Limerick Chapter Christmas Party
11.12.2017
Posted by IGS
Last Thursday night, the 7th of December, the Limerick Chapter of the Irish Georgian Society opened the Christmas season with a fundraising Christmas party. The event was held in The Georgian House, No. 2 Pery Square, in Limerick. This historic house was built between 1835 and 1838 by Pery Tontine Company, forming part of a terrace known collectively as the Tontine Building. It was the last Georgian terrace built in Limerick. The building was restored by Limerick Civic Trust, with the support of the Irish Georgian Society and opened in 1999. We were delighted to give our guests an opportunity to enjoy an evening in the magnificent first floor rooms of the house and we thank Limerick City and County Council for use the venue.
Party-goers arrived in the early evening, and mingled over Christmas drinks and mince pies, before being treated to a really spectacular performance by Limerick's premier tenor, Derek Moloney [http://www.derekmoloney.com/].











There was also a short lecture from John Moran, Chairman of The Hunt Museum. A raffle was held; some great prizes had been donated by our friends, and included afternoon tea, dinner for two, and book and food hampers. All funds raised from the Christmas party will go to a small works grant scheme which was launched by the Limerick Chapter in 2017. This scheme encourages and supports the repair of historic railings, kerbs, and steps on the streets of eighteenth-century Limerick City. The historic railings of Newtown Pery are quintessentially Limerick and the restoration of them is intrinsic to the protection of Limerick's built heritage. They form an important part of the city's public realm. Read more about the Limerick Chapter of the Irish Georgian Society here [http://www.igs.ie/about/limerick-chapter].
Photos by Trish Geraghty.
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Conservation Project Update: Garden Pavilion at Beaulieu House, Co. Louth
08.12.2017
Posted by IGS
Now available – Georgian-style frames, hall door locks and other decorative items, designed and made in Dublin by Pat Murray
07.12.2017
Posted by IGS


Irish Georgian Society members will be interested to know that Pat Murray, well-known member of the society’s events committee, is now making his custom-designed and hand-made 18th century-style door furniture and other decorative items available for sale. Fine 18th century houses were distinguished by refined items that included brass escutcheons, ornate locks and classical picture frames and pedestals and it is these timeless items, so beautiful and exceedingly rare and hard to find, that are essential to complete a Georgian interior. Pat Murray will now offer for sale his William Kent/Palladian-style frames, 18th century-style Irish hall door locks and other decorative items – current stock is for sale and commissions are welcome.
Pat Murray inherited a love of furniture, architecture and antiques from his father and exercises an extraordinary degree of empathy with the architecture and interior decoration of the 18th century. His favourite book at the age of 10 was The Destruction of the Country House: 1875-1975 (Strong, Binney, Harris); it motivated his life-long interest in conservation. He describes Georgian decoration as a link to a very interesting time in history ‘when every trade became an art’. His expertise is based on a lifetime spent creating and embellishing refined decorative items of the Georgian era; he describes their appeal: “18th-century tradesmen knew the classical rules – the proportions are always right, the materials are always beautiful, the designs are confident and well-mannered – and always pleasing to the eye”. He continues: “Many people nowadays restore Georgian and Georgian-style houses beautifully; the addition of beautiful, historically-accurate, decorative features enhances the architecture and adds the finishing touch to the beautiful properties.”
Pat Murray has studied the proportions of original William Kent / Palladian frames in detail and has developed a number of designs for high-quality frames that may be custom made to any size. His frames are made of pine and may be painted or gilded to order. Every fine 18th-century house in Ireland had a mahogany and brass lock on the back of the hall door; these locks are now frequently missing and when, very occasionally, one appears for sale at auction – but usually without a key and or a receiver – it is sold at a very high price. Pat Murray has studied the design of these locks in detail and his reconstituted locks are virtually indistinguishable from the originals; the working lock mechanisms are antique and encased in Georgian mahogany decorated with hand-cut brass fittings. Brass escutcheons and pedestals are available to order.
Born and living in Dublin, Pat Murray is a collector and a member of the Irish Georgian Society; he is known to many of the society’s members as an organiser of day tours, picnic tours and fine-dining tours. He can be contacted at patmurrayesq@gmail.com.
For more information contact Pat Murray (patmurrayesq@gmail.com)
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IGS Bookshop Christmas Gift Guide 2017
06.12.2017
Posted by IGS
The Irish Georgian Society bookshop is stocked all year round with an eclectic selection of books, prints, photographs, maps and IGS publications to peruse. For Christmas we have plenty of stocking fillers instore including candles, coasters, books, notebooks, models, field guides and student membership. You can shop online too!
Give a gift of IGS gift vouchers or IGS gift membership!
Take a detour from the bustle of Grafton Street and find us in the City Assembly House on nearby South William Street (Google map)!

DECORATIVE ARTS
A Taste for the Exotic: Orientalist Interiors
Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690–1840
English and Irish Delftware, 1570-1840
From Invention to Perfection: Masterpieces of Eighteenth Century Decorative Art
Irish Furniture
Asia in Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age

BIOGRAPHY
Molly Keane: A Life
A Musical Offering: Essays in Honour of Gerard Gillen
Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World; Writing Britain's Ruins
Elihu Yale: Merchant, Collector & Patron
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts
Gainsborough: A Portrait

GARDENS & LANDSCAPES
The Irish Garden
Rooftops. Islands in the Sky
Gardens of Court and Country: English Design, 1630-1730
The Gardener's Garden
Cottages Ornés: The Charms of the Simple Life
Kilmacurragh: Sourced in the Wild
Open Gardens of Ireland

SOCIAL HISTORY
Brought to Book: Print in Ireland, 1680-1784
Religion and Politics in Urban Ireland, 1500-1750
An Insular odyssey: Manuscript culture in early Christian Ireland and beyond
The Popular Mind in Eighteenth-Century Ireland
Utopianism in Eighteenth-Century Ireland
Paris – capital of Irish culture: France, Ireland and the Republic, 1798–1916
Food Rioting in Ireland in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Juries in Ireland: Laypersons and law in the long nineteenth century
Dublin, 1745–1922: Hospitals, spectacle & vice
Shop online: https://shop.igs.ie/
Don't forget final delivery dates for Christmas!
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Give the gift of Irish Georgian Society membership this Christmas!
24.11.2017
Posted by IGS

This Christmas, why not give someone the gift of Irish Georgian Society membership?
Your gift will not only provide someone with a year’s full calendar of events to enjoy, but will provide a unique way to support the Irish Georgian Society.
Included with their membership the recipient will have a choice of either:
- An event voucher for one lecture in our Winter/Spring 2018 lecture series
- A €10 voucher redeemable in our bookshop (instore or online)
You can buy a gift family membership (€90), and add a copy of Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies, the Journal of the Irish Georgian Society to your purchase of gift for an additional €20.
Terms & Conditions
This offer is applicable only to Memberships valued at €60 and above. This offer is valid on Gift Memberships purchased up to Friday 15th December 2017.
Your gift of membership will be valid for one year from date of purchase.
Purchase online, in our bookshop or by calling 01 679 8675.
PURCHASE A GIFT MEMBERSHIP ONLINE
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City Assembly House Update - November 2017 #2
24.11.2017
Posted by IGS