Book review - The Building Site in Eighteenth-Century Ireland

During the eighteenth-century, the Protestant Ascendancy were stamping their mark on the physical landscape of Ireland. This was seen in the large private houses and estates that were built all around the country and in the planned estate towns such as Abbeyleix.

I have just written a book review of The Building Site in Eighteenth-century Ireland by Arthur Gibney in the peer-reviewed academic journal Irish Studies Review. Follow this link for the article.

Front cover of The Building Site in Eighteenth-Century Ireland.

The book's author, Arthur Gibney (1933-2006), was one of the leading architects of his generation. When he graduated in 1958, he went to work with Michael Scott, who had designed Busáras, the new central bus station in Dublin. Two years later, Gibney went into partnership with Sam Stephenson. Together, they were responsible for many new buildings, including the controversial ESB headquarters on Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Street, along with other office blocks around the capital. When he split from Stephenson, Gibney established his own practice where he designed new buildings but also restored historic buildings. Through these renovation and conservation projects, he gained an invaluable insight into old building techniques.

As Gibney states in the book, the eighteenth-century buildings of Ireland can be book-ended between the construction of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham (completed 1684), designed by William Robinson, and the Four Courts (completed 1802), designed by Thomas Cooley and James Gandon. Below are photographs of these two fine buildings.

Courtyard of Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

Dublin Four Courts. Image source: Wikimedia Commons