07.11.2019
The third Heritage Angel Awards Northern Ireland were celebrated at a ceremony at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh on 29 October. The winner of the Lifetime Achivement Award was Primrose Wilson OBE, founding Chairman of the Follies Trust; Vice-Chairman and member of the Board of the Irish Georgian Foundation for a number of years; President of Ulster Architectural Heritage and Director of the Ulster Historic Churches Trust.
Primrose has initiated many successful projects on the island of Ireland, including the Heritage at Risk Register, European Heritage Open Days, the Home & Dry Programme and the IGS & UAH Cross Border Summer School. Primrose was acknowledged "for [her] enduring commitment, passion and drive to enhance and protect our built environment; and [she] particularly champions cross-border initiatives between heritage groups to strengthen relationships and the impact achieved by working together."
Primrose was presented with her award by BBC NI presenter Marie Louise Muir.
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28.10.2019
As a young university student Mariga’s invitation and persuasive charm were impossible to resist – Ireland needs you - were Mariga’s words, so in June 1968 I arrived in Dublin with the instruction to catch the 67 from Batchelors Quay.
Desmond and Mariga had recently moved the Irish Georgian Society from Leixlip to Castletown and with it the Guinness’s Camelot and the two houses were metamorphized as if under a single roof and the lives and home of Desmond and Mariga and the activities of the IGS had become completely intertwined. In the acquisition of Castletown Desmond and Mariga had made significant financial sacrifices, a huge commitment of time, energy and effort and were now faced with the mammoth task of raising funds for its running and restoration. Mariga had a crusading spirit and the extortionary vital talent to inspire and awaken, in all she met, an enthusiasm for the then unappreciated world of Irish architecture. She seemed to transform life itself into theatre and each day was as a new creation. There was an endless flow of people staying and leaving and returning and to varying degrees supporting their mission - relations, historians with varying interests, artists, musicians, pop stars, ‘the Americans,’ so many friends (and some foes whom they hoped to convert to their cause), and people whom one recognised but was uncertain who they were! People were thus persuaded to join in the magical and, at times, rather theatrical mission that they were pursuing.
Though sometimes misunderstood they believed that an independent Ireland should have the self-confidence to preserve all its history. On their stage, that embraced a wider Ireland, a variety of forces would blend and set new agendas to pursue. This evolved into a national movement in the revealing and understanding of Ireland’s material culture and would be pursued by them with passion, an infectiousness enjoyment and humour that few could resist. This was the world into which I was swept. When I arrived Leixlip and Castletown where filled to overflowing as Castletown had been let, at very short notice, to an American summer camp. The Americans had taken over the basement and the top floor so Castletown could provide few bedrooms for the ever-changing cast.
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10.10.2019
The winners of the 2019 IGS Conservation and Original Drawing Awards were announced by Livia Hurley in a ceremony at the City Assembly House last night. The awards were presented to the winners by IGS Chairman Michael Wall.
WINNER: 3 Henrietta Street, Dublin
Architect: Kelly & Cogan Architects / Client: Ian Lumley / Client & Contractor: Patrick Wigglesworth
Pictured (L-R): Pat Wigglesworth, IGS Chairman Michael Wall, James Kelly and Ian Lumley
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08.10.2019
Open House Dublin returns this October, and once again the City Assembly House is delighted to participate in this annual city-wide festival! We will be open to the public for all three days, and visitors can go on a self-guided tour of this historic building, originally built by the Society of Artists (1765-72) as the first public exhibition gallery in Ireland and Britain.
Most recently the City Assembly House received the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Award for Adaptation and Re-use: Conservation.
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07.10.2019
Date: 7th October 2019
Re: Application by Hydro Estates Limited for permission for construction of a nursing home, 29 no. detached houses and all ancillary site works. Partial demolition, conservation, refurbishment, alteration and change of use of the remains of the former St. Ann’s Hydropathic Establishment which is a Protected Structure (RPS 00815) on lands at St Ann's Hill, Kilnamucky Tower, Blarney, Co. Cork.
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07.10.2019
James Wyatt’s Irish Masterpiece: Castle Coole Study Day
The Irish Georgian Society, in partnership with the National Trust, Northern Ireland, is delivering a study day celebrating the rich architectural heritage, decorative interiors and designed landscape of Ireland’s finest eighteenth-century neo-classical house, Castle Coole, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.
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