Main Record - County Wicklow |
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| Russborough House, County Wicklow
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| 16400503 |
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| Reg. No. | 16400503 |
| Date | 1740 - 1750 |
| Previous Name | N/A |
| Townland | RUSSBOROUGH |
| County | County Wicklow |
| Coordinates | 295770, 211051 |
| Categories of Special Interest | ARCHITECTURAL ARTISTIC HISTORICAL SOCIAL |
| Rating | National |
| Original Use | country house |
| In Use As | country house |
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Description
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement Palladian style mansion, built 1741-48 to designs by Richard Castle, with quadrant Doric colonnades linking to seven-bay two-storey pavilion wings, themselves linked to outbuildings by walls with rusticated arches topped with cupolas. The walls are of dressed granite, with a central feature to the main block consisting of a pediment supported by four three-quarter Corinthian columns with swag mouldings between the capitals, whilst the wings have three-bay breakfront centres with Ionic pilasters. Each of the three blocks and the colonnades has a parapet surmounted with urns, and behind each parapet is a slated hipped roof with broad granite chimneystacks to the main blocks. Within the colonnades are arched niches with Classical statues. The entrance consists of a largely glazed timber door with semi-circular fanlight-like eyebrow window above, and is reached by a grand flight of stone steps with the piers of the balustrade topped with urns and heraldic lions. The windows are generally flat-headed and filled with three over three and six over six timber sash frames. Cast-iron rainwater goods. The house is surrounded by an extensive, but largely unadorned, demesne and approached at a right angle from the main avenue to the north-east.
Appraisal
Possibly the greatest Palladian mansion in Ireland and one of the best preserved 18th-century buildings in the whole country, Russborough's worth is beyond doubt. |
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