Irish Arts Review

Future Challenges for the OpwAuthor(s): Peter PearsonSource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 23, 175th Anniversary of the Office of Public Works(2006), pp. 46-48Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25503519 .

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FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR THE OPW

Future Challenges

for

PETER PEARSON suggests some new routes for heritage

development and for the imaginative use of latent resource materials

Ireland has inherited an architectural heritage of

great diversity, ranging in scale from the humble

cottage to substantial cathedrals to large historic

complexes like Dublin Castle. The citizen has the

right to expect the State to maintain and make accessi

ble a wide variety of these buildings, the state, here

represented by the OPW, has for the most part, an

honourable record in this respect.

Despite some confusion caused by the various

reincarnations and divisions of responsibility; Duchas

and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and

the Islands, and now OPW again with the Department

of the Environment; the state has minded and contin

ues to care for a vast cross-section of monuments, his

toric buildings and other structures. In the capital

alone, Dublin Castle, the Four Courts, the Custom

House, the GPO, Collin's Barracks (Fig 5), the Royal

Hospital (IMMA), Leinster House, Iveagh House, the

Botanic Gardens, the Phoenix Park and its buildings,

would be obvious examples of the state's care for some

of the finest set pieces of our architectural patrimony.

Clearly, the care of a nation's built heritage cannot be

left to a single public body, the responsibility is too vast

and there is the added complication that many struc

tures are used or lived in, and are not merely monu

ments. This means that private owners, be they insti

tutions such as churches, clubs, societies, local author

ities and the state share in the enjoyment and the

responsibility of looking after such places. The state

has the advantage of having resources, which might not

be available to individuals, and it has public service and

the common good as its only motive for owning such

properties. It can also guarantee, through its owner

ship, an indefinite and long-term security of tenure.

Though such important houses as Ballyfin,

Castletown Cox and Lissadell have been sold in recent

years and bought by private owners who have the best

intentions for these estates, some thought that the

OPW should for instance, have acquired Lissadell and

some of its fascinating contents, if only to have a state

owned landmark in an area of the country which does

not already have one. Though its primary aim is to pro

tect and physically preserve our heritage, the OPW also

plays a very important part in tourism, where the vital

role of places like Muckross to Killarney, Glenveagh to

Donegal, are obvious. Though Clonmacnoise is well

known (Fig 2), the restoration of Portumna Castle (Fig

4) provides an important attraction to visitors on the

river Shannon and a further reason to linger there.

While the Department of the Environment has

through the local authorities allowed our once unspoilt

landscape to become ever more suburbanised, we must

at least provide something real, for both ourselves and

tourists to look at. Minister Dick Roche, for the same

department, made a surprise and welcome announce

ment last March, when he allocated over 18 million

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PW

to twenty-two different and important historic land

marks in the state. This represents the largest one-off

allocation of funds to heritage conservation ever made

by government. Though most of the properties are in

state ownership, others are not, such as Waterford

Cathedral and the great 18th-century mansions of

Headfort House and Westport House which require

large sums for re-roofing and other essential works.

There is simply no other adequate source of funding.

The Heritage Council, the local authorities and

the Department of the Environment administer gener

ous, but smaller grants schemes whose resources would

barely pay for the scaffolding in the case of such huge

buildings. The Minister's substantial grant aid to such

places as Headfort, Westport and Russborough along

with the cathedrals of Ennis and Christchurch in

Dublin and to Duckett's Grove in Co Carlow, are espe

cially important. As the Minister noted, it is not just

money well spent, it is invested in the future. We have

come a long way from the 1990s when small sums were

eked out for essential repairs.

Over the years, the state has received gifts of valu

able properties, including Muckross House and Park,

Glenveagh Castle and Estate and the Johnstown Castle

and Estate in Co Wexford (Fig 1). Castletown House

and Doneraile Court came to the state from the Irish

Georgian Society, while Emo Court in Co Laois and

Mount Congreve in Waterford are also held in trust for

^m the nation. Altamount Gardens were also gift

^m ed to the state and Russborough, though its

^m priceless art collection is now in the National

^m Gallery, is administered by a trust. It remains to

^m be seen how the new Irish Heritage Trust, also

m funded by the government, will fit into the overall

W scene and to see how its safety net will operate to *

save vulnerable historic properties from being bro

ken up or from falling prey to commercial demands.

Fortunately the era of flashy interpretive centres,

where often the architectural statement almost out

weighs the significance of the site itself, appears to be

over. In the late 20th century the state adopted these

heritage tourism projects in an extraordinary way.

Extraordinary because other European countries have

never seen the need for them. There is no interpretive

centre in Venice or even at Pompeii, nor is there any

clamour to have one. People seem to enjoy contact with

real and authentic objects and buildings from by-gone

ages. Why, for instance, would a collection of paintings

by Yeats in a Georgian house in Merrion Square not

make a valuable addition to cultural tourism in Dublin?

The idea that historic buildings are unsuitable for cer

tain museum use is one that needs to be challenged.

Paris makes a virtue of such projects, combining spe

cial collections with historic houses.

Why have we no museum of Dublin? The full

story of our capital city needs to be presented to the

public, but unlike most other European city adminis

trations, Dublin City Council do not see it as their

responsibility to provide a comprehensive 'Museum of

Dublin'. Perhaps this is a project for the OPW in col

laboration with the council, given that the OPW own

a number of appropriate sites, such as Kevin Street

Garda Station, which was the Archbishop's Palace, next

to Marsh's Library and St Patrick's Cathedral.

Alternatively a more novel 'city museum' might

be developed incorporating eight or ten venues includ

ing Dublin Castle, City Hall vaults, a business and

traders' display in the Rates Office (former Newcomen

?i m

17S? OPW

The Office of PubUc Works OtftgnanO?machaPotbt?

1 Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford

2 Clonmacnoise, Co

Offaly

3 Tyrone House, Co Gal way

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4 Portumna Castle, Co Gal way

5 Collin's Barracks, Dublin

I FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR THE OPW

Bank), Reads the Cutlers (Dublin's oldest shop),

Shipping and Post history in the Custom House, an

industrial site, tenement house, paintings, prints and

ephemera in the presently closed Civic Museum in South

William Street, a theatre museum with the re-construct

ed Abbey Theatre facade (currently lying in a garden in

Dalkey), or a 1916 and Irish nationalism collection in the

GPO or Boland's Mills. A great deal of fascinating mate

rial lies languishing in private and public collections and

all that is needed is the drive to make it happen.

In the reclaim of heritage the OPW should be able

to remain outside merely commercial criteria. Many of

its tasks cannot be immediately measured in account

ing terms. Caring for ruins and great houses like

Castletown doesn't generate money for the OPW, but

is vitally important for the tourist industry in Ireland

generally. It is very good to hear that the OPW have

purchased the old farmyard adjacent to Castletown

House, Ireland's most important 18th-century man

sion. But what of other important properties around

the country? Doneraile Court was substantially

restored by the Irish Georgian Society and was gifted

to the state some years ago; but the house remains

closed to the public with the garden and house in

5r

ruins. The house needs a focus, perhaps telling the story

of the rise and fall of the Anglo-Irish. Further recogni

tion of Ireland's multifaceted history and diversity will

be revealed when the OPW's imaginative Battle of the

Boyne site at Old Bridge House is finally opened. With

exhibitions and construction work still at the planning

stage, work is expected to commence shortly, and will

include refurbishment of Old Bridge House.

There have been plans to re-roof Moore Hall in Co

Mayo for some time and though the ruin is in the hands

of Coillte, the Minister's grant of .25,000 may help to

launch this project. Many of Ireland's great ruined hous

es and castles should perhaps be left as ruins, but they

should be afforded the same protection as other monu

ments - Woodstock House in Co Kilkenny is the focal

point of the refurbished gardens there and should be

stabilised as a ruin. Others like Tyrone House, Galway

(Fig 3) stand dramatically in the landscape, stark monu

ments to 18th-century Ireland. In Co Wexford,

Johnstown Castle with its beautifully kept desmesne

Lifliii^HHHHHHHHHHHHHI was gifted to the state in 1945. Now that Teagasc has

acquired modern offices, the castle is vacant. There are

hopes that the castle and its agricultural and vernacular

furniture museum will be transferred to the OPW.

Apart from the very fine Kilkenny Castle, this part of

the Southeast has no important historic building avail

able for prestigious events, nor is there any great house

of this type open to the public. Aside from the loss of

Caring for ruins and great houses doesn't generate money for the OPW, but it is vitally important for the tourist industry

the grand staircase, its interiors are substantially intact

and much original furniture remains. The refurbished

Gothic Revival castle would make an outstanding con

tribution to the cultural life of the Wexford area.

Until quite recently many of Ireland's harbours were

under OPW control, the body which originally built so

many fine stone piers and jetties at places like Dun

Laoghaire or Howth. The transfer of these facilities,

which could be classified as monuments, to companies

or boards with an overriding commercial brief has

resulted in a loss to heritage. Were the OPW to be sub

jected to commercial consideration only, there would

always be a threat of developments such as apartments,

hotels and facilities which the commercial sector is well

able to provide. The OPW is a keystone of Irish culture

and its policy of charging the citizen little or nothing

to visit the state's museums and properties, underlies

its commitment to making heritage accessible to all.

Peter Pearson is an architectural historian with a special interest

in conservation.

4 8 I

OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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