Lucan House | |
---|---|
Lucan House (1775), now the residence of the Italian ambassador in Ireland | |
Former names | Lucan Manor |
General information | |
Type | House |
Architectural style | Palladian |
Town or city | Lucan, Dublin |
Country | Ireland |
Coordinates | 53°21′25.92″N6°27′10.99″W / 53.3572000°N 6.4530528°W |
Current tenants | Vacant |
Construction started | 1772 |
Estimated completion | 1775 |
Owner | South Dublin County Council |
Technical details | |
Material | granite and pebble dash |
Floor count | 3 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Chambers Agmondisham Vesey James Wyatt (interior, oval office and sarsfield monument) |
Developer | Agmondisham Vesey |
Other designers | Michael Stapleton (stucco work) |
Designations | Protected Structure [1] |
References | |
[2] |
Lucan Manor is a Georgian-Palladian house and estate in Lucan, County Dublin. A manor house, it is remembered particularly for its association with the Sarsfield family. A castle or house has been recorded on the site since at least the 12th century.
Lucan manor is mentioned on the pipe roll as far back as 1272 when it was granted to Norman lords on the conquest of Ireland. [3] [4]
The Sarsfield family first acquired Lucan when it was bought in 1566 by the Tudor era figure Sir William Sarsfield who passed it on to his younger son. The Manor remained in the hands of the Sarsfields until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland when they were dispossessed of it due to Patrick Sarsfield's role in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
It was then awarded to the Irish soldier Sir Theophilus Jones. After the Irish Restoration in 1660, the Sarsfields attempted to recover the estate. Despite their appeals being rejected in court, they were eventually able to secure its return following the intervention of Charles II. [5] There were further disputes following the death of William Sarsfield in 1675, with the manor eventually passing to his daughter, Charlotte Sarsfield, who married Agmondisham Vesey. [6] [7]
Lucan Manor was demolished in the 1770s. Its Georgian era Palladian villa replacement, Lucan House, was constructed around 1775 by Agmondisham Vesey and today still stands on the site. [8] Upon the death of Vesey in 1785, the house and estate passed to his son George Vesey. [9] On his death the house passed to his daughter Elizabeth Vesey and her husband Sir Nicholas Colthurst, 4th Baronet. They and their descendants then had the house from 1836 to 1921. [10]
The contents of the house were sold in their entirety in September 1925 by Sir Richard St John Jefferyes Colthurst, 8th Baronet. [11]
Later, the house was acquired by Charles Hugh O'Conor, the son of Charles Owen O'Conor in the 1930s. [12]
The house was owned by William Teeling for a period in the 1940s when it featured in Country Life magazine. [13]
As of 2022, the house is the residence of the Italian ambassador to Ireland. The Italian government had been renting the property since 1942 and acquired the property in 1954. [14] [15] [16]
In 2023, the house was acquired by South Dublin County Council for around €15m with the Italian ambassador moving to a large house in Dartry. [17] [18]
Earl of Lucan is a title which has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland for related families.
Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan was an Irish soldier and Jacobite. Killed at Landen in 1693 while serving in the French army, he is now best remembered as an Irish patriot and military hero.
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 the principles of formal classical architecture from ancient Greek and Roman traditions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Palladio's interpretation of this classical architecture developed into the style known as Palladianism.
Lucan is a suburban town in County Dublin, located 12 km west of Dublin city centre, on the River Liffey. It is near the Strawberry Beds and Lucan Weir, and at the confluence of the River Griffeen. It is mostly in the local government area of South Dublin, with the exception of the North Lucan areas of Laraghcon, Coldblow and Saint Catherine's Park, which are in Fingal. Road access to Lucan is from the N4, and the M50 motorway at Junction 7.
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce 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 best known for the Irish Houses of Parliament in Dublin, and his work on Castletown House. The architectural concepts he employed on both civic and private buildings were to change the face of architecture in Ireland. He could be described as the father of Irish Palladian architecture and Georgian Dublin.
Lucan Bridge is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Lucan, County Dublin, Ireland. It joins Lucan's Main Street to the Lower Lucan Road, carrying traffic towards Clonsilla and the north, and the Strawberry Beds to the east. Designed by George Knowles, it was built in 1814. Constructed in collaboration with James Savage at a cost of more than £9,000, it replaced several previous bridges which had been carried away by floods.
Luttrellstown Castle is a castellated house located in Clonsilla on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland dating from the early 15th century.
Turnings is a townland and historic site in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the Morell River, a tributary of the River Liffey 25 km upstream from the Irish capital Dublin. It is a rural area, and a planning application has been lodged with Kildare County Council (2007) to develop a town in the district.
Thomas Roberts was an Irish landscape artist.
Sir John Bingham, 6th Baronet was an Irish politician and baronet.
The Sheriff of County Dublin was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Dublin. Initially, an office for a lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the Sheriff became an annual appointment following the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. The first recorded Sheriff was Ralph Eure, appointed in that year. The next recorded Sheriff was Sir David de Offington, who was Sheriff in 1282. Besides his judicial importance, the sheriff had ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs.
Agmondesham Vesey, esquire, was an Irish politician and the second husband of Elizabeth Vesey, one of the founders of the Blue Stockings Society. He was the son of Agmondisham Vesey (1677–1739) and a grandson of John Vesey.
John Vesey was a Church of Ireland clergyman.
Oliver O'Gara was an Irish politician and soldier of the 17th and 18th centuries who was closely identified with the Jacobite cause.
Sir William Sarsfield was an Irish landowner, public official and soldier of the sixteenth century.
Peter Sarsfield was an Irish landowner of the seventeenth century.
Patrick Sarsfield was an Irish landowner and soldier of the seventeenth century noted for his role in the Irish Confederate Wars. He is best known as the father of Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, and is sometimes referred to as Patrick Sarsfield the Elder because of this.
Honora Burke became Honora FitzJames, Duchess of Berwick on Tweed, married Patrick Sarsfield and went into French exile where he followed her soon afterwards. After his death at the Battle of Landen, she married James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, an illegitimate son of James II. She may have introduced the country dance to the French court.
William Sarsfield was an Irish landowner of the seventeenth century. He was the elder brother of the Jacobite soldier Patrick Sarsfield.
Agmondisham Vesey was an Irish landowner.