Castletown House
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Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland's finest Palladian country house, is an imposing building built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.[1]
The main block was designed by Italian architect by Alessandro Galilei and the wings were added by Edward Lovett Pearce in 1724 and the huge construction was paid with money the Conolly family had acquired through selling land in other parts of Ireland. Later Conolly was recorded as the wealthiest man in the country, though his family refused to take a title and were proud to be the richest commoners in Ireland. Conolly came from County Leitrim where his ancestral name was O Conghaile.
The house was inherited by Tom Conolly in 1758 and the interior decoration was finished by his wife Lady Louisa (great-granddaughter of Charles II of England and Louise de Keroualle) during the 1760s and 1770s. Much of the work was carried out to designs of William Chambers.
The Conolly family continued to live in their ancestral house until 1965 when it was sold along with its collections and land, some of which was built on.
The house was bought in 1967 by Desmond Guinness to save it from vandalism, became the flagship of the Irish Georgian Society, was handed over to the newly-established Castletown Foundation, and was later still transferred to the Office of Public Works. Sadly this has not prevented vandalism and destruction - see The Gazebo below .
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[edit] Interiors
On the piano nobile there are a series of ever grander reception rooms typical of the 1720s. The house was entered by ascending a staircase outside before coming into a large Entrance Hall which was graced with Stucco gilding and pictures of the family. To the left is the Dining Room which was made out of two smaller rooms. To the right of the hall was the huge staircase itself. This was made of Portland Stone and is cantilevered.
Straight on is the Green Drawing Room and was also known as the Saloon because of its position in the house. This was the room that the family used to receive their guests in before leaving and (staying on the left hand side of the house) entering the 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.
Further on is the State Bedroom, which was never used by royalty as such, but by the various viceroys based in Dublin. In it are chairs which were from Venice.
Another feature of Castletown is the Long Gallery, an 80 foot long room decorated in the Pompeian manner by O'Reilly in blue and gold.
[edit] The Gazebo
The Gazebo at Castletown was partly demolished on Saturday 26th of May 2007 in an exercise seen as architectural vandalism by many, by persons as yet unknown. Local people, who were shocked and angered, have signed a petition to try and save the Gazebo, so far over 900 people have signed. See external links to Gazebo photos
