The Guinness HEIR who saved Georgian Ireland
As his will ends up in the High Court, the fascinating story of one of our last aristocrats
living part of the year in Clonfert in East Galway.
In his book, The Inspiration of the Past, the author John Cornforth described it as ‘the key county house in the British Isles in the late 1950s and 1960s… It managed to be stylish and unfussy; quite grand and yet informal and cut back; and everywhere there was both a vivid historical air and a sense of fantasy’.
However other buildings would soon occupy the couple’s attention. In 1957, Desmond wrote to The Irish Times enquiring about the status of the Irish Georgian Society (the IGS had previously operated from 1908-1913) and enquired if anyone would object to him reviving it as he wished to ‘fight for the preservation of what is left of Georgian architecture in Ireland.’
By the 1950s Ireland had many buildings of the Georgian era which had fallen into disrepair or were in use as tenement buildings. There was very little affection or regard for these relics of the ascendancy class as they were perceived by many as symbolic of English rule. Even the Irish State was antagonistic and was keener on promoting a vision of progress rather than preserving relics of English administration.
That the country was severely economically depressed and unemployment exceedingly high, did not help matters. Many of the large country houses had been abandoned too after a number were burnt out during the Civil War.
By the 1950s they resembled sad and abandoned ghosts, often raided for their lead, fireplaces, mouldings and any valuable fittings. Desmond spoke about seeing this at Castletown House: ‘They were rolling up the lead from the roof at Castletown to sell for scrap and there was nothing anyone could do.’
Desmond and Mariga aimed to put a halt to the neglect and dereliction and preserve what remained of Ireland’s Georgian heritage before it was too late.
Their most notable success was the rescue of said Castletown House in Kildare, which was Ireland’s first great Palladian house from the early 18th century. Today it is owned by the State and is celebrated as a sterling example of Georgian architecture and craftmanship. Then it was robbed and desolate and generally perceived as a large white elephant despite being the prototype for many grand Irish houses.
Built for William Connolly, the Speaker of the Irish House, circa 1729, it was designed to reflect its owner’s power and serve as a venue for political entertaining on a grand scale. To restore it to its former glory was a Herculean task.
Desmond and Mariga bought the house for £93,000 in a terrible state in 1967. Unable to afford to pay for all the necessary labour, they set about fundraising constantly and inspiring a team of volunteers to assist with the work. Young and old were recruited to help and it became a consuming passion for the couple.
Once the initial work was done, the next major task was to acquire furniture and paintings for the house. Desmond Guinness secured most of these at auction and was very keen that it shouldn’t be ‘a dead house museum’.
When it was done, the house was reopened with a party for the Georgian Society and a healthy smattering of wealthy Americans who had contributed to the cause. In 1967, it became the first historical house in Leinster to be opened to the public.
One of the first notable visitors to Castletown House was Jacqueline Kennedy, the former US First Lady. It’s interesting to note that as Castletown influenced the design of Leinster House it therefore in turn influenced the design of the White House.
America was central to the conservation work of the IGS: Desmond raised money there via his lecture tours with Irish-Americans contributing on average $170,000 annually to the society’s work.
Other projects that absorbed the Gunnesses include the preservation of what remained of Mountjoy Square. After the destruction of Lower Dominik Street, they bought 20 houses in the square for £68,000 to prevent their destruction too.
They also saved Cashel Palace, in Tipperary in 1962 by persuading Lord Brockett to buy it and open it as a first-class hotel and also preserved St Catherine’s Church in James Street.
Gradually Dublin City Council began to take some responsibility for the city’s Georgian architecture — it gave a grant of £15,000 in 1975 to secure the structure of St Catherine’s. Other successes included the rescue of the Tailor’s Hall in Dublin, Damer House in Roscrea, The Connolly Folly at Castletown, Hume Street, and the Dromana Gateway near Cappoquin.
Desmond also wrote a number of books about Dublin and Ireland’s Georgian architecture, notably in 1967 his first, Portrait of Dublin, followed by Georgian Dublin, Dublin: A Grand Tour and Great Irish Houses and Castles.
He and Mariga over time became estranged, and Desmond eventually had a second marriage to Penelope Cuthbertson, herself the daughter of another of the Bright Young Things, Baby Jungman.
Mariga died in 1989 and is buried at the Connolly Folly at Castletown, her first restoration project.
Desmond subsequently stepped back from the IGS in 1990. In 2003, his mother Diana died in Paris aged 93. She had been justifiably proud of his conservation work which she highlighted in her memoir, A Life of Contrasts.
While Desmond Guiness received various honours — such as an Honorary LLD from Dublin University in 1980, became an honorary member of the RIA in 2001, and received the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage/ the Europa Nostra Award in 2006 — he never got any acknowledgement from the Irish State for his work to preserve Ireland’s architectural legacy.
Last November, the IGS staged an event celebrating his life and ‘Herculean’ endeavours, which was supported by the OPW and the Guinness family.
Perhaps a bust of Desmond in one of Dublin’s Georgian squares would be a fitting tribute to his legacy. From there he could keep those dazzling eyes on the graceful buildings he loved and protected with such zeal.
Guinness is survived by his two children, Marina and Patrick, and his second wife, Penny.
Quite how his will has ended up in the High Court is not clear but there is no denying the work he did to preserve our heritage.
He turned his back on the traditional Guinness careers of banking and brewing to instead devote his life to architectural conservation.
Without the intervention of Desmond and Mariga, it is highly likely that large tracts of Georgian Dublin as well many Irish country houses would have been either demolished to make way for modern developments or would have been left to decay beyond redemption. His passion for the preservation of Ireland’s architectural heritage ensured that we can still enjoy the beauty of our 18th century buildings.
He devoted his life to architectural conservation