The IGS has objected to a further development that would have a significant adverse effect on character and setting of Blarney Castle & Gardens and of Blarney town, an important historic planned industrial settlement. Lying just to the north of the castle and next to the town, the planning application proposes the development of an 80-bedroom hotel with 74 parking spaces, a supermarket with 88 parking spaces, a café/coffee shop, an office building, a commercial building, and 70 residential units, all ranging in height from between two and four storeys.

Blarney has been a major centre for tourists for the last 200 years and could be regarded as being of international significance. Given its prominence, it serves as an important shop window for the region and so it is essential that any new developments are carefully planned and designed. In its submission, the IGS stated its view that the planning application would undermine the special interest of Blarney and so run contrary to the provisions of both the Cork County Development Plan 2014, and the Blarney Macroom Municipal District Local Area Plan, 2017.

Read the full submission here.

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Working on restoring Maudlin's Pyramids, Naas, Co. Kildare (2020)

Details of the Built Heritage Investment Scheme 2021 and the Historic Structures Fund 2021 have been announced. A total of €6m is being made available with €3m allocated to the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, and €3m allocated to the Historic Structures Fund.

Both schemes represent a significant boost to the preservation of Ireland’s unique built heritage and will support owners of protected structures in every local authority area across the country. The Built Heritage Investment Scheme and Historic Structures Fund will assist hundreds of small-scale, labour-intensive projects as well as large-scale projects to conserve, repair and safeguard our historic built environment. The projects will give significant support to jobs in conservation, construction and traditional skills, providing a boost to local economies during these particularly challenging times. It is expected that the schemes will create over 30,000 days of employment.

The Historic Structures Fund 2021 includes two new pilot schemes. The vernacular scheme will support the conservation and repair of the traditional buildings that are a significant part of our intangible cultural heritage. Historic shopfronts have always been eligible to apply for funding under either scheme but, to incentivise such applications in 2021, each local authority will be allowed to shortlist an additional project where that project concerns the conservation and repair of a historic shopfront, its glazing or signage.

The deadline for applications for both schemes is 29 January 2021.

For more information on these schemes see: www.housing.gov.ie

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The Irish Georgian Society has appealed a decision by Cork City Council to grant permission for the demolition of the greater part of the Revenue Building, Cork, a protected structure, and the construction in its place of a 34-storey hotel and office tower. This proposal does not comply with the provisions of the city development plan and the relevant local area plan, runs contrary to good conservation practice, and would set a very worrying precedent for the future protection of our built heritage.

Read the full IGS submission here.

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Monalty House is situated in a drumlin landscape next to the N2 roadway and to the south of Monalty Lough, a proposed Natural Heritage Area. It was built c. 1770 by the Bath estate, is set overlooking a parkland and is approached by a tree lined avenue. A road widening proposal by Monaghan County Council threatens to significantly encroach on the demesne and parklands of this protected structure which is described by Kevin Mulligan as being “studiously proportioned” with an “attractive central limestone doorcase with engaged Tuscan columns” and a Doric frieze surmounted by a webbed fanlight (Buildings of Ireland – South Ulster, Yale, 2013).

In a submission to the Council, the IGS has contended that as a protected structure, Monalty House, its curtilage and attendant grounds should be protected from inappropriate development and noted that the Monaghan County Development Plan aims “to resist any development which is likely to impact on the building’s special interest and/ or any views of such buildings and their setting” (BHP 6).

The full text of the submission is available here.

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This exhibition has reopened, in accordance with government guidelines.

Extended until January 2021

Daniel O'Connell Room, City Assembly House, 58 South William Street, Dublin 2
Open Monday to Friday, 10.00am to 5.00pm

Peter Murray’s drawings and watercolour paintings in the Irish Georgian Society's upcoming exhibition at the City Assembly House provide a visual record of restoration projects supported by the Irish Georgian Society over the past twenty years through its Chapters in the United States and in London. While many are historic houses, there are also other structures, ranging from the seven-arched bridge at Trim, to the monumental O’Brien Column at Liscannor, and the ornamental gazebo overlooking the river Liffey at Leixlip. Classical gates at Mote Park in Roscommon and Saunderscourt in Co. Wexford, also feature among projects supported.

The work of the Irish Georgian Society is wide-ranging, and artist Peter Murray's pictures in this exhibition are not only works of art in their own right, but also a comprehensive record of two decades of achievement, by the Society’s team of volunteers and donors, staff and members.

In lieu of a launch we are delighted to offer some previews of the exhibition with the curator Peter Murray. A number of pictures will be available to purchase on the day, with the proceeds supporting the Irish Georgian Society's Conservation Education Programme.

A catalogue will also be available to purchase from the IGS bookshop.

(Image: Ledwithstown by Peter Murray)

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The Irish Georgian Society has objected to a planning application that proposes the construction of a six-storey residential building to the rear of No. 38 North Great George’s Street, Dublin 1.

No. 38 was built in 1785 by Charles Thorpe who lived in the house and went on to become Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1800. It was later occupied by Professor John Pentland Mahaffy, founder of the original Georgian Society (1908 to 1913) and tutor of Oscar Wilde, and it is for him that the house is today named. Between the 1920s and 1960s the building deteriorated into tenement use but after its purchase by Desiree Shortt in 1975 it gradually underwent a long series of repairs and restorations which the Irish Georgian Society lent support to through its conservation grants programme.

Through its form, scale, height and massing, if granted permission the proposed development together with an adjoining similarly scaled new structure, would dwarf the established built form and have a significant adverse effect on the character of the area.

Download the full submission here.

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