Richard Cassels (1690 – 1751), also known as Richard Castle, was an
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
who ranks with
Edward Lovett Pearce
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 – 7 December 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of Palladianism in Ireland. He is thought to have initially studied as an architect under his father's first cousin, Sir John Vanbrugh. He is be ...
as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in
Kassel,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Although German, his family were of French origin and descended from the French-Netherlandish 'Du Ry' family, famous for the many architects among their number. A cousin
Simon Louis du Ry
Simon Louis du Ry (13 January 1726 in Kassel - 23 August 1799 in Kassel) was a classical architect.
Biography
Simon Louis du Ry was the son of the Huguenot architect Charles du Ry and grandson of Paul du Ry of Kassel. He was from a French re ...
designed
Schloss Wilhelmshöhe
Schloss Wilhelmshöhe is a Neoclassical palace located in , a part of Kassel, Germany. It was built for Landgrave Wilhelm (William) IX of Hesse in the late 18th century. Emperor Wilhelm II made extensive use of it as a summer residence and p ...
in Kassel.
Early work
Richard Cassels, who originally trained as an engineer, came to Ireland in 1728 at the behest of Sir Gustavus Hume of
County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.
The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 ...
to design for Hume a
mansion on the shores of Lower
Lough Erne. Hume had probably discovered Cassels working in London where he was influenced by the circle of architects influenced by
Lord Burlington
Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831. Since 1858, Earl of Burlington has been a courtesy title used by the duk ...
. Cassels, soon after arrival in Ireland, established a thriving
architectural practice in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
. Architecturally at the time Dublin was an exciting place to be – Edward Lovett Pearce, also newly established in the city, was working on
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. Sold to developers in 1965, the estate ...
, the great
mansion of Speaker
William Conolly
William Conolly (9 April 1662 – 30 October 1729), also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner.
Career
William Conolly was born the son of an inn-keeper, Patrick Conolly, in Ballysh ...
, and the new
Irish Houses of Parliament
Parliament House ( ga, Tithe na Parlaiminte) in Dublin, Ireland, was home to the Parliament of Ireland, and since 1803 has housed the Bank of Ireland. It was the world's first purpose-built bicameral parliament house. It is located at Colleg ...
simultaneously. Both of these buildings were designed in the newly introduced
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style.
Palladian architecture was currently enjoying a revival that was to sweep across Europe and be adopted with fervour in Ireland. Cassels was well versed in the concepts of
Palladio and
Vitruvius
Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...
, but was also sympathetic to the more
Baroque style of architecture.
In
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
itself, Cassels worked on the Houses of Parliament with Pearce, his
mentor
Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...
and friend. Cassels' first solo commission was the
Printing House
In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses.
Printers can include:
*Newspaper printers, often owned by newspaper publishers
*Magazine printers, usually independe ...
of
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, designed to resemble a temple complete with a
doric portico. This portico was an interesting feature symbolising Cassels' early work – a portico is an almost essential feature of Palladian architecture. But as Cassels' work matured he tended to merely hint at a portico by placing semi-engaged columns supporting a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
as the focal point of a facade. Perhaps he felt the huge Italian porticos that provided shelter from the sun were not requisite for houses in the less clement Ireland. This blind, merely suggested, portico is a feature of his final Dublin masterpiece Kildare House (later renamed
Leinster House
Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...
), built for
The 20th Earl of Kildare (later created The 1st
Duke of Leinster
Duke of Leinster (; ) is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier dukedom in that peerage. The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Leinster are: Marquess of Kildare (1761), Earl of Kildare (1316), Earl of Offaly (1761), Viscount Leinster, ...
) between 1745 and 1751. In 1741 he designed the Bishop's Palace which is now part of Waterford Treasures - Three Museums in the Viking Triangle, Waterford, Ireland. A comparison of the Printing House and Leinster House shows the evolution from the true Palladian style to the, commonly referred,
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
style in Ireland during the quarter-century that Dublin was to be almost rebuilt.
The untimely death of
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, aged 34, in 1733, made Cassels Ireland's leading architect working in the sought after Palladian style. He immediately assumed all of Pearce's commissions and thus began designing a series of lavish
country houses. Following the completion of the Houses of Parliament, there seemed to have been a rush by the
aristocracy to build a series of new townhouses in the same style and Cassels was often the first choice for architect. This led to the creation of what came to be known as
Georgian Dublin
''Georgian Dublin'' is a phrase used in terms of the history of Dublin that has two interwoven meanings:
# to describe a historic period in the development of the city of Dublin, Ireland, from 1714 (the beginning of the reign of King George I ...
.
For his exteriors, he used a Palladian style that was distinctive for its strength and sobriety. In this, he seems to have been influenced by Pearce and also
James Gibbs
James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...
. However, when it came to interiors, Cassels gave full rein to his love of the more continental Baroque. Walls were covered in
stucco reliefs, ceilings medallions and motifs of plaster, segmental mouldings, and carvings, in an almost
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style peculiar to Ireland.
Notable works
Some of the finest of Cassels works in order of commencement are listed below.
(''Dates often vary from one source to the other'')
Trinity College, Printing House
This perfect small
doric temple, was completed in 1734 and is thought to be Cassels' first major solo work. A four-columned portico of Doric columns projected from the rusticated severe building and the entirety is only the width of the portico. (''This building is sometimes attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce'').
Carton House
Carton House is a country house and surrounding demesne that was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster for over 700 years. Located 23 km west of Dublin, in Maynooth, County Kildare, the Carton Demesne is a 1,100 ac ...
(1739)
Cassels made large alterations to the Carton house in
County Kildare between 1739 and 1745 for the
Earl of Kildare
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
. The resultant facades were in his usual restrained and symmetrical style. The great garden facade is terminated by
Venetian window
A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian ar ...
s at each end, while in the centre, a single storey portico is so unostentatious as to be almost a
porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
. The roof-line is hidden by a
balustrade, broken by an unsupported pediment over the central bay. The interiors are a riot of plaster-work ornamentation. The
Lafranchini brothers, famous for their plaster-work, executed some of their finest work here, and would work again with Cassels at Russborough.
The Conolly Folly
The Conolly Folly was designed by him, and built in 1740 as a park ornament for
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. Sold to developers in 1965, the estate ...
.
Russborough House
Russborough House is a stately house near the Blessington Lakes in County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. Located between the towns of Blessington and Ballymore Eustace, it is an outstanding example of Palladian architecture, designed by Richard ...
(1742)
Russborough was designed by Cassels for
Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown. It was built between 1741 and 1755. A central block containing the principal rooms is flanked by curved and segmented colonnades leading to two symmetrical service blocks. The main entrance, at the centre of one of Cassels's trademark 'suggested' porticoes, is on a raised
piano nobile. It is reached by a broad flight of steps. The principal feature of the interiors are the
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
plaster-work and the ceilings, again by the master stuccoists Paul and Philip Lanfrachini; and ornate carved
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
fireplaces, all contrasting with the austerity of the exterior.
Summerhill House (1731)
Summerhill House was a vast Palladian mansion in County Meath originally designed by Pearce, who died before the project was commenced. Cassels took over the project and was responsible for the rococo interiors. The building was damaged by fire in the 1920s and finally demolished in the 1970s.
Powerscourt House (1741)
Powerscourt House, Wicklow, was a large country house, originally a 13th-century castle, which was completely rebuilt by Cassels, starting in 1730 and finishing in 1741. The demesne was approximately . The three-story house had at least 68 rooms. The entrance hall was long and wide where family heirlooms were displayed. The main reception rooms were on the first floor rather than more typically on the ground floor. King
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
was the guest of
Richard Wingfield, 5th Viscount Powerscourt
Richard Wingfield, 5th Viscount Powerscourt (11 September 1790 – 9 August 1823) was an Anglo-Irish peer.
He was the son of Richard Wingfield, 4th Viscount Powerscourt and Lady Catherine Meade, daughter of John Meade, 1st Earl of Clanwilliam. ...
in August 1821.
Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt
Mervyn Edward Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt (13 October 1836 – 5 June 1904) was an Irish peer. He became Viscount Powerscourt in 1844 on the death of his father Richard Wingfield, 6th Viscount Powerscourt. Through this Wingfield line he ...
inherited the title and the Powerscourt estate, which comprised of land in Ireland, at the age of 8 in 1844. When he reached the age of 21 he embarked on an extensive renovation of the house and created new gardens. Inspiration for the garden design followed visits by Powerscourt to ornamental gardens at the
Palace of Versailles,
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...
, Vienna and
Schwetzingen Palace near u
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
. The garden development took 20 years to complete in 1880. On a commanding hilltop position, Cassels deviated slightly from his usual sombre style, to give the house something of what
John Vanbrugh would have called the 'castle air' – a severe Palladian facade terminated by two circular
domed
tower
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specifi ...
s. The house was destroyed by fire in 1974 when it was owned by the
Slazenger
Slazenger () is a British sports equipment brand owned by the Frasers Group (formerly Sports Direct). The company was established as a sporting goods shop in 1881 by Ralph and Albert Slazenger on London's Cannon Street.J. R. Lowerson, 'Slazen ...
family and renovated in 1996. In the 1830s, the house was the venue for a number of conferences on unfulfilled Bible prophecies, which were attended by men such as
John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of moder ...
and
Edward Irving
Edward Irving (4 August 17927 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.
Early life
Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale the second son of Ga ...
. These conferences were held under the auspices of Theodosia Wingfield Powerscourt, then the widow Lady Powerscourt.
Tyrone House, Dublin
Tyrone House is a Georgian mansion townhouse built for Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone in 1740. It was constructed on lands bordering Marlborough Street (formerly Tyrone Street) in what was to become a fashionable part of North Dublin ci ...
(1740)
Cassels designed this Dublin townhouse for Marcus Beresford,
Earl of Tyrone
The Earl of Tyrone is a title created three times in the Peerage of Ireland.
It was first created as part of the Tudor attempt to establish a uniform social structure in Ireland by converting the Gaelic kings and chiefs into hereditary nobles of t ...
, in Marlborough Street between 1740 and 1745. Smaller than
Powerscourt House it is said to be the first substantial
aristocratic house to be built in the north of the city. It is a fine example of Cassels' robust sober style. The central Venetian window above the principal entrance is the sole example of decoration or flamboyance to this dramatically severe facade.
Leinster House
Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...
(1745)
The house was originally known as Kildare House after James Fitzgerald, the
Earl of Kildare
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
, who commissioned Cassels to build it between 1745 and 1747. Intended to be Dublin's grandest mansion, the result could not have disappointed Kildare. It is said that another Irish architect,
James Hoban
James Hoban (1755 – December 8, 1831) was an Irish-American architect, best known for designing the White House.
Life
James Hoban was a Roman Catholic raised on Desart Court estate belonging to the Earl of Desart near Callan, County Kilkenny ...
, later copied the facade of Leinster house for his design of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
(although Castlecoole designed by
James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806.
Early life
W ...
bears a closer resemblance).
Rotunda Hospital
The Rotunda Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal an Rotunda; legally the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women, Dublin) is a maternity hospital on Parnell Street in Dublin, Ireland, now managed by RCSI Hospitals. The eponymous Rotunda in Parnell S ...
(1757)
Originally the main maternity hospital for Dublin, it was redesigned by Cassels who transformed it into a Palladian palace, complete with a
rotunda which gives the hospital its name.
Waterstown House, Westmeath
Built for Gustavus Handcock-Temple in the 1740s, the house which was three stories over the basement and 7 bays wide, was built of brick with stone facing. Cassels work includes a pigeon house (which is almost identical to the Killiney Hill obelisk), walled gardens, farmyard, and grotto.
The front facade was 7 bays wide and 3 storeys high over a basement. The house was abandoned in 1923. It was sold for scrap in 1928 at which time most of the house was dismantled.
['Waterston: The rise and fall of a south Westmeath estate' by Richard Coplen.]
Westport House
Westport House in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, is a country house, historically the family seat of the Marquess of Sligo and the Brownes and designed by notable eighteenth century architects Richard Cassels, Thomas Ivory and James Wyatt. ...
, Mayo
Built for Browne in 1730, Westport House is a beautifully sited two-storey over basement ashlar stone house overlooking Clew Bay in County Mayo. Cassels decided to relocate the village of Westport to improve the outlook from the house to the east. The original house was quite small and was later extended by others.
Legacy to Ireland
Richard Cassels died suddenly in 1751 while at Carton House. He gave Ireland a distinctive type of Palladianism, to appreciate which one has to consider the buildings both externally and internally: the restrained, even severe, but nevertheless, grand external façades, which do not jar the eye in the Irish landscape, give no hint of the flamboyant rococo exuberance within.
See also
*
Ballyhaise House
*
Bellinter House
*
Hazelwood House, Sligo
*
Market House, Dunlavin
References
Sources
*
External links
Powerscourt House, Enniskerry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassels, Richard
1690 births
1751 deaths
Architects from Kassel
People from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
German emigrants to Ireland
18th-century Irish architects