30030 LECTURE 1 NOTES

I.INTRO
- Arthur Young's A Tour in Ireland 1776-1779
- consider the implications of his decision to depict the "Irish Cabbin" and to use
it to represent the country as a whole
- Ireland is still represented by its landscape and not its architecture
- repercussion may be Ireland's perception as a country devoid of any great cities
and industries
- the topic of the essay is an examination of representations of Ireland in tourist
literature - why might people visit Ireland, what is attractive about our country
and what makes it distinct in the eyes of a wealthy visitor.

II.ARTHUR YOUNG'S IRISH CABBIN

- Young is well known for his travel writing which often contained inappropriate
social commentary
- the tone of his writing is rife with disdain: the cabbin is a "most miserable
looking hovel"
- Young's writing influenced external perceptions of Ireland, and the success of
the book led to his meeting the likes of Washington and La Rochefoucauld
- his work was widely translated also
- thus is was not the beggar but the ubiquitous cabin that became the focus of
attention for tourists and analysts of Irish poverty

- a comparison begins between Farewell's 1689 poem 'The Irish Hudibras'

- a miserable dweeling with no chimney or window and a scale as such that no hall
or kitchen could possibly be expected to lie within
- the cabins were cohabitated by animals and humans and this comingling was
disturbing to sensibilities of the upper-class tourists, who thought is uncivilised
Fourth-class housing: 'mud cabins having only one room'
Third-class housing: 'better description of a cottage, still built of mud but
varying from two to four rooms and windows'

III.IRISH CABINS VERSUS ENGLISH COTTAGES

- recall Young's description of Summerhill with its cabins as nice as, and in some
ways superior to, the English cottage
- the origin of this essay is Arthur Young's preparation of a print entitled "An
Irish Cabbin" which was derived from a pen-and-wash illustration
- in the print he omits all people, animals, and potatoes

- diversion onto Lady E. Forster's picturesque sketch of Powercourt Waterfall

- the necessity of the cabin or cottage as a device in picturesque imagery to show
scale

- there is a sure contrast between the representation of the English cottage and
the representation of the Irish cottage
- in the picturesque, the English cottage is inhabited by fat happy families
- idea of the Georgic Illusion: that cottages personified a simpler, idyllic and
harmonious way of life
- Young's figures are not at work or play - rather a 'state of apathetic stasis'
- Bermingham: what does it mean to conceive of the nation in private terms as a
cottage family? what does it mean to conceive of the cottage family in public terms
as the nation?
- British culture had adopted notions of the cottage as the form of architecture
most conducive to social altruism and professional competence
- Young made his drawing the frontispiece of his travel book in an act of criticism
of the British governance in Ireland, where the peasantry had been left to rot
- "Could a cabin be an example of 'workers' housing when the essential contract
between work and some degree of material rewards has broken down"
IV.THE IRISH CABIN AND THE ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION
- How could architecture advance in a country dominated by cabins?
- The Builder was Victorian England's most preeminent architectural periodical
- well known for its campaigns for housing and health reform
- Ireland was featured very infrequently
- note Volume Five's 'The State of Architecture in Ireland' which tells of a
meeting between the men of the RIAI with the lord lieutenant of Dublin who had
noted Dublin's architectural irrelevance despite its picturesque qualities as a
city and remarked on how little care has been bestowed upon the homes of peasants.

- an article in the following issue illuminated the actual source of the RIAI's
frustrations - the appointment of Englishman George Wilkinson as the architect of
workhouses around the country
- his designs were found to be:
a. inappropriate
b. dysfunctional
- the formation of the RIAI was partly as a consequence of these frustrations
- all subsequent mentions of Ireland in the Builder were in reference to
workhouses, an example of the Irish architectural profession's lack of national
power and identity
- the works projects served as a euphemism for the Famine, leaving a negative
impression of the workers' housing in Ireland and implying that Irish architects
were not competent
- On Ireland's portrayal by the Builder: "piecemeal, inconsistent, reactionary and
defensive"
- perhaps, however, the periodical was not widely read on the continent

- Cesar Daly and the Revue Generale de l'Architecture

- he speaks directly of the famine in Ireland in reference to Father Matthew's
round house
- favourable
- opinion letter in the same issue: 'this depotic island that hypocritically
employs the right to board and inspect for negroes yet tramples on its sister
Ireland'
- French writers touring Ireland perpetuated a poor perception of Irish housing
- 'Misery is Ireland's permanent condition'

V. IRISH CABINS 1845-1900

- The realities of the fourth-class cabin were henceforth rarely shown in painting
- by 1851 271,000 dwellings had disappeared, most of the fourth-class category and
presumably because the inhabitants had died or fled the country

LECTURE 3 READING 1 OF 3: PART ONE: CHAPTER ONE: SECURING THE LAND AND GARDENS -
ROBERT MOLESWORTH'S LANDSCAPE OF BRECKDENSTON

"The cutting down of our trees displeases me much more than if they hd cut down all
of our houses"
- Molesworth was "moderately wealthy", inhabiting an estate of 200 acres in Swords
- Breckdenston was a landscape of great variety and a source of immense pleasure
for its owners

- the house was situated further from the town and did not have a formal avenue,
see ideas about the imposed heirarchy inherent in the long driveway at estates
- Molesworth would embark on a redesign of his landscape inspired by the ones seen
in Europe, particularly seen in his elaborate water garden
- Molesworth was very confident in his own design prowess but occassionally
consulted the aid of an architect- Stephen Switzer, gerden designer, among them, as
well as Alessandro Galilei an expert of aqueducts and fountains and theatres, and
an associate of the Grand Duke
- John Molesworth was involved in the design and making of the Breckdenston
gardens, having seen the great Italian landscapes while serving as British envoy to
Turin.
Also influencial were the Dutch

- the complicated waterworks that Molesworth wanted to install on his 200 acres
were infuriatingly dependent on the water pressure of neighbouring estates as well
- previous maps show the old houses on the site: a seventeenth century house
replaced by Robert Molesworth's eighteenth century Palladian, which burnt down and
was replaced by another design in 1915

LECTURE 3 READING 2 OF 3: DESIGN AND RULE: WOMEN IN THE IRISH COUNTRYSIDE 1715-1831

Notes taken on printout

CONSERVATION ESSAY I

I. THE GARDENS OF IRELAND

1. Illnacullin, County Cork

- Belonging to the National Parks and Monuments Service of the Office of Public
Works

Do you think anything of significance has been lost/gained?

Have the various significances (architectural, historical, technological, urban)

been adequately weighed against each other?

What decisions were made regarding the conservation of old materials/introduction

of new materials? Are such decisions legible?

Can the public read the history of the building/landscape/city clearly?

How were the decisions communicated to the general public?

What record was kept of such decisions?

Was the public interest in the building's significance safeguarded (this can be
particularly difficult in private projects)?

- Ilnacullin meaning Island of Holly

- Bantry Bay
- commissioned by John Annan Bryce (1874-1924) a retires East India merchant and
native of Belfast
- purchased Illnacullin in 1910 when it was a goat-ridden reef of thrity-seven
acres
- inlet of Glengariff Bay
- no soil on island, had to be shipped over
- rock so close to surface that holes had to be blasted into it to plant trees
- Monterey pine and cypress, Scots and Austrian pine
- Bryce was a knowledgeable gardener

- Harold Peto drew up the plans for the house and garden, in his formal Italian
style
- Peto envisioned an Italianate house by the Martello tower on the island built for
defense against Napoleonic invasion
- Bryce never built the house, opting instead for a cottage

- Garden had to be altered to fit the rocky terrain of the island, adding elements
of surprise
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