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Great Irish Houses and Castles
From the earliest castle strongholds to the impressive creations of the high Victorian era, Ireland's magnificent architectural heritage is richly portrayed here as never before. Splendid new photographs, many taken from the air, present a breathtaking selection of more than 70 important properties.
Key masterpieces have been included from every the imposing medieval fortification of Dunsany Castle; the first piece of domestic architecture at a wealth of grand country houses built in the elegant Palladian style, such as Castletown, Russborough, and Powerscourt; virtuoso works from the Regency period, including Mount Stewart, Barons Court, and Castle Coole; and inventive Gothic Revival houses built in the fashionable crenellated style, such as the magnificent Glin and Tullynally castles. While these buildings have been chosen for their outstanding architectural interest, others, like Abbey Leix, have been selected for their sumptuous interiors.
Jacqueline O'Brien's more than 300 full-color photographs capture not only aerial and landscape views of the houses and gardens, but also the wealth of interior detail and furnishings. Desmond Guinness's stimulating and lively text offers much new information. Together, they reveal how the cumulative effects of architecture, plasterwork, paneling, furniture, paintings, and silver, allied to fascinating family traditions, have endowed each of the great houses and castles with a character all its own. An invaluable list of architects and craftsmen who worked in Ireland - including Richard Castle, Robert Adam, James Gandon, Sir Richard Morrison, and Michael Stapleton - and a special section on Irish decorative arts complete this unparalleled volume.
Key masterpieces have been included from every the imposing medieval fortification of Dunsany Castle; the first piece of domestic architecture at a wealth of grand country houses built in the elegant Palladian style, such as Castletown, Russborough, and Powerscourt; virtuoso works from the Regency period, including Mount Stewart, Barons Court, and Castle Coole; and inventive Gothic Revival houses built in the fashionable crenellated style, such as the magnificent Glin and Tullynally castles. While these buildings have been chosen for their outstanding architectural interest, others, like Abbey Leix, have been selected for their sumptuous interiors.
Jacqueline O'Brien's more than 300 full-color photographs capture not only aerial and landscape views of the houses and gardens, but also the wealth of interior detail and furnishings. Desmond Guinness's stimulating and lively text offers much new information. Together, they reveal how the cumulative effects of architecture, plasterwork, paneling, furniture, paintings, and silver, allied to fascinating family traditions, have endowed each of the great houses and castles with a character all its own. An invaluable list of architects and craftsmen who worked in Ireland - including Richard Castle, Robert Adam, James Gandon, Sir Richard Morrison, and Michael Stapleton - and a special section on Irish decorative arts complete this unparalleled volume.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 1993
About the author
Desmond Guinness
24 booksDesmond Walter Guinness (8 September 1931 – 20 August 2020) was an Anglo-Irish author of Georgian art and architecture, a conservationist and the co-founder of the Irish Georgian Society. He was the second son of the author and brewer Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, and his then wife Diana Mitford (later Lady Mosley).
In 1958, he bought Leixlip Castle, Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland, where he lived with both his first wife, Princess Henriette Marie-Gabrielle von Urach, generally known as Mariga, and later his second wife, the former Penelope Cuthbertson, whom he married in 1984.
In 1958, he bought Leixlip Castle, Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland, where he lived with both his first wife, Princess Henriette Marie-Gabrielle von Urach, generally known as Mariga, and later his second wife, the former Penelope Cuthbertson, whom he married in 1984.
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August 1, 2015
Good, well presented, comprehensive book looking at the great historical houses of Ireland
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