Irish Arts Review

Drawings from the Irish Architectural Archive by David J. Griffin; Simon LincolnReview by: C. E. B. BrettIrish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol. 11 (1995), p. 231Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20492846 .

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BOOK REVIEWS

Drawings from the Irish Architectural Archive ...............................................................................

BY DAVID J GRIFFIN AND SIMON LINCOLN ...............................................................................

Dublin, 1993 pp.80, L12.95 ...............................................................................

C E B Brett

SINCE ITS INCEPTION in 1976 as a very modest voluntary venture, the Irish Architectural Archive has grown into an important semi-public institution. This handsome paperback volume elegantly records the achievement of its coura geous promoters over its first eighteen years. It falls into three parts. First, an account of the history, work, and prob lems of the Archive by one of its founders, that man of many parts,

Nicholas Robinson. Instructive as it is, it is full also of entertaining sidelights: on salvage from skips, on the application of

Vauban's techniques of fortification to headscarves, on the exact dividing-line between research and good lunches with archivally-minded friends.

Second, there is a concise (but suffi cient) summary of the principal elements in the collections - now comprising over 250,000 photographs, 50,000 architectur al drawings, and an extensive library, covering all thirty-two counties of Ireland (and many buildings elsewhere too).

Third, there is a selection of forty-four original drawings from the collection, almost all reproduced in colour, with scholarly explication and footnotes. The quality of the reproduction is very high, as it needs to be when very large draw ings must be reduced to a width of six inches. They cover most of the major names, and quite a few of the minor names, in Irish architecture between 1675 and 1950. The Sections, often showing projected decoration and fur nishing on a tiny scale, are especially delightful: as Nicholas Robinson remarks in another context, 'the appeal of a doll's house obviously goes deep.'

The printing, presentation and layout are excellent: only once did I get a nasty jar when, on page 67, I tried to reconcile an interior view of the proposed Dublin South City Markets with the caption below, which referred to a perspective view of the Holy Cross church on the Crumlin Road, Belfast: in fact, to be found on the next page. And one small quibble on the text, at the risk of incurring the charge of reviewer's oneupmanship: it

seemed a trifle ungracious not to refer to Howard Colvin's Unbuilt Oxford of 1983, in which he both illustrates and explains the extraordinary plan by Deane and

Woodward to add a storey in the style of a French chateau to the St Aldate's front of Christ Church, Oxford.

The book is to be as strongly recom mended as the institution it celebrates.

Sir Charles Brett is President of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and Vice Chairman of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

The Swiss Cottage BY SEAN O'REILLY, 1993;

Glenveagh Castle BY WILLIAM GALLAGHER,

1993; The Casino at Marino BY SEAN O'REILLY, 1991; Medieval Church Sites of North Dublin BY MARY MCMAHON, 1991; The Glebe House and Gallery BY FRANcIS BAILEY, 1990

Govemrnent Stationey Office, Dublin, 1993. Each L2 (p/b). ...............................................................................

Barbara Dawson

THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC WORKS has recently published five small books on buildings of historical interest around the country. These include the Swiss

Cottage in County Tipperary, the Glebe House and Gallery in County Donegal, Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, the Casino in Marino, just outside Fairview in Dublin, and Medieval Church Sites of North Dublin. The books are designed as information guides for visitors and, as such, are easily read able and well illustrated. None of them exceeds sixty pages and all are generous ly illustrated with colour photographs.

The books highlight the restoration work which has been carried out on architec tural sites by the Office of Public Works.

Such publications add to the interest and enjoyment of a visit to these places of cultural and historical interest.

Glenveagh Castle is perhaps one of the most spectacularly situated national monuments under the care of the Office of Public Works. In its lofty position, over the shores of Glenveagh Lake, its castellated battlements grandly survey the stark countryside of County Donegal. Its gardens are well protected by the glaciated valley. The sheltered area pro vides a micro climate in which beautiful and exotic trees and shrubs, not found anywhere else in Ulster, flourish. Built in

the nineteenth century by the notorious John Adair, the castle is a perfect exam ple of a Victorian romantic desire for a highland retreat, a fashion set by the Queen and Prince Albert when they acquired Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands. The history of John Adair as a landlord and his relationship with the tenants of the Glenveagh area was a bru tal and unhappy chapter in the history of the castle. His wife, and later widow,

Comelia Richie, whom he met and mar ried during one of his many business trips to New York, lived happily in the castle after his death and did much to soften the harsh memory of her husband.

The castle had only three owners before coming under public care and so never fell into disrepair and ruin like many other Irish buildings. In 1936 the estate was purchased by the McIlhenny family from Philadelphia and remained in their hands until the death of Henry

McIlhenny in 1986. Mr Mcllhenny, a former curator of the Philadelphia

Museum of Modem Art, set about soft ening the harsh and, what he considered, inelegant interior of the cas tle. He bought much exquisite eighteenth century Irish furniture and silver and built up a collection of

Victorian art at a time when it was con sidered rather unfashionable. After his death, many of the furnishings and paintings were left to the Philadelphia

Museum of Art, including a pair of Landseer paintings, which are now replaced by original engravings. While it is lamentable that so many of the origi

nal furnishings have left the castle, the gardens are considered Mr Mcllhenny's greatest legacy to the nation. With the assistance and advice of Lanning Roper,

with whom he became acquainted while at Harvard, and the English gardener, Jim Russell, Henry Mcllhenny turned Glenveagh into one of the most impor tant gardens in Europe. The rare and unusual vegetation is organised in infor

mal secluded walks, converging on stunning vistas of the landscape. Today the castle is open to the public from

Easter until the end of October. Another publication in the series

highlights the fact that Glenveagh Castle is not the only estate under the care of the care of the nation in Donegal.

Equally important and interesting is the Glebe House and Gallery, formerly the

231 IRISH ARTS REVIEW

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