Enfilade

From Russborough House:

Richard Castle Symposium
Russborough House, Blessington, County Wicklow, 4 November 2022

Richard Castle was the pre-eminent architect and landscape designer in Ireland from 1733 until his death in 1750. Yet there is still much to learn about his origins, training, office practice, and engagement with craft practitioners. His commissions included the principal town and country houses of the period and public buildings in the capital and the provinces. His surviving domestic works include Powerscourt, Hazelwood, Iveagh House, Tyrone House, Westport House, Carton, Leinster House, Newman House (85 St Stephen’s Green), Belvedere House, and Russborough, together with public projects such as Knockbreda Church and the Rotunda Hospital.

This one-day symposium draws together new and existing scholarship on Castle’s output and considers his legacy in terms of architecture, decoration, and landscape. The first such event dedicated to Richard Castle, it includes speakers from Ireland, Europe, and Britain and takes place in one of the architect’s finest and best-preserved buildings, Russborough House in County Wicklow. Tickets can be purchased here: €55 / €25 Student (includes lunch and refreshments).

P R O G R A M M E

9.30  Registration

10.00  Morning Session
• Christine Casey (Trinity College Dublin) — Richard Castle, Architect: What We Know and What We Need to Know
• Barbara Freitag (Dublin City University) — The Troubled Life of Richard Castle
• Simon Lincoln (Irish Architectural Archive) — Drawings by Richard Castle at the Irish Architectural Archive
• Nele Luttmann (Trinity College Dublin) — Richard Castle and 18th-Century Woodworking Crafts
• Andrew Tierney (Trinity College Dublin) — Staircases and Stair Halls in the Work of Richard Castle: A Study in 18th-Century Craftsmanship

1.00  Lunch

2.00  Afternoon Session
• Melanie Hayes (Trinity College Dublin) — Craft Practice in Richard Castle’s Early Country Houses
• Steven Brindle (English Heritage) — Richard Castle in the Context of British 18th-Century Architecture
• Finola O’Kane Crimmins (University College Dublin) — Richard Castle’s Landscapes: Design Challenges and Opportunities
• Christopher Gallagher (Historic landscape consultant) — Richard Castle and the Early Designed Landscape at Russborough