As the time of the Irish Georgian Society Review going to press, news comes of the death of Professor Anne Crookshank (1927–2016) pioneering scholar of Irish art, and member of the Irish Georgian Society for more than fifty years. After positions at the Tate and the Witt Library – and research on the drawings of George Romney – Anne returned to Ireland in 1957 when she took up position as Keeper of Art in the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, later the Ulster Museum, whose collection she was to transform with adventurous acquisitions of contemporary art including works by Antoni Tàpies, Sam Francis, William Scott and Karel Appel. Taste for such advanced art was not widespread in Northern Ireland of the 1950s and she gleefully recalled being denounced as the ‘Whore of Babylon’ at a meeting of Belfast City Council. 

The year after her arrival in Belfast, on a weekend in Donegal Anne met Desmond and Mariga Guinness who had just founded the Irish Georgian Society and, through them, Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin. The first collaboration of this group (with James White of the National Gallery of Ireland) was the exhibition Irish Houses and Landscapes in 1963. Two years later Anne moved to Dublin to set up the History of Art Department at Trinity College. A further seminal exhibition Irish Portraits 1660-1860, which showed at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 1970, set the tone for her researches on artists such as James Latham whose oeuvre of more than one hundred portraits she reconstructed from the starting point of just one mezzotint inscribed with his name. Through the 1970s she and Knight collaborated on the first scholarly book on Irish art since Strickland’s Dictionary of 1913, which was published in 1978 with a completely new edition in 2002.

For many years a stalwart of the Castletown Foundation, in 1985 Anne was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Throughout Anne taught at Trinity, in whose Common Room she was a formidable presence, educating several generations of art historians. She was certainly a demanding taskmaster, but was unfailingly kind to students she thought interested in the subject.  Her collaboration with the Knight, which set Irish art history on a firm footing for the first time, was characterized by furious rows over attributions. He later recalled: ‘These lively interchanges brought out the determined sparkle of her resolute character, and her ability to roar with laughter ten minutes later underlined her generous humour and refreshing ability to laugh at herself. She always inspired her students with a zest for life – a zest that conquers every obstacle’.

 I recall, many years ago, discussing with Anne the hymns she wanted sung at her funeral (this was a very Anne Crookshank sort of topic). Foremost amongst these was Abide with Me, or, as she put it, 'the one they sing at football matches’. Her memory will certainly abide with the numerous individuals who were taught, befriended or influenced by her. She was a great and very generous scholar, an unshakably loyal friend and a redoubtable Irish woman. May she rest in peace.

William Laffan

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Although we have to wait and see the detail on the reformed 'Living Cities Initiative', here are the initial thoughts of the Limerick Chapter on the 2017 Budget announcement, as it relates to the Georgian architecture of Limerick City. 

First, the expansion of the scheme to include landlords will broaden the demographic to which the scheme can ultimately benefit. Secondly, the elimination of the maximum floor area restriction is very welcome, as many of the townhouses in Newtown Pery were excluded from the original scheme for this reason.

The removal of the requirement for properties to have a former residential use is especially welcome in Limerick where we have a wide variety of building types, including mills and warehouses, which could be converted into attractive living spaces. A working Living Cities Initiative, alongside significant improvements to Limerick's public realm, traffic and amenity spaces would go along way towards revitalising Newtown Pery.

Some of the comments of the Limerick Chapter were quoted in the Limerick Leader last Saturday, 15th October.

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The Main Guard, Clonmel: Rediscovery, restoration and the recovery of a town centre

Margaret Quinlan is an architect with a special interest in historic buildings and their conservation. Born and reared in Clonmel, her research into the Main Guard in 1990 led to the rediscovery of the Palatinate courthouse which was subsequently declared a national monument. It was restored by the OPW under her direction and won the 2004 Conservation Award. In 2011, Margaret was awarded the RIAI Triennial Medal for Conservation and Restoration for the project.  

The Palatinate courthouse in Clonmel, now known as the Main Guard, was commissioned by James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond. Built in 1675, it was radically altered and absorbed into early 19th century urban redevelopment. By the 1980‘s, it was empty and endangered. The lecture is the illustrated story of its rediscovery and restoration in the heart of the old town.

Thursday 10th November, 8.00pm
No. 1 Pery Square Hotel, Georgian Quarter, Limerick
Tickets €5 (students free) 
RIAI Structured CPD - 1 point

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The Irish Landmark Trust was awarded a grant from IGS of €5,000 under the 2015 Conservation Grants Scheme, towards the cost of re-thatching The Mall, an important property located just outside Mitchelstown in County Cork.  The Mall is a good example of the vernacular farm cottage once typical of the South of Ireland but now disappearing.  Once one of three thatched dwellings facing the road now only two remain, with The Mall the only dwelling still to retain its thatched roof.  Originally a two roomed labourers cottage with a loft, it was later extended as the house became linked to a small farm although internally it has altered little since its construction in the early 19th century.
 
The grant awarded by IGS was extremely important as it allowed Irish Landmark the leverage to apply for additional funding from Cork County Council to help with the cost of re-thatching.  Without the IGS grant, it would not have been possible for Irish Landmark to apply to the county council.  When re-thatching began in June, the condition of the existing thatch was found to be so poor that it was unlikely the thatch would have lasted much longer.  It was brittle and mostly rotten with a build-up of layer upon layer of thatch as no stripping back had taken place. Irish Landmark is, therefore, once again extremely grateful to the Irish Georgian Society for their very timely grant award and their continuing support of conservation work.

(Words and images: Caroline Crowley, Irish Landmark Trust)

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Encouraging people back to the centre of Irish cities to live in historic buildings’ through a tax relief incentive is a worthy and inspired approach to heritage conservation. The Irish Georgian Society, therefore, strongly supported the Government in the introduction of the Living City Initiative in 2013, and has advocated for the extension of the categories of qualifying buildings. Given this and given the very low numbers of applications made under the Initiative, the Society welcomes proposals in Budget 2017 to broaden its application by including qualifying landlord-owned properties and by removing the size cap on buildings. The Society will continue to advocate for financial incentives to offset concerns about the cost of refurbishing heritage buildings and facilitate people wishing to move into our historic towns and cities.

Images (top to bottom): Patrick St, Limerick; Barrington St, Limerick; Mitchelstown, Co. Cork

Read the full Budget 2017 document on www.budget.gov.ie

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Over the last 18 months, MESH Architects and Curved Street Films have been delighted to produce a documentary on No. 9/9A Aungier Street, "The House That Time Forgot," which was supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs under the Government Policy on Architecture 2009-2015 Implementation Programme. This has been a long and rewarding effort to capture the story and significance of Dublin's oldest-most-intact house, built in 1664, and it forms an important historic record at this pivotal point in the building's story. No. 9/9A was the recipient of an Irish Georgian Society Conservation Grant in 2014 for the repair of the significant 17th century staircase. 

You are invited to a FREE screening of the final documentary. This screening is being supported by the Department and will premiere this Sunday, 16th October at 12:00pm at the Irish Film Institute, located at 6 Eustace Street, Dublin 2, as part of the Irish Architecture Foundation's 2016 Open House weekend. 

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