Join our field trip to Castletown house, Ireland's finest Palladian House, part of the 2009 Gerard Manley Hopkins International Literary Festival on Sunday July 25, 2009
Castletown House, Ireland's finest Palladian country house, is an imposing building built in 1722 for William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Castletonw House is the only Irish Palladian house to have been built with the correct classical proportions. It is said to have influenced the design of the White House in Washington.
The house was completely renovated in 1979, at which time the 30-inch-thick outer walls were raised by 18 inches.
Castletown House is considered by many to be Ireland's most important historic house. Built between 1722 and 1729 its architectural significance and that of its designed landscape is matched with a compelling social history, brought to life by the survival of many of its 18th century decorative schemes, original contents and archives.
Desmond Guinness bought Castletown House in 1967 to save it from vandalism. It then became became the flagship of the Irish Georgian Society before eventually being handed over to the newly-established Castletown Foundation .
In 1994 Castletown House was taken over by the Irish Government and it is now under the management of the Office of Public Works.
The walls are covered in red damask which is probably French and dates from the 1820s.
Lady Shelburne recorded in her journal seeing a four coloured damask, predominently red, in this room.
The Aubusson carpet dates from about 1850 and may have been made for the room. Much of the furniture has always been in the house and Lady Louisa Conolly paid 11/2 guineas for each of the Chinese Chippendale armchairs which she considered very expensive. The chairs and settee were made in Dublin and they are displayed in a formal arrangement against the walls as they would have been in the eighteenth century. The bureau was made for Lady Louisa in the 1760s.
Red Drawing Room .
Another fascinating room, although odd by today's standards, is the Print Room which was decorated by Lady Louisa and friends, following the fashion of the 1760s, with cut-outs of favourite images. This room is on the right side and is thought to be the only surviving example of this in Ireland from this period.
The State Bedroom , which was never used by royalty. Viceroys based in Dublin would come to stay there. The chairs came from Venice.
Another feature of Castletown is the Long Gallery, an 80-foot (24 m) long room decorated in blue and gold.
