, where they continue to embellish and educate.

What better way for the Society to continue its involvement in one of the great Irish conservation success stories?

Christopher Moore was a member of the Castletown Foundation 2000-2018, Chairman 2013-18, and is now a Patron of the Foundation. He gratefully acknowledges the help of Jeanne Meldon, co-Chair of the Castletown Foundation, with these notes.

ALFRED COCHRANE My brother Mark and I first met Desmond and Mariga Guinness through our parents who brought us to Leixlip Castle in the early 1960s.

Life was very lively there with comings and goings of people including David Mlinaric (much influenced by Mariga’s taste and sense of colour), the Knight of Glin, Thomas Pakenham and Sir Oswald and Lady Mosley. Parties was very exciting and unique – Leixlip was a melting pot of people of all ages and background, socialites, intellectuals, academics, millionaires, pop stars, politicians and footsoldiers. Brian Molloy was there a lot as he was very

involved with Desmond and Mariga in Castletown and Mountjoy Square.

Audrey Emerson, who began working for Desmond in the early 70s, was the special glue which made everything happen.

In 1962 Charles de Beistiguy from France whose family had made a fortune out of guano from Chile came to visit. Desmond and Mariga took him to see follies in a hired Austin Princess limo. Mariga dressed like her portrait

by Derek Hill wearing a turban, we had a driver and we sat on the jump seats. Food always seemed to be pea soup, on offer in the pubs we stopped in for lunch. De Beistiguy refused the

soup while one pub owner declared, “Mister, you will have it and like it!”

We visited Glenveagh where Henry McIlhenny had filled the house with his treasures from Philadelphia which returned there when he sold the house to the State. We stayed at Adare and visited Castle Coole where a Georgian Society Cricket match was organised for which Charles de Beistiguy dressed as a Turkish Sultan and Mariga dressed as a Sultana! We dressed as 18th century young men. Playing to early cricket rules (two stumps, underarm bowling) we were cheered on by an audience dressed for the occasion in antique garments.

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SOME MEMORIES OF SOME EARLY IRISH GEORGIANS

In 1965, Mariga organised a trip to Russia. My parents had offered to buy me a car on leaving school, but instead I chose this wonderful trip to Russia and was the youngest person in the group! We took an uncomfortable Lithuanian ship from the UK to Russia sharing a cabin with George Stacpoole and UK journalist Philipe Julian who wrote “The Snob Spotter’s Guide”.

He proclaimed that one had not arrived into the jet set unless one “had breakfast in Jaipur with the Maharaja of Jaipur, lunch in Beirut with Sir Desmond and Lady Cochrane and dinner in Seville with the Duchess of Alba”!

In then Leningrad, we moored by the Custom House. Mariga had met a retired curator on the boat who lived in an apartment full of 18th century portraits and gave us great introductions. In the headquarters of an Architectural Association which had invited us for a talk, the oldest person on the trip said, “I have been here before, I think I was born here”.

It turned out that she had left the palace aged two at the time of the Revolution! The group include Helen, the Dowager Lady Dashwood, Baroness Trevis who had come from her Canova-designed Palace in Venice and Jerome Zerbe, an American syndicated social columnist.

Mariga was determined to see the unrestored James Cameron wing of, I think, the Peterhof Palace so dressed like Anna Karenina: long coat, huge muff and an enormous toque hat, sweeping straight past the guards, she produced a wire cutter from her muff and proceeded to cut a padlock on the door; we all saw the incredible sight of a classical room in complete chaos and destruction! A curator arrived, relented and took us around!

Having studied architecture in Rome I returned in 1978 and Desmond suggested I become a tenant at Castletown in the stable wing. Other tenants included Walter and Barbara Hayley, Count and Countess de Claviere, Brian and Ulli de Breffni, Moira and David Durdin Robertson and Anne and Valentine Lamb. I decided to give a house-warming party and, as my apartment was over the stables,

I lit joss sticks to cover equine smells.

The next day Timmy, a stable-lad said, “What have you done to the horses?

You have drugged them and they are Mr Mulhern’s horses and are very valuable!” Happily the effects soon wore off!

Whilst living there I worked from 1979 on the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham under John Costello, surveying the building and drawing up uncompleted schemes. I then set up an architectural practice with Jeremy Williams and Fergus Flynn Rogers. I can definitely say that my lifelong interest in conservation and architecture was stimulated by my early experiences in Leixlip and Castletown thanks to Desmond and Mariga.

DAVID WILLIS I was a student when Desmond Guinness gave a lecture in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on the recently formed Irish Georgian Society. He was taking some members to private houses in Westmeath and I asked if I could go too. A group of 12-15 people included several Trinity students very knowledgeable on 18th century architecture. The rest of the group was hardly reflective of the Ireland emerging from the dark 1950s. In those days as I had no car, so Desmond and Mariga said a lady called Mrs Myrtle Allen is coming and will give you a lift. We were to bring our own ‘snack’ so we purchased cooked ham, sliced pan and tomatoes, perhaps this was my first Ballymaloe dish! Sir Alfred and Lady Beit were also on this trip.

Whilst fun, there was an atmosphere of regime change as many of the houses have since, like their owners, gone to meet their maker!

One such was Ballynegall, a fine regency house by Francis Johnston with furniture by Mack, Williams and Gibton. A cousin had inherited and on arrival produced his business card.

Not a usual occurrence for some of our group! The last owner, Michael Hawkesworth Smyth sold the house in the early 1960s for just £12,000.

Sadly it is now a ruin, with the interior dispersed afar.

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Next was Belvedere, home of Col Howard Bury, a renowned mountaineer, of the 1921 Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, and I remember very clearly that laid out for our inspection was a great collection of Bury silver which Desmond said was worth a quarter of a million pounds! There was a famous ‘menage a trois’ here with Colonel and Mrs Bury and Rex Beaumont. It is said that Col Bury and Rex met on the Orient Express where Rex worked.

This house has met a better fate as it is now owned by Westmeath County Council and a thriving tourist centre – sadly, without the silver collection.

Then we visited Tudenham, a Palladian house designed by Richard Castle, and Mariga exclaimed as we entered the hall, “Oh dear. They have taken out the staircase since my last visit three weeks ago!”. On leaving Tudenham, somebody said, “Please can we see a house which is not a ruin?” Mariga replied, “Yes. We are now going to a house where the young Mr Pakenham has just arrived with a suit and his books, so he means to stay.” This was Pakenham Hall, renamed Tullynally, where some of us had dinner and I went out rowing on the lake with the new incumbent and Desmond and Mariga.Tullynally is happily the great survivor in what Jeremy Williams would have called a ‘sea of architectural desolation’.

We had a quick visit to a church being ‘updated’, complete with low false ceilings where we were urged

by Desmond not to contribute to the ‘Restoration’ Fund and so prevent further destruction of the interior.

We returned to Leixlip where I stayed the night unexpectedly, phoning my mother - with my exams pending - to tell her I was still on an IGS day trip!

That first lecture and visit began a lifelong interest in architecture and, nearly 60 years later, I am still enjoying Georgian Society events.

Thankfully many houses are no longer in ruins and the owners seem more in touch with the world of today.

Thank you Mariga and Desmond!

01 Jackie Kennedy with Desmond Guinness during her visit to Castletown in 1967 (Photo: David Davison).

02 Desmond Guinness at the the Conolly Folly, Maynooth, Co. Kildare (Photo: Getty Archive).

03 Cyril McKeon, Elizabeth O’Kelly, Mariga Guinness and Mafra O’Reilly on the boat from Wales, May 1989.

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SOME MEMORIES OF SOME EARLY IRISH GEORGIANS

EDMUND CORRIGAN In 1969, my mother took me to a fund-raising event in Riverstown House for the Cork Preservation Society then raising money to save Skiddy’s Almshouse near Shandon.

Desmond Guinness gave a talk and I was captivated. He talked about Castletown House which he had recently bought. I had been there once in Wellington boots as I went to Horse Trials there and we were invited in for drinks. It seemed very shabby and grim. We visited later when the house opened to the public but I never saw the Long Gallery as I think the stairs up were blocked at the time.

Desmond’s talk resonated with me and I joined the IGS. I used to walk around north Dublin looking at the terrible state of streets like Henrietta and Dominick Streets and Mountjoy Square. The Tailors’ Hall caught my attention. I came up from Cork to protest and support the Battle of Hume Street in June 1969.

In the early 1970s Mariga Guinness and Eoin ‘Pope’ O’Mahony visited Cork and my mother took them around and showed them Crosshaven House and other houses in the area.

Desmond Guinness was also a Director of the Cork Preservation Society and when the restoration of the Skiddy’s Almshouse was completed, the property sold to a housing association and Directors paid back, I set up a Cork Chapter and raised funds for Doneraile with help from individuals and other groups.

I remember three big garden openings, two at Castle Hyde and a big painting auction I organised to raise funds for Doneraile. I called on country house owners and ask them to donate a painting….which they always did!

Funds raised purchased a portrait of the infamous Lady St Leger which I hope will return to Doneraile soon.

I also bought the Castletown portraits (Lady Castletown was a St Leger) thanks to an alert from the Knight of Glin and they will hopefully go back to Doneraile At Doneraile, Damer House in Roscrea and Roundwood House in Mountrath, Desmond and others organised legendary ‘Work Camps’. There I met many people who continued their involvement in conservation such as John O’Connell, David Griffin, Anne Holiday (sadly deceased) and others.

The late Brian Molloy was in charge

and we got free lodging and food and visits to other houses. I did supervision in Doneraile for two weeks when I got to know the bones of restoration.

These camps were great for fostering friendships and interest in Georgian buildings which continued for many of us. It is a pity that they were given up as they get people involved and people feel they are really contributing in a hands on way. I think the IGS should reactivate voluntary Work Camps; Roy Foster at the Castletown 50th anniversary gathering this summer recalled being a volunteer there and the positive impact it had on him.

In Cork the IGS Chapter was officially constituted in 2006 and I am a member of the Committee along with other very active members.

Myrtle Allen was our Patron until her recent death this summer.

Personally I collect Irish portrait miniatures and I have ensured that the Shannon and Leinster Fitzgerald miniatures are now on display at Castletown through the auspices of the Irish Georgian Society. My hope is one day that a book will be published on Irish portrait miniatures and the houses they originate from.

Looking back I am surprised at what I was able to do over the years to contribute to the great cause which Desmond and Mariga started 60 years ago!

CHRISTOPHER MOORE My time at Castletown in the 1980s began when IGS no longer had its headquarters there, but remained an inextricable part of its life. American tours, visiting Chapters, key donors like Gordon Mark all kept us on our toes, reminding of the vital role the society had in the well-being of the house.

I acquired skills which have remained - particularly learning to be hands-on and practical about all aspects of running a big house, understanding and re-arranging the rooms, achieving a balance between some level of museum standard and retaining the personality of the house, giving tours and accurate and varied lectures, arranging events from Palm Court teas in the Dining Room to concerts in the Long Gallery and of course cooking and looking after large numbers of volunteers: being at Castletown was a third-level

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education in its own right......

The various balls stand out as extraordinary occasions where daily IGS work was set aside for fun. Organising meant hard work learning the bar trade under Audrey’s eye in the stairhall and working out the logistics of feeding many at various points in the house. The fine balance of showing off the house and protecting precious things from wandering party goers. Memorable flowers and imaginative creativity was a prerequisite. For the Silver Ball the decorations were more than floral and I recall the truly terrifying sight of a multiple tower scaffold in the front hall with a single figure teetering fifty feet up attaching ribbon streamers to the chandelier hook. Fun as these occasions were I was always fearful of damage to the house, in particular from the late night clean-ups needed as the house was generally open the following morning. By the end of my tenure at Castletown we vowed not to have any more balls as the work involved and the wear and tear made it just not worthwhile for the sake of a small profit.

The 1986 Georgian cricket match was less arduous; held on the field behind the house it was colourful and fun with reasonably authentic costumes and a strapping high tea afterwards in the West Wing.

John Holohan, Patrick Moore and Charles Lysaght enjoying Georgian Cricket at Birr Castle, August 1995.

BRENDA WEIR I came to live in Dublin in 1958 when I married an Irish doctor. A regular visitor each year (from 1937) to visit my maternal Grandmother (Mrs. ffrench) who lived in Upper Mount Street, my Godfather (and cousin) was R.B.D.French, (always known as RBD) a well-known Lecturer in English in TCD, and I did some secretarial work for him. Desmond Guinness had asked RBD to join the Board of the fledgling IGS so I was introduced to the Society at an early stage, typing out notices and helping with general secretarial duties.

Interested in history, architecture and restoration, I felt this would help me to meet people and make friends with similar interests: (and I am glad to say that this has indeed been the case: I recall with particular affection wonderful conservation architect Jeremy Williams who was so helpful to me when we were restoring a small Georgian dower house).

Charmingly printed notices from Leixlip Castle announcing a Talk or a small function were sent to RBD to check and we had to scrutinise them

very carefully for – as RBD pointed out – a vital item of information might have been omitted! Time?

Place? Venue? It was always sorted out. Early days were enthusiastic but slightly chaotic. Mariga was very much involved, adding her unique talents and knowledge. I remember her announcing that talks would finish early so that we could all get home to watch that wonderful, first production of The Forsyte Saga on television (in black and white – no colour)!

Soon, word spread that the IGS was offering something a bit different from the general run of things. The famous Guinness name brought some public attention – not always kindly – (frequently an ignorant politician trying to make a point referred to: “Elitist/Belted Earls/housewives with time on their hands….blah blah”.

Property developers trying to knock down the Georgian Squares and streets (with far too much success as we can see today) and if the IGS had not been there to protest and publicise whenever it could, matters could have been much worse (Remember Hume Street?). Nowadays it has become

vogueish to occupy a period building.

Happily the IGS is attracting many younger people to its ranks. Many older members have fond memories of the 1960s and 1970s when volunteers worked on restoration of Castletown House. The notable ”Masked Ball” I remember particularly and there were many other highlights and friendships!

Interesting tours were often to places not generally open to the public (via the unique Guinness connection) frequently enhanced by not quite knowing the destination and whether or not we would get a bed for the night! The Robertstown Canal Festa was a slightly chaotic annual event back then with a Georgian cricket match, attempts at horse-drawn water skiing – and a wonderful lecture (with a belligerent projector) by the venerable Ada Leask. Ah, Memories!

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WHO ARE THE YIGS ANYWAY?

IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY REVIEW 18

Who are the YIGs anyway?

Zoë Coleman

The Young Irish Georgians (YIG for short) was originally established in the early 2000s, out of a desire to organise events for Irish Georgian Society members aged 18 to 40. After a hiatus, the YIG was revived in 2016,

by Roisin Lambe and myself. Roisin and I felt that the YIG events were an important part of the Society’s outreach and a way to engage younger members of the Society who are early career professionals, students or recent graduates with an interest in architecture and conservation who wished to attend events with their peers.

The bi-annual ‘Conservation without Frontiers’ Summer School— run by the IGS in partnership with Ulster Architectural Heritage (UAH) since 2015—has demonstrated to us that amongst our younger members there is an appetite for events and site visits that demonstrated 'conservation in action', so the events we organise follow in this vein.

The successful 2017 Summer School was held in Donegal and Derry, and was written about in the 2017 IGS Review (page 20-23) by UAH President Primrose Wilson. That September we visited the recently restored Reads Cutlers for an exclusive ‘behind the shutters’ tour of the building, which had been modified in 1764 as part of the Wide Street Commission.

Our first event of 2018 took us to Newbridge House, Co. Dublin (c.

1747) on a crisp Saturday in February, where we were welcomed by Cathal Dowd Smith, Cobbe Family archivist and YIG member, who led us on a comprehensive tour of the house and stables, introducing us to the eclectic Cobbe collection and the family’s

Building the Exhibition: Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland Ruth Kenny The Irish Georgian Society’s move to the City Assembly House in 2013, and their complete renovation of the building since, brought with it an exciting and unprecedented opportunity to recreate a seminal moment in the history of Irish art: the introduction of large-scale public art exhibitions.

YIGs on a visit to the Castletown Archive and historic Celbridge, Co. Kildare, September 2018.

collection of Old Master paintings and Irish furniture.

In September of this year, our first YIG event of the autumn took us to Castletown House to visit the Castletown archive, on a tour led

by Nicola Kelly, archivist at the OPW-Maynooth University Archive & Research Centre. Longstanding IGS member June Stuart generously welcomed us into her home at Kildrought House, Celbridge, for tea, before our tour of the Tea Lane Graveyard, a conservation project supported by the Irish Georgian Society in 2017.

In tandem with the Irish YIG events programme, IGS London run a number of events for YIG members throughout the year.

Over the past three years, it has been encouraging to see the great interest in the events we have organised. We’ve enjoyed meeting

new people, with a shared interest in Ireland’s rich architectural heritage, in a relaxed, informal environment.

The YIGs come from a number of different disciplines, which has encouraged many interesting discussions!

Zoë Coleman is the Irish Georgian Society’s Programming and Communications Coordinator.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Young Irish Georgians, or if you would like to propose an event, please contact Zoë Coleman (zoe.coleman@igs.ie).

Curator Ruth Kenny surveys the completed hang of the ‘Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland’ exhibition.

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BUILDING THE EXHIBITION

Celebrating the building’s original incarnation as the first purposebuilt public art gallery in Britain and Ireland, an exhibition was planned that would reassemble some of the gallery’s earliest exhibits in the octagonal exhibition room in which they were first displayed.

In our efforts to recreate the first exhibitions that took place in this space, we were following in the footsteps of a pioneering group of painters, sculptors and architects who came together in 1764 to establish the ‘Society of Artists in Ireland’, the first organization of its kind for Irish artists. Previously grouped with cutlers and stationers under the ‘Guild of St. Luke’, this was a bold statement of intent on the part of the Society’s 12 founder members, who sought to raise their own status and promote fine art production in the country. Inspired by the success of the Society of Artists in London, founded four years previously, the Society placed an advertisement

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in the popular circular Faulkner’s Journal in February 1764, calling for contributions to an ‘Annual Exhibition’, which, it was hoped would “excite emulation” amongst themselves and “bring forth latent merit to public view”.

The annual exhibition they established in 1765 was only the first of a run of 12 exhibitions, nine of which took place in South William Street between 1765 and 1780. During these years, its domed, octagonal chamber effectively defined the centre of the Irish art world and, as a focal point for Dublin’s artistic and social world, it attracted nearly every contemporary Irish artist of note, including Thomas Roberts, Jonathan Fisher, William Ashford, James Forrester, Robert Hunter, Robert Healy and Hugh Douglas Hamilton.

It also caught the attention of Dublin’s great and good, as the issue of 100 silver subscriber tokens attests.

The profound success of the Society’s endeavours was marked year-on-year

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by the ever-increasing number of exhibits, swelling from 85 in the first show to 223 in 1777.

After several years’ research and with the help of generous loans from private collectors and national institutions—including the National Gallery of Ireland, the National Library of Ireland, Ulster Museum, RIA, RDS, the Irish Architectural Archive, Irish Heritage Trust, University College Dublin and the Castletown Foundation—our exhibition contained a significant number of works that we knew had been displayed in the octagonal room during the original run of Society of Artists shows. These were mixed with other representative pieces, by exhibiting Society of Artists’ members, which, hung floor to ceiling in the 18th-century style, allowed us to mirror the appearance of the original exhibitions as closely as possible. We were particularly glad to welcome back to the room works such as Robert Carver’s impressive

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01 The Knight of Glin Exhibition Room during exhibition installation.

02 Exhibition curator Ruth Kenny and paper conservator Pat McBride (National Gallery of Ireland) examining the Samuel Dixon collection of prints before installation.

03 The exhibition hang in the process of being installed by Irish Art Handlers. 04 ‘The Sheet of Water at Carton Park’, 1776. Thomas Roberts (1748-77). Private collection.

Overleaf ‘The Continence of Scipio’, c.1771. Henry Brooke (1738-1806). National Gallery of Ireland.

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BUILDING THE EXHIBITION

Landscape with Classical Ruins from the 1766 exhibition, Thomas Robert’s beautiful Frost Piece from the 1769 exhibition, Henry Brooke’s The Continence of Scipio, a large and striking history painting displayed in the 1772 exhibition, and Patrick Cunningham’s engaging marble bust of Jonathan Swift, a version of which was included in the 1776 exhibition, amongst many others.

By lauding the pioneering spirit of the Society of Artists’ exhibitions, we also aimed to provide an insight into the fascinating range of artistic production taking place in Ireland at this time. As the original exhibition catalogues reveal, late-18th-century Dublin was a hive of creativity, with landscape artists working alongside portraitists, history painters, sculptors, printers and draughtsmen in an astonishing range of media, including oil paint, pastel, marble, wood, glass, wax and hair. Our exhibition compromised 92 works in total from 22 lenders and represented many of these different artistic practices.

The exhibition was accompanied by a beautifully illustrated catalogue that included entries on each work, essays examining the history of the Society of Artists, early reviews of the shows and the fascinating chronology of the building. This publication offered further occasion to revisit and evaluate these stimulating years, assessing Ireland’s first introduction to exhibition culture and the significant contribution it made to an increasingly self-confident national school of Irish art. Alongside a specially commissioned film that documented the making of the show, the catalogue will stand as a lasting memory of this unique, once-in-a lifetime exhibition. exhibition. You can watch the full video online on YouTube (https://youtu.be/ aTazVXlxkNw). The exhibition catalogue, edited by Dr David Fleming, Dr Ruth Kenny and William Laffan, can be purchased from the IGS bookshop, instore or online (shop.igs.ie), at the price of €25 (hardback).

Dr. Ruth Kenny is an independent art historian and curator.

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Conservation Education Programme

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Emmeline Henderson

Over the past year, the Society’s Conservation Education Programme has delivered two conservation courses for homeowners and building professionals, a Westport study day and a symposium on silver in Georgian Ireland. These quarterly projects deliver on the Society’s mission to promote and protect Ireland’s architectural heritage, allied arts and designed landscapes.

01 Speakers, supporters and convenors of the Westport 250 study day: left to right back row: Dr Gordon Kennedy; Grainne Shaffrey; Donal O’Shea; Colm Murray; Donough Cahill; Dr Martin Mansergh; front row left to right: Simon Wall; Emmeline Henderson; Siobhan Sexton; Scott Hayes; Aine Doyle; Fintan Duffy; Dr Aidan O’Boyle; Biddy Hughes and Karin Hughes. 02 Simon Wall, Architect for Mayo County Council’s West Mayo Municipal District delivering his paper, ‘Westport, the past 20 years’.

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WESTPORT 250 STUDY DAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2017 The Irish Georgian Society and Mayo County Council, in association with Westport Historical Society and Westport Tourism, partnered to deliver a study day that celebrated 250 years of the Browne family, Westport House and its planned Georgian town.

Until last year, Westport was a rare surviving example of an Irish country house retaining its original family. In 2017, the Browne family, descendants of the 16th-century Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley, for financial reasons, sold the house and estate. The new owners, the Hughes family, are based in Westport and are committed to continuing access to Westport House and its historic demesne as an amenity. They have also stated their intention to build a major national conference facility within the curtilage of the Westport House’s historic demesne, complementing their Hotel Westport.

The Westport 250 Study Day included presentations by historians, architectural historians, architects and town planners, each of whom illuminated the exceptional heritage significance of Westport House, its historic demesne and planned 18th-century town. The Society hopes the Westport 250 Study Day will encourage the new owners to be mindful of this cultural significance in its future guardianship, as well as to proactively inform Mayo County Council when deliberating on planning proposals that may adversely impact on Westport’s special cultural significance.

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CONSERVATION EDUCATION PROGRAMME

DUN LAOGHAIRE-RATHDOWN HISTORIC HOUSES, AUTUMN 2017 In the autumn of 2017, the Irish Georgian Society delivered its fourth Dun Laoghaire Rathdown’s Historic Houses Conservation Course, which was made possible through a grant from Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s Heritage Office.

With 2,000 protected structures, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown is the local authority with the largest number of listed buildings of any local authority other than Dublin City Council.

Delivered in the Royal St. George Yacht Club, the course comprised 12 conservation talks, which ran over six consecutive Tuesday evenings, and was complemented by local historian and planner Rob Goodbody’s architectural walking tour of Dun Laoghaire historic housing stock. The course was well attended by historic homeowners, as well as architects and builders, and provided an ‘A to Z’ of the history and significance of the county’s historic houses, and practical conservation advice on how to best look after them.

The talks addressed: what it means for your building to be a protected structure in terms of built heritage policy and legislation; how to make your building more energy efficient without compromising its historic building fabric; grants available for period buildings; how to sensitively extend your period building without compromising its historic integrity; and how to tackle water ingress and damp. There were also standalone talks explaining the history and significance, and care and conservation of historic windows, doors and staircases, brickwork, ironwork, and decorative plasterwork.

CONSERVING YOUR DUBLIN PERIOD HOUSE COURSE, SPRING 2018 Now in its tenth year, the Irish Georgian Society and Dublin City Council’s annual spring Conserving your Dublin Period House course was delivered in the City Assembly House.

The 12-week lunchtime talk series provided information on the history

and significance of Dublin’s period houses and practical advice on their conservation. The calibre of the lecturers (Peter Clarke, Ali Davey, Jacqui Donnelly, Charles Duggan, Lisa Edden, Susan Galavan, Sarah Halpin, Frank Keohane, Nicola Matthews, Carl Raftery, Dr. Nessa Roche, Susan Roundtree, Grainne Shaffrey and Andrew Smith), all acknowledged authorities on their respective topics, has resulted in the Society’s historic house courses being attended not only by historic homeowners, but by also architects, engineers, planners and builders, with their respective institutional bodies (namely the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Engineers Ireland, the Irish Planning Institute and the Construction Industry Federation) recognising the talks as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for their members.

SILVER IN GEORGIAN IRELAND SYMPOSIUM, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND, 30 MAY 2018 The Irish Georgian Society, Maynooth University and the National Museum of Ireland partnered to deliver a symposium on Wednesday, 30 May 2018, focusing on silver in Georgian Ireland.

The symposium showcased new research by established and emerging scholars, and examined the circumstances in which silver objects were made, used, valued and displayed in Georgian Ireland.

The symposium, held in the Palatine Room at the National Museum of Ireland in Collins Barracks, was at full capacity. The papers offered a variety of engaging perspectives on one of Dublin’s foremost artisanal trades during a period when new commodities, novel technologies and fashionable imports were transforming the market for luxury goods.

The symposium was opened by Dr. Audrey Whitty, NMI’s Keeper of the Art and Industrial Division, with papers delivered by: Dr. Toby Barnard, FBA, Emeritus Fellow in History, University of Oxford; John R

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Bowen, Master Warden, The Company of Goldsmiths of Dublin; Damian Collins, postgraduate student, Maynooth University; Dr. Jessica Cunningham, independent scholar; Dr. Alison FitzGerald, Lecturer, Department of History, Maynooth University; Professor Bert De Munck, Department of History, Centre for Urban History, University of Antwerp; Dr. Tessa Murdoch, Deputy Keeper, Department of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass, V&A; Dr. Zara Power and Dr. Thomas Sinsteden, independent scholars.

The inclusion of speakers from the United Kingdom and Europe allowed for a nuanced view of silver in Georgian Ireland that considers how the movement of people, patterns, and plate in the earlymodern world affected what was crafted and coveted in Irish towns and cities.

The programme of talks was complemented by tours of the National Museum of Ireland’s silver galleries with Michael Kenny, former Curator, NMI’s Art and Industrial Division, and Dr. Thomas Sinsteden.

2018 marks the 21st anniversary of the opening of the silver galleries, which contain an unrivalled display of Irish silver from the period, and allow for opportunity to consider the artefact evidence at first hand.

The Society wishes to thank Dr. Alison FitzGerald for so generously sharing her expertise of silver in Georgian Ireland and curating the programme, and William Laffan for co-convening the symposium. Lastly, grateful thanks are extended to symposium sponsors an anonymous donor, Ecclesiastical Insurance, Paul Mellon Centre for the Studies in British Art and Weldon of Dublin.

Emmeline Henderson, IGS Conservation Manager and Assistant Director The Conservation Education programme is supported annually by Merrion Property Group and Heather and John Picerne.

01 Dr Martin Mansergh delivering his paper, ‘The Act of Union - Its background, and its political, economic and social consequences’ at the Westport 250 Study Day. 02 Dr Alison FitzGerald, Maynooth University, Jimmy Weldon, Weldon Silver Dublin and Dr Audrey Whitty, Keeper of the Art and Industrial Division (Decorative Arts and History), National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks.

03 Silver Symposium speakers and chairs at the National Museum of Ireland, May 2018.

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THE SMALL WORKS GRANT SCHEME

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The Small Works Grant Scheme for Historic Railings, Newtown Pery Conor Hourigan Newtown Pery in Limerick contains a wealth of historic metalwork, both wrought and cast iron, which, combined with limestone kerbs and steps, gives the area much of its unique character. In recent years the majority of the railings have fallen into a sad state of repair. This neglect has been exacerbated by the poor quality of repair, or often complete removal, that has taken place.

The majority of railing repairs have involved the removal of part of the wrought iron balusters where they are set into the kerbs. This is generally done in two ways. Firstly, that the balusters are shortened and a continuous mild steel flat is introduced at low level or, alternatively, concrete is cast around the balusters at low level. Both repairs are damaging to the railings and ruin the aesthetic of the historic townhouse entrances.

Much more damaging, however, is the wholesale replacement of historic railings with poor quality mild steel. This has become increasingly prevalent. One other feature altering the appearance of historic railings is the insertion of gates and stairs to basement level. Originally, there would have been no gates in townhouse railings and the structure of the railings, which should span from wall back to wall in a C shape, is significantly weakened by the introduction of gates.

One of the main goals of this project was to arrange a demonstration to show how damaged railings could be restored. It was our intention to find a project that included all of the identified problems and to establish a sensitive way of repairing

the railings. Following a fundraising drive—supported by the Irish Georgian Society, Limerick City and Council and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht— Expressions of Interest were sought from owners of townhouses in Newtown Pery. Two townhouses were selected on Mallow Street, based on the criteria that they had much of their historic railing intact but that they suffered from many of the common issues discussed. Both houses have basement access and both had sets of railings that had been extensively modified with mild steel.

It was also decided to include a gated set of railings so that we could find a means of introducing the gate more sympathically and in a way that left the railings structurally sound. It was considered important to retain the gates, as most of the townhouses now have them (No. 28’s are used by a busy crèche) and this use of the basements from street level is valid and should be accommodated.

The project was tendered to five specialist blacksmiths, and a main contractor was appointed to provide supervision on site, health and safety, and PSCS. The successful blacksmith was Brendan St. John from Thurles.

Brendan dismantled the railings and ordered replacement wrought iron from England so that forge welding of the repair works could be started.

Entrance steps and kerbs showed signs of significant movement and mortar joints had opened (and had been patch repaired with sand cement). A stone mason re-set the entrance steps and kerbs. It was discovered that the original limestone steps had been set in what the mason

01 Multiple paint layers and decay to newel post.

02 Detail of restored newel post and spear final at No. 28.

03 Repair work to entrance steps and historic railings at No. 28 complete, with projecting signage removed.

called ‘loam’, basically a clay; this had caused fairly substantial slipping of the treads. The steps were re-set in a quick-setting hydraulic lime lean mix and pointed with a standard NHL 3 lime mortar.

There was some difficulty in reinstating the railings. The top rail, the flat bar through which the balusters pass, had been repaired and welded in the past; the set-out of the holes in it bore little relation to the original receiver holes in the kerbs.

The balusters were reset in the original holes using hot lead. New holes were doweled where the existing ones could not be matched. A powdered stone and resin mix was colour-matched to the existing kerbs and used to fill any holes. All the metalwork was stripped of paint using a mixture of mechanical and dry abrasive cleaning before priming and repainting.

Stone kerbs were cleaned lightly with high pressure low volume power washing. A section of the kerb at the gable end of No.28 had become severely damaged. This may have been due to an impact but there was also some frost damage. This section of stonework was replaced. New limestone kerbs were introduced with tool finishes and chamfers to match existing.

We requested the client remove the existing projecting signage and flower pots. The basement wall of No. 28 had been an exposed wall of random rubble limestone with a strap pointing; this was rendered in lime mortar. It is hoped that this particular client will keep the good work going and replace their PVC windows in due course.

Conor Hourigan is co-Director of Drake Hourigan Architects.

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Contractor: Henry Connolly Builder Ltd. Blacksmith: Brendan St. John Conservation Architect: Conor Hourigan, Drake Hourigan Architects Conservation Engineer: Austin Dennany, Dennant Reidy Associate Engineers Quantity Surveyor: David Ahern, Molloy Quantity Surveyors

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IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY REVIEW 17

Events Round-Up RĂłisĂ­n Lambe

This year has been no different than previous years for Irish Georgian Society Membership Events; we had an extremely busy 12 months of lectures, walking-tours, daytours and tours overseas. Apart from revisiting Lambay Island, members had the opportunity to engage with a number of properties seldom open to the public.

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Pat Murray and Glascott Symes finished the summer with two day-tours to Co. Kildare and Co. Waterford respectively. Pat visited Moyglare House, a mid-18th-century country house outside Maynooth—then led on to Leixlip Castle where the group had lunch before visiting Drummin House near Carbury. The final stop on this tour was Kildrought House. Glascott ventured south to visit Curraghmore where the group lunched. Also included was the 18th-century Clonegam Church, located on a spectacular site overlooking the Suir valley and the Woodhouse Estate.

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Another tour was led by Mary McGaver, exploring the buildings of Maynooth in the historic south campus. The first stop was Pugin Hall, designed by the notable architect A.W.N. Pugin in the 1840s at the height of the ‘Gothic Revival’. The Hall tour was followed by visits to Russell Library, Stoyte House, St. Patrick’s Collegiate Chapel, St. Joseph’s Square, Bicentenary Garden, and the National Science & Ecclesiology Museum, and a walk through Campus.

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Previous The 18th-century plasterwork ceiling of Charleville Castle, Co. Offaly.

01 Roisin Lambe, Alannah Pollard and Nicola Reilly at the IGS Christmas Party in Belvedere House. 02 Professor Kathleen James Chakraborty with Kristina Decker (University College Cork), the 2017 recipient of the Desmond Guinness Scholarship. 03 June Stuart and Denise McDonnell at the Christmas Party. 04 Members tour to Enniskerry, June 2018.

JPG. 05 IGS members trip to Poland at Dobrzyca.

Pat Murray led another exploration of the South City, visiting the Royal Irish Academy of Music at Westland Row, built in 1772 by Nicholas Tench. The Academy acquired No. 36 in 1870 from Henry de Burgh for the sum of £2,000. The rooms are fantastic and are used for a programme of performance events that is open to the public. There was also the added surprise of a visit to Sweny’s chemist, where the group was given a talk on the history and the famous connection to James Joyce. Members were all treated to a bar of lemon soap. Following this, there was a tour of Leinster House with Senator David Norris, and a lunch in Patrick Guilbaud’s Restaurant.

Our Christmas Party was in the festive and beautiful Belvedere House, designed by Robert West for George Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere, and completed in 1786. Members enjoyed refreshments in the presence of stunning neo-Classical plasterwork by Michael Stapleton, and dramatic vistas as the house terminates the north end of North Great George’s Street.

The lectures for the year started with a special occasion with the annual Standish

Barry lecture, this time hosted by Ireland.

The lecture was given by Roger White on ‘The phenomenon of the Cottage Orné’; detailing the cottage orné’s origins in mid-18thcentury England and how it rapidly found favour in Ireland and the Continent. The lecture was followed by a drinks reception held in the beautiful rooms of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. Other lectures proved no less popular, starting with Peter Francis on ‘17th and 18th century Irish Glass and Ceramics’, providing great insight into the varying styles and rare pieces of Irish glass and ceramics. The next lecture, given by George Williams on ‘Headfort House and the Taylour Legacy’, explored George’s connections to the house and detailed the furniture and collections belonging to the house. Jeanne Meldon gave an excellent whistlestop tour of the works of Pugin, titled, ‘From the Houses of Parliament to Maynooth: a short biographical portrait of Augustus Welby Pugin’; it was both a very useful and entertaining insight into his life, and how events in his life informed and motivated his interesting creations. Starting off the lectures in reopened City Assembly House in February, Dr. Ruth Kenny delivered a very appropriate and informative lecture on the upcoming exhibition ‘Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland’. Ruth provided a curatorial view of hanging the exhibition. The next lecture discussed new ventures, with Gráinne Shaffrey and Dr. Ellen Rowley delivering a lecture titled ‘Who is Henrietta? Developing the Tenement Museum Dublin Project at No.14 Henrietta Street—conservation and curatorial perspectives’. In March, Sandra Lefroy, who is William Wordsworth’s greatgreat-great-grandniece, gave a light-hearted and intriguing presentation following the fortunes of the Wordsworth and Lefroy families through the years, with particular attention to Tom Lefroy’s liaison with Jane Austen. Professor Christine Casey gave a lecture that addressed the central concerns of her most recent publication ‘Making Magnificence: architects, stuccodores and the eighteenth century interior’, which examines the relationship of architecture and decoration, the collaboration of architects and craftsmen and the role of materials in the production of architecture. Dr. Myles Campbell is part of the team for Collections, Research and Interpretation Office of the Office of Public Works based in Dublin Castle.

Myles presented the lecture, ‘Making Majesty:

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The Marquess of Buckingham’s Presence Chamber at Dublin Castle’, on the most recent exhibition in Dublin Castle. The last lecture in the series, ‘Moving Gardens at a late stage in life’, was given by Helen Dillon, gardener extraordinaire, reflecting on her recent move from her famous garden in Ranelagh in Dublin and to embark on a new garden in Monkstown, Co. Dublin.

Arran Henderson of Dublin Decoded Tours brought members on a tour of the area of Grangegorman through Granby Place and Lane, Mary’s Place, Upper Dominick Street, Constitution Hill, through Lower Grangegorman to the extraordinary new DIT campus. Featuring various institutions, including a fever hospital, workhouses, and Francis Johnston’s women’s penitentiary, this remarkable area was effectively hidden from view but now, is being made a visible and viable part of Dublin City. Another tour is a walk of the Camden Street, Aungier Street area, exploring the development of the area and the Victorian, Georgian and early Modern architecture, and the 1600s estate built on the grounds of the White Friars by Francis Aungier, 1st Lord Longford, including a former prison, a forgotten manorial courthouse, and vanished churches, not to mention a rich artistic, political and commercial history. Arran also led members on a foot-tour of Grafton Street’s architectural eccentricities and social history.

Joseph Lynch led a tour that covered the architectural development of the southside of the Georgian city, with particular focus on the Aungier and Merrion estates and the characters who shaped this residential and commercial heart of the city in the Georgian period.

Glascott Symes and Nick Sheaff devised an interesting itinerary for members on the trip to the historic city of Bath. The members had a chance to take in the city on a guided walking tour of the Georgian city and on a coach tour of the later Georgian areas. The museums visited included the Building of Bath, Holburne and No. 1 Royal Crescent, and also visited were the gardens of Prior Park with its Palladian bridge, and, on an ownerled tour, Corsham Court, Wiltshire, which contains a notable art collection.

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EVENTS ROUND-UP

Another fantastic day tour organised

by Pat Murray saw the members return to Co. Louth, visiting neoclassicalstyle Rokeby Hall, built for Richard Robinson, Archbishop of Armagh; the work was initially designed by Thomas Cooley and built c. 1785 by renowned Irish architect Francis Johnston. After this members visited another Francis Johnston masterpiece, Townley Hall. The members had lunch in the garden house at Townley. After lunch, Beaulieu House, a great example of an early unfortified mansion, built in late-17th century, and then Dowth Hall, built in 1760 by the sixth Viscount Netterville.

Glascott Symes led a very special tour of North Great George’s Street, kindly hosted by the North Great George’s Street Preservation Society. The street was developed in the 1770s and 1780s on the grounds of Mount Eccles. The earlier houses have rococo decoration, while the majority are neoclassical, with work by Charles Thorp and Michael Stapleton. The members got to see the great work carried out in the second half of the century in restoring the Georgian townhouses.

June was a very busy month for the Irish Georgian Society as the City Assembly House officially opened with the exhibition titled ‘Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland, the Society of Artists’ Exhibitions Recreated’. Three members’ tours were organised with Ruth Kenny, who went through some of the 80 works shown originally by the Society of Artists of Ireland between 1766 and 1780.

Rose Mary Craig organised a tour to the magnificent houses and gardens of Enniskerry, with the kind permission of their owners. Members got to wander around the picturesque gardens of Dargle Hill (Mr. and Mrs. W. Somerville), examine the collections of Dargle Cottage (Mr. J. Ronan) and explore Bushy Park (Mr. Chris De Burgh and Mrs. Diane Davison).

The almost traditional annual Picnic tour was organised by Pat Murray, this time to Co. Louth. The group, braving the downpour of rain, visited Balrath House,

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Roodstown Castle and the ‘jumping church’ at Kildemock, had a picnic lunch at Shanlis House, and stopped by Monasterboice high cross and Mellifont Abbey.

01 Sunny weather for the IGS members foreign tour to Sicily, November 2017.

02 David Boles and Estee Wiederkehr enjoying the gardens at Kildrought House during our Kildare Picnic Tour.

03 Hostess Marion McKeever of Shanlis House serving up a hearty lunch to our visiting members in July! 04 The 2017 Benefactor and Patrons lunch was held at Luggala, Co. Wicklow.

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Also organised by Pat Murray was a day tour to houses in Laois, Offaly and Kildare. The tour began with a visit to Ballybrittan Castle, a beautifully restored 18th-century house with a tower house attached, near Edenderry. The group then proceeded to Francis Johnston’s Gothic Revival Charleville Castle for a tour and lunch. Travelling into Laois, there were tours of the Emo Court, a neo-classical mansion designed by Gandon. Finally homeward bound, there was a final stop to Pickering Forest, the home of Marina Guinness.

In September, the Society held an exhibition of the work of the extraordinary artist John Nankivell, who has drawn some of the most evocative images of decaying Irish country houses and castles. In an extremely enjoyable lunchtime talk and exhibition preview, the artist discussed his fascinating life, his extensive travels with Lady Betjeman and his years spent in Ireland with Seamus Hogan.

Róisín Lambe is the IGS Events and Membership Coordinator.

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IRL

Chapter Reports

Ireland

With Chapters in Birr, Cork and Limerick in Ireland, and overseas in London, New York, Chicago, Boston and Austin, members can enjoy talks and events in Ireland and abroad as the various reports for happenings over the last twelve months show.

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Birr/Midlands Chapter Elizabeth Fogarty The Birr/Midlands Chapter is now 25 years old, having been established in 1993.

During the year, there was continued interest in two main projects: the Birr FAN (Famous and Notables) trail and the repatriation of the Eyrecourt staircase.

The FAN trail

Elizabeth Fogarty, Ailish Drake, Kevin Hurley, Ashleigh Murray & Michael G. Kerrigan

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Two new ‘blue plaques’ were added to the FAN trail in 2018—one dedicated to Lord Snowdon and one to Alice Cashel. Lord Snowdon, who became a world famous photographer, began his association with Birr after his mother married her second husband, the 6th Earl of Rosse, in 1935. He thereafter divided his holidays between his father’s home in Wales, and his mother’s new home in Birr, where he liked to spend most of his time in the castle workshops with Willie Eades and with Billie Butler in his chemist shop in Birr Main Street. This is where he really learned to take his first photographs.

The second new plaque is dedicated to Alice Cashel, who was born in Birr and became a founding member of Cork Cumann na mBan. There are now 27 blue plaques around the town and the trail is a creative and informative addition to the tourist experience in Birr.

Birr Municipal District continued its generous support of the project by awarding a grant to cover the cost of the two new plaques. Offaly County Council also continued its support by including FAN trail details on its website www. visitoffaly.ie/Things-to-do/CultureHeritage/FAN-Trail/ Repatriation of the Eyrecourt Staircase The Eyrecourt staircase’s rededication has been on the agenda of the Birr/ Midlands committee for some time, with little progress being made. Its greatest supporter, Professor Rolf Loeber, unfortunately died in November 2017, to the regret of our Patron and Committee.

Condolences were expressed at the December meeting of the Committee.

Annual Chapter meeting The 23rd annual meeting of the Chapter

took place in Birr on 13 November 2017 with an address from the then Chapter Head and a report from the Chair. As a result of the discussion at the IGS annual meeting on 4 November held in Abbey Leix, the term ‘Chapter Head’ was discussed and considered unconstitutional; from now on the term Patron will be used instead. The Committee was re-elected and Lord Rosse designated Patron of the Birr/Midlands Chapter.

Events during the year Christmas party: this took place at Birr Castle on 15 December, graciously hosted

by Lord and Lady Rosse. The event was well attended by members and friends.

Georgian Day, 18 August 2018: in the context of Heritage Week, a Georgian Day was held in Birr for members and friends of the IGS. The day began with a presentation to Birr Library of the reports of the Committee for the years 1993 to 2013. This was designed to mark not only the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Birr Chapter, but also to contribute to the local history section of the library where members of the community can consult the documents that reflect a quarter century of monitoring of the town’s heritage. Participation included Michael Parsons, current Chair of the Heritage Council, and also a member of the Birr/ Midlands Chapter Committee.

A short walk covering the Georgian highlights of the town: this included visits to the Church of Ireland, notable for its Gothic style and galleries, and the Catholic church, which houses remarkable examples of stained glass windows including one dedicated to the Leinster Regiment, once headquartered in Crinkill on the outskirts of Birr. At John’s Hall—erected to the memory of John Clere Parsons—Lord Rosse had generously displayed the plans of this building, built in the style of a Greek classical temple, as well as original drawings by architect Samuel Chearnley, presented in a work known as the ‘miscelanea structura curiosa’, copies of which were on sale.

Samuel Chearnley is also the architect of the column in the centre of Birr’s Emmet Square, the first one anywhere in Ireland, whilst Bernard Mullins was the architect of John’s Hall and the principal architect of our Georgian heritage town.

Lecture: ‘Making the grand figure: country houses in Georgian Ireland’. The Chapter was delighted to host Dr. Patricia McCarthy who gave a lively talk on life in the Georgian houses of Ireland. This was a well attended event at the end of which a special presentation was made to John Joyce who was instrumental in establishing the Birr Chapter back in 1993 and has been the Committee Chair ever since.

Elizabeth Fogarty Chapter Secretary

01 Lord and Lady Rosse, Patrons of the Birr/Midlands Chapter at a ceremony to mark the presentation of the Chapter's Reports (1993 to 2013) to Birr Library.02 Lord Rosse welcomes Dr Patricia McCarthy and Chapter Committee to John’s Hall, Co. Offaly.

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Ireland

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Cork Chapter Kevin Hurley

Limerick Chapter Ailish Drake We have had a busy year in Limerick, not least following our hurlers to the All Ireland Final! One of the most memorable evenings this summer was when O’Connell Street was closed to traffic to welcome home our team and Limerick people flowed onto the streets in their droves. Yet again, we can see what a great Georgian street it is, but sadly, we have yet to convince the local authority to remove the through traffic.

I wrote last year about our consultations on the O’Connell Street Revitalisation Scheme (LUCROC). The scheme has not progressed at the rate envisaged and will go to An Bord Pleanála to have its fate decided. However, it has been a catalyst for civic engagement in the city. It has given us the opportunity to reach out to other organisations and explore how our objectives can compliment others’ aims, to create a diverse range of groups working together towards a common goal, a people friendly, liveable city.

It is also worth noting that the National Transport Authority is in the process of awarding a contract for a Transport Strategy for Limerick 20192040” to provide a long-term strategic planning framework for the integrated development of transport infrastructure and services in the Limerick Metropolitan Area”. We hope to be given the opportunity to engage with this process as it develops and are hopeful that a forward-thinking urban mobility strategy will be proposed, which can only be of benefit to the protection of our historic fabric.

In the spring of this year, Limerick City and County Council published the Draft Limerick Tourism Development and Marketing Strategy. The Limerick Chapter, in our submitted observation, noted that the draft report makes little reference to the built heritage of Limerick City. Cultural tourism is a growth area and the historic Georgian district of Limerick, Newtown Pery, contains a wealth of 18th- and 19th-century buildings, streets and public spaces that could be hugely attractive to potential tourists.

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The rich architectural built heritage in Newtown Pery can be seen in the urban grain, the Georgian grid layout, the beautifully proportioned streets lined with Georgian townhouses, and its public spaces, that of The Crescent, Pery Square, John’s Square and The People’s Park.

The area is enhanced and enriched by its public buildings, The Hunt Museum, The Commercial Buildings, its banks, chapels, churches and galleries. The cultural tourists and ‘social energisers’ that we hope to attract to Limerick City are in search of an authentic experience.

An experience of a city that can be found on foot, without necessarily paying into museums and interpretive centres, where the architectural aesthetics and social life of the city can be seen and experienced right on our city streets, in our squares, parks and gardens.

While we have no wish for Georgian Limerick to become a museum piece, neglecting to promote Georgian Limerick as a significant site of cultural heritage as part of Limerick’s tourism strategy is a missed opportunity; perhaps the recently appointed, high profile creative agency M&C Saatchi will see what others have failed to see for decades gone by.

Throughout the year we were delighted to welcome consistently interesting and engaging speakers. We enjoyed a wonderful evening in Limerick with Sir David Davies, who introduced the Knight of Glin Memorial Talk, presented

by William Laffan, at No. 2 Pery Square.

We would like to thank all our speakers William Laffan, Pat Ruane, John Moran, Dr. Karol Mullaney-Dignam, Sheila Deegan, Liam Irwin, Joe Kemmy and Brian Callanan for their fascinating talks and enlightening stories. Our members also enjoyed a wonderful, curated tour and evening of music at City Assembly House in July—thank you to all involved.

This summer we are also celebratied the completion of the first project in our Small Grants Scheme for the restoration of historic railings. Two townhouses on Mallow Street are now complete (read about this pilot project on pages 3637). We are currently selecting the next

projects and intend to roll out the scheme over the coming years. We owe a huge thanks to the consultant team, Conor Hourigan, Conservation Architect, David Ahern, Quantity Surveyor and Austin Dennany, Conservation Engineer—all of whom provided their services on a voluntary basis. We would also like to thank Tom Cassidy, Conservation Officer, Limerick City and County Council, for his time and funding support and also the Irish Georgian Foundation for funding support. Finally, thank you to our committee who continue to work tirelessly.

Ailish Drake, Chapter Head B Arch. Sc., MA MRAI

01 Limerick Chapter tour of the Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland exhibition, July 2018 02 Sir David Davies meeting members of the Limerick Chapter.

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Our 2017 concluded with a celebration of old and new, on Saturday, 25 November 2017, on a cold and dry morning ideal for visiting an 18th-century house and a 19th-century church. Our first visit was to Holy Trinity Church (Church of Ireland), Frankfield, designed by Sir Thomas Deane in a ‘Georgian Gothick’ style in 1838 and later altered by William Burges in 1865. The church was funded

by Samuel Lane of nearby Frankfield House. Dr. Alicia St. Leger gave a very comprehensive and informative talk on the church and its patrons. We drove a short distance to Donnybrook House, Douglas, that was the recipient of an IGS Conservation Grant. We were greeted with wonderful refreshments, courtesy of our host Mr. Robert Crichton, and we had the company of Ms. Ciara O’Flynn, who researched the history of the house and its architectural composition. We concluded our day with a fine seasonal lunch at the fabulous Hayfield Manor hotel, enjoyed by all.

Our 2018 season began, as is tradition, with a visit to the Crawford Art Gallery, and this year the gallery hosted the George Victor Du Noyer exhibition. Petra Coffey and Peter Murray, former Director of the Crawford Art Gallery and curator of the exhibition, gave us a very informative lecture on Du Noyer and his travels around the country with his work as part of the Ordnance Survey. Du Noyer was remarkable for his devotion to recording the antiquarian and archaeological sites that are such a characteristic feature of the Irish landscape. Following the lecture, Peter Murray guided the members at a gentle pace around the exhibition to view the various works and then we retired to Isaacs on McCurtain Street for a welldeserved and enjoyable lunch.

A proposed film screening in March was deferred upon learning of the passing of Eveline St. Leger, a great supporter of the Cork Chapter and mother of Alicia, our Hon. Secretary among her other roles, and her brother Guy, who is also a regular patron of our events. I regularly enjoyed their company as I often travelled with them to many of our events. I will greatly

miss Eveline’s company and extend the condolences of the Cork Chapter and committee to both Alicia and Guy. A lost West Cork Palladian complex formed the centrepiece of a visit on Saturday, 14 April. Our first visit was to Templetrine Church of Ireland, an attractive early 19th-century ‘Board of First Fruits’ church with a castellated tower situated on an elevated site.

Dr. Alicia St. Leger spoke about the church and its history and we were also accompanied by Raymond White a local historian who shed much light on those interred in the adjoining graveyard.

Garrettstown House is a mid-18thcentury Palladian house with a surviving pair of wings and is the former seat of the Kearney’s. It is now part of a holiday park and the current owner, Mr. Denis Mawe, has done much to conserve the remaining estate features, including the orangery, a circular folly and an amphitheatre.

We repaired to the ‘Pink Elephant’ for some delightful fare and stunning coastal views. We departed for ‘The Old Head Signal Tower’ that once was part of an early 19th-century warning system to counter any possible foreign invasion. The tower has recently been restored and tells the story of signal towers and the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915.

A rather auspicious day, Saturday, 19 May, saw the Cork Chapter in Cahir and was also a special wedding at Windsor Castle–some were torn between the two attractions. As it happened, a discerning group enjoyed the visit to the town, the castle and the world-famous ‘Swiss Cottage’ in which the Irish Georgian Society played no small role. We were expertly guided around the town by Dr. David Butler whose encyclopaedic knowledge of Cahir greatly contributed to an enjoyable day. We enjoyed a culinary feast at ‘Lava Rock’ restaurant and then drove the short distance to the Swiss Cottage to round off an excellent day.

The loss of a friend and colleague is always difficult, and more so with Myrtle Allen, who was also the Patron of the Cork Chapter. Myrtle had always been helpful with events and suggestions and always

very generously offered to accommodate guests or speakers at Ballymaloe for our events. We enjoyed many events with Myrtle, more often than not accompanied by her daughter Wendy and son-in-law Jim, to whom we extend our condolences, along with sincere condolences to her family and wide circle of friends.

As ever, I would like to extend my thanks to the committee, Dr. Alicia St. Leger, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Edmund Corrigan, Geraldine O’Riordan, Marianne Harris and our late Patron, Myrtle Allen.

Kevin Hurley Chapter Head

01 Kevin Hurley presenting a copy of the Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies Journal to Dr. David Butler 02 Cork Chapter members at Swiss Cottage, Co. Tipperary.

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01 Members visit to Castle Goring in Sussex.

02 IGS London Summer Party at Zachary House (Photo courtesy of Stuart Blakley).

03 Host Annie Mackeson-Sandbach and Ashleigh Murray, Committee Chair at the IGS Summer Party at Zachary House (Photo: Stuart Blakley). 04 IGS London members at Bignor Park, West Sussex. 05 20 Ghost Club at Milton Hall, Cambridgeshire, England. 06 Members visit to the Mansion House, London.

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Irish Georgian Society London Ashleigh Murray IGS London has undertaken many exciting changes this past year, including our official move to online payments for events. Additionally, we redesigned our events listing to make it more concise and visually attractive. We also revitalised our Young Irish Georgians (YIG), with our younger membership increasing encouragingly.

As always, we have been busy with a wide range of events. Our Autumn/ Winter programme began with a private tour of the 18th-century Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. In October, Stuart Blakley arranged a visit to Sussex, beginning with the late-18th-century Castle Goring, an unusual house with contrasting Palladian and Gothic elevations. An entertaining tour was led by the owner, the celebrated Lady Colin Campbell, writer, socialite and media personality. This was followed by a visit to Bignor Park, a pretty Regency house belonging to Viscount Mersey.

Our first lecture of the season was provided by Roger White on ‘cottages ornés’ to coincide with the publication of his book on this fascinating topic. At the end of October, Lucy O’Connor arranged a walking tour of Sir Christopher Wren’s riverside masterpiece, the Old Royal Naval College (ORNC), Greenwich. This expert tour was led by William Palin, Conservation Director at the ORNC, and former Director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage.

November began with a lecture by IGS member Bryan Mills on Bellamont Forest, Co. Cavan, a 1728 Palladian villa designed by Edward Lovett Pearce. Bryan gave a heartfelt account of the pleasures and pains of owning, part restoring, and living in such a beautiful house during the late-20th century. Later that month, Peter and Anne Verity kindly hosted a YIG drinks party, the catalyst for our recent young membership drive.

Our final event of 2017 was our annual pre-Christmas dinner, organised by Tim and Marylyn Bacon, and held at the 1911 clubhouse of the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall.

This present year began with an interesting lecture on the architectural history of the great city of Belfast by the well-known architectural historian Dr. Paul Larmour. In March, a YIG drinks evening was held at the former Spitalfields home of Mariga Guinness, with a short talk by the distinguished architectural historian Dan Cruickshank.

Soon after, was our traditional St. Patrick’s Day Party, which included an overview of the Society’s Irish activities

by Emmeline Henderson, Conservation Manager & Assistant Director of the IGS, followed by a review of the 2017 Conservation Grants Scheme (funded

by London) and our annual overview of London events by Ashleigh Murray, Committee Chair of IGS London.

Our Spring/Summer events programme began with a rare, one-off tour organised

by Stuart Blakley of Sir John Soane’s country home, Pitzhanger Manor, where extensive restoration works are nearing completion. Following our 2017 tour of the Mansion House, architect and former London Chapter Chairman, Nicholas Thompson, gave a lecture on the history of this important building and a major refurbishment programme undertaken by the conservation architectural practice Donald Insall Associates.

In early May, Tim and Marylyn Bacon arranged this year’s tour with the 20 Ghost Club and their wonderful, pre-1930 Rolls-Royce motor cars.

It was the 40th Anniversary of the two societies coming together and we returned to Northamptonshire, a county noted for the richness of its country houses. Highpoints were Milton, Apethorpe and Drayton; all breathtaking in their different ways, and none readily accessible to visitors. Other houses included Boughton, Kelmarsh Hall, Stanford Hall, Deene Park and Rockingham Castle.

In June, Stuart Blakley arranged a day in King’s Lynn, beginning with the home of Simon Thurley, former Chief Executive of English Heritage, and Dr. Anna Keay, Director of the Landmark Trust. This was followed by a walking tour of the

historic town. Our yearly Summer Party was held at Zachary House, the home of IGS London Member Annie MackesonSandbach. This Georgian building, on the Thames riverfront, is particularly notable for its occupants, including the pop star Midge Ure who recorded the Band Aid hit song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ at the house. The last event of the summer was a day visit to Kent, arranged by Esme Fay and John Barber, which included Sprivers Mansion, an Elizabethan house with a radical Georgian remodelling, and the 1728 Queen-Anne-style Matfield House.

IGS London is entirely run on a voluntary basis and we are very grateful to all new and past Committee members who continue to provide invaluable assistance. We are also very thankful to the continuing support from our IGS London members, and very much look forward to the coming year.

At the end of July we were, however, very sad to hear of the passing of Rob van Mesdag, long-standing Society member and IGS London committee member. Rob was always positive, impeccably dressed and unfailingly courteous, and will be sadly missed by us all.

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01 Beth Dater, Sheila O’Malley Fuchs and Robert O’Byrne at the New York Gala Dinner. 02 Sir David Davies, Beth Dater, Deputy Lord Mayor Áine Clancy and Donough Cahill at Dublin's City Hall for the launch of Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland, June 2018. 03 American members of the Irish Georgian Society at Abbey Leix with Sir David Davies, June 2018. 04 Beth Dater addresses attendees of the New York Gala Dinner. 05 Dinner for Donors and Lenders, Honorable Society of Kings Inns, 14 June 2018 (Photo courtesy of Tom Cooney)

IGS Inc. Michael G. Kerrigan The past year has been a very busy one for the Society and for the American Chapter. Much of our energy was spent preparing for the re-opening of the City Assembly House and the launch of Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland to commemorate the restoration of the building, made possible in part through the generosity of many American supporters for which the Society is very grateful.

Our recap of the last 12 months begins with a visit to Ireland in June of 2017.

The inspiration for this tour came from Beth Dater, the Chair of the American Board of Directors, who had a group of friends who were all celebrating important birthdays. Beth invited them to join her at Ballyfin for three days of rest, relaxation, touring and entertainment. For those of you who have not been to Ballyfin, it is the most elegant of country house hotels in Co. Laois—an 1828 country house designed

by Sir Richard and William Morrison for Sir Charles Coote. In the early 2000s the house and grounds were restored to a marvelous standard and Ballyfin started a new life as a country house hotel.

We were well entertained on our visit, including a visit to Abbey Leix, the home of Sir David Davies, the President of the Society, who hosted a marvelous luncheon for the group on a beautiful summer day.

The highlight of our visit was a Summer Solstice Dinner hosted by Beth for her American and Irish friends, a night to be remembered. Drinks were served in the library, followed by a beautiful dinner in the conservatory, complete with music during and after dinner.

September found us gearing up for the Fall fundraising events in New York City, Chicago and Charleston, South Carolina.

Chantal O’Sullivan was kind enough to host a kick-off party for the New York dinner at her shop in New York on 21 September, which was great fun.

In mid-October, a group of American members flew to Ireland for the opening of the Wexford Opera Festival at the

invitation of Sir David Davies, the chairman of the Festival. After an enjoyable evening in Dublin, the next day we drove down to Co. Laois for a luncheon hosted by Sir David at Abbey Leix. We were joined by an illustrious group of houseguests, all opera lovers and long-time friends of Sir David’s.

After lunch we formed a caravan and headed to Wexford for opening night at the National Opera House.

We were very well looked after, with Sir David including us in a grand dinner after the Opera on Friday night.

During the day, we toured nearby points of interest. We visited Curraghmore House in Co. Waterford, where Lord and Lady Waterford hosted a luncheon for us after we toured the house and grounds, and learned of upcoming plans to restore the house.

On Saturday we visited Saunderscourt Gate Lodges in Co. Wexford, just outside Wexford, where we were met by Dr. Edward McParland of Trinity College, Pro Chancellor of the university and a champion of the Irish Landmark Trust, who gave us an overview of plans to restore this handsome structure.

Immediately afterwards, we were entertained at The Deeps, the elegant Regency villa nearby, the home of Peter Pearson and his wife Phil Stewart, where it was announced an American supporter was making a gift to help restore Saunderstown Gate Lodge and to recognize the contribution Dr. McParland has made to his field.

25 October found us in New York for a dinner at The New York Yacht Club.

The dinner was held in the magnificent Model Room of the Club, a space right out of the Gilded Age, where the America’s Cup was displayed for many years. The party was attended by 120 guests, including a group of distinguished visitors from Ireland. The focus of the evening was to raise funds for the upcoming exhibition, Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland.

Friday of the same week found us in Chicago for a similar dinner at the Casino Club, one of Chicago’s great

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01 Jane and Tom Kearns at Summer Solstice Dinner Party at Ballyfin, Co. Laois. 02 Paul Keiler and Christina McInerney. 03 Kay Krehbiel and Sir David at the Chicago Gala Dinner, October 2017. 04 Jean Hutar and Brendan Hynes at the New York Gala Dinner. 05 Fred Krehbiel with Lawrie and Ed Weed at the Chicago Gala Dinner. 06 Former Taoiseach John Bruton officially launching the Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland exhibition at the City Assembly House, 14 June 2018.

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private clubs. The dinner was attended by 150 people and was a roaring success, raising funds for the upcoming Society of Artists exhibition. Afterwards, American board member Tom Tormey hosted an after-party at Bistro Margeaux at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, attended by many of the guests and great fun.

In early January, Beth Dater and friends, Margaret and Bill Constantine, along with Michael Kerrigan, met in Dublin for a few days on a reconnaissance trip to prepare for the re-opening of the City Assembly House.

Both Beth and Michael were on the Society of Artists Steering Committee that met while we were in town to help plan the upcoming exhibition, Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland. On the recommendation of Irish Georgian Foundation Chair Michael Wall, we visited the King’s Inns, a beautiful Georgian building designed by James Gandon in 1796. The dining hall of this building is magnificent, and all agreed it would be a perfect setting for a dinner to celebrate the restoration of the City Assembly House.

March found us headed to Florida and Savannah, Georgia. A very considerate friend of the Society, Suzy Moran, hosted a elegant cocktail party for 75 people at her house in Palm Beach on Friday, 9 March. It was a beautiful evening that allowed us to gather around the pool outside for drinks and a short talk about the upcoming exhibition planned for June in Dublin.

The next evening Fred and Kay Krehbiel hosted a lovely dinner party for the American Board of Directors and our Irish visitors at their house, which was great fun. The following evening, Beth Dater gave a beautiful dinner party for 36 friends of the Society in honour of Sir David Davies.

This dinner was followed by a Board of Directors Meeting at The Brazilian Court Hotel on Monday morning, 12 March, after which Director Tom Tormey hosted a Luncheon/High Tea, attended by 60 people. Robert O’Byrne gave a riveting talk about great Irish

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women of the 18th century, much to the audience’s delight.

We then headed north along the Atlantic coast to Vero Beach, Florida, where board member Paul Keeler hosted an evening lecture and reception at The John’s Island Club, attended by 40 friends of the Society. Afterwards, a small dinner was held for special guests and our Irish visitors.

Through the good graces of board member Marti Sullivan and her husband Austin, we next arrived at the Ford Plantation outside Savannah, Georgia, the former estate of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford. The Sullivans hosted a cocktail party and lecture for 50 people in the livingroom of the clubhouse. Robert O’Byrne gave a short talk about the history of the Society before introducing special guest, Mr. Turtle Bunbury. Turtle gave an entertaining talk about the links between Savannah and Ireland, which are numerous. This was followed by an Oyster Roast Dinner on the grounds of the Ford Plantation, a rare treat for all our guests.

The next day, was St. Patrick’s Day, and Turtle Bunbury was the speaker at a blacktie dinner hosted by The Hibernian Society of Savannah, attended by 1,000 distinguished members of this organization. It was a grand affair and Turtle’s talk was met with rounds of applause.

Late-April found Chair Beth Dater and Michael Kerrigan back in Dublin for another very productive meeting of the Society of Artists Steering Committee as part of our final push to get ready for the re-opening of the City Assembly House and the launch of the exhibition in June.

June soon arrived and we were off to Dublin. We are pleased to report that 60 American donors and friends of the Society elected to join the American Board for four days of events in Ireland, carefully planned around the reopening of the City Assembly House and the launch of the exhibition, Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland. The preview opening for Donors and Lenders of paintings to the exhibition took place on

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Thursday, 14 June, at the CAH. Sir David Davies and others presided over the opening ceremonies. Afterwards, a grand dinner for 175 people was held at the King’s Inns. The American Chapter of the Society happily hosted the Dinner for this august group through the generosity of IGS Inc. Board members and American supporters of the Society. There was just enough pomp and circumstance to mark the importance of this historic occasion, and great fun was had by all.

After a weekend of opening events, a group of 20 Americans left Dublin for a tour of houses and gardens of lenders to the exhibition. Our hosts could not have been more gracious as we toured the country.

The weekend of events was a fitting way to give tribute to the re-opening of an historical cultural landmark in Dublin. The City Assembly House has been restored to a high standard. The Knight of Glin Exhibition Room, restored through funding made possible by the Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Family Foundation, meets museum exhibition standards, which will allow the Irish Georgian Society to host cultural events well into the future.

We look forward to another year of exciting activity, in both the United States and in Ireland, and want to thank all of our American supporters for their generosity and participation in all of our events.

Michael G. Kerrigan Executive Director

01 David Fleming, Donough Cahill and Johnny Sullivan sampling Sullivan’s Red Ale at the launch in City Hall. 02 Tom Savage and Marti Sullivan at the Chicago Gala Dinner. 03 Susan Burke and Sir David Davies at the Chicago Gala Dinner.

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