Richard Cassels
Encyclopedia
Edward Lovett Pearce
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...
as one of the greatest architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s working in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Although German, his family were of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
origin, descended from the French-Netherlandish 'Du Ry' family, famous for the many architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s among their number. A cousin Simon du Ry designed Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel.
Early work
Richard Cassels, who originally trained as an engineerEngineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, came to Ireland in 1728 at the behest of Sir Gustavus Hume of County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
to design for Hume a mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
on the shores of Lough Erne
Lough Erne
Lough Erne, sometimes Loch Erne , is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne. The river begins by flowing north, and then curves west into the Atlantic. The southern lake is further up the river and so is named Upper...
. Hume had probably discovered Cassels working in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where he was influenced by the circle of architects influenced by Lord Burlington. Cassels, soon after arrival in Ireland, established a thriving architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
practice in Dublin. Architecturally at the time Dublin was an exciting place to be – Edward Lovett Pearce, also newly established in the city, was working on Castletown House
Castletown House
Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland's is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of a estate...
, the great mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
of Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
William Connolly, and the new Irish Houses of Parliament
Irish Houses of Parliament
The Irish Houses of Parliament , also known as the Irish Parliament House, today called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its use as by the bank, was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house...
simultaneously. Both of these buildings were designed in the newly-introduced Palladian style. Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
was currently enjoying a revival that was to sweep across Europe and be adopted with a fervour in Ireland. Cassels was well versed in the concepts of Palladio and Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
, but was also sympathetic to the more Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style of architecture.
In Dublin itself, Cassels worked on the Houses of Parliament with Pearce, his mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
and friend. Cassels' first solo commission was the Printing House of Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, designed to resemble a temple complete with a doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
. This portico was an interesting feature symbolizing Cassels' early work – a portico is an almost essential feature of Palladian architecture. But as Cassels' work matured he tended to merely hint at a portico by placing semi-engaged columns supporting a pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
as the focal point of a facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
. Perhaps he felt the huge Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
porticos that provided shelter from the sun were not requisite for houses in the less clement Ireland. This blind, merely suggested, portico is a feature of his final Dublin masterpiece Leinster House
Leinster House
Leinster House is the name of the building housing the Oireachtas, the national parliament of Ireland.Leinster House was originally the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, which house Oireachtas Éireann, its...
built for the Earl of Kildare between 1745 and 1751. A comparison of the Printing House and Leinster House shows the evolution from the true Palladian style to the, commonly referred, Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
style in Ireland during the quarter century that Dublin was to be almost rebuilt.
The untimely death of Edward Lovett Pearce, aged 34, in 1733, made Cassels Ireland's leading architect working in the sought after Palladian style. He immediately assumed all of Pearce's commissions and thus began designing a series of lavish country houses. Following the completion of the Houses of Parliament there seemed to have been a rush by the aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
to build a series of new town houses in the same style and Cassels was often the first choice for architect. This led to the creation of what came to be known as Georgian Dublin
Georgian Dublin
Georgian Dublin is a phrase used in the History of Dublin that has two interwoven meanings,# to describe a historic period in the development of the city of Dublin, Ireland, from 1714 to the death in 1830 of King George IV...
.
For his exteriors he used a Palladian style that was distinctive for its strength and sobriety. In this he seems to have been influenced by Pearce and also James Gibbs
James Gibbs
James Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Scotland, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England...
. However, when it came to interiors, Cassels gave full rein to his love of the more continental Baroque. Walls were covered in stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
reliefs, ceilings medallions and motifs of plaster, segmental mouldings, and carvings, in an almost rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
style peculiar to Ireland.
Notable works
Some of the finest of Cassels works in order of commencement are listed below.(Dates often vary from one source to the other)
Trinity College, Printing House
This perfect small doricDoric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
, was completed in 1734, and is thought to be Cassels' first major solo work. A four-columned portico of doric columns projected from the rusticated severe building and the entirety is only the width of the portico. (This building is sometimes attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce).
Carton House (1739)
Cassels made large alterations to the Carton house in County KildareCounty Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
between 1739 and 1745 for the Earl of Kildare. The resultant facades were in his usual restrained and symmetrical style. The great garden facade is terminated by Venetian windows at each end, while in the centre, a single storey portico is so unostentatious as to be almost a porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
. The roof-line is hidden by a balustrade, broken by an unsupported pediment over the central bay. The interiors are a riot of plaster-work ornamentation. The Lafranchini brothers
Lafranchini brothers
The Lafranchini brothers, originally from Switzerland, are famed today for their work in rococo style stucco, chiefly in the great palladian houses of Ireland....
, famous for their plaster-work, executed some of their finest work here, and would work again with Cassels at Russborough.
Russborough House (1742)
Russborough was designed by Cassels for Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of MilltownJoseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown
Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown was an Irish peer and politician.-Background:He was the son of Joseph Leeson, who was a brewer in Dublin, and Mary Brice, daughter of Alderman Andrew Brice, Sheriff of Dublin...
. It was built between 1741 and 1755. A central block containing the principal rooms is flanked by curved and segmented colonnades leading to two symmetrical service blocks. The main entrance, at the centre of one of Cassels's trademark 'suggested' porticoes, is on a raised piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
. It is reached by a broad flight of steps. The principal feature of the interiors are the rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
plaster-work and the ceilings, again by the master stuccoists Paul and Philip Lanfrachini; and ornate carved marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
fireplaces, all contrasting with the austerity of the exterior.
Summerhill
This vast palladian mansion in County Meath was originally designed by Pearce, who died before the project was commenced. Cassels took over the project and was responsible for the rococo interiors. The building was damaged by fire in the 1920s and finally demolished in the 1950s.Powerscourt House (1741)
Powerscourt House, WicklowThis large country house, originally a 13th century castle, was completely rebuilt by Cassels - starting in 1730 and finishing in 1741. The demesne was approximately 850 acres (3.4 km²). The three-story house had at least 68 rooms. The entrance hall was 60 feet (18 m) long and 40 feet (12 m) wide where family heirlooms were displayed. The main reception rooms were on the first floor rather than more typically on the ground floor. King George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
was the guest of Richard Wingfield, 5th Viscount Powerscourt in August 1821.. Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt
Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt
Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt KP PC was an Irish peer. He became Viscount Powerscourt in 1844 on the death of his father Richard Wingfield, 6th Viscount Powerscourt....
inherited the title and the Powerscourt estate, which comprised 49000 acres (198 km²) of land in Ireland, at the age of 8 in 1844. When he reached the age of 21 he embarked on an extensive reonovation of the house and created new gardens. Inspiration for the garden design followed visits by Powerscourt to ornamental gardens at the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Schwetzingen
Schwetzingen
Schwetzingen is a German town situated in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, around southwest of Heidelberg and southeast of Mannheim.Schwetzingen is one of the 5 biggest cities of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district and it is a medium-sized centre including the cities and municipalities of...
Palace near Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
. The garden development took 20 years to complete in 1880. On a commanding hilltop position Cassels deviated slightly from his usual sombre style, to give the house something of what John Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
would have called the 'castle air' - a severe palladian facade terminated by two circular dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
d tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
s. The house was destroyed by fire in 1974 when it was owned by the Slazenger
Slazenger
Slazenger is a British sports equipment brand name sold throughout the world, involving a variety of sporting categories namely cricket, tennis and hockey...
family and renovated in 1996. In the 1830s, the house was the venue for a number of conferences on unfulfilled Bible prophecies, which were attended by men such as John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
and Edward Irving
Edward Irving
*For Edward Irving, the Canadian geologist, see Edward A. Irving.Edward Irving was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.-Youth:...
. These conferences were held under the auspices of Theodosia Wingfield Powerscourt, then the widow Lady Powerscourt.
Powerscourt House, Dublin
Obviously pleased by Cassel's work at their country seat in Wicklow, the 3rd Viscount Powerscourt commissioned Cassels to design his Dublin town house in William Street. Built on three principal floors above a sunken basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
, it is unusual for its series of curved topped windows on the ground floor, with the more traditional rectangular pedimented windows on the floor above. The front elevation of nine bays has a Venetian window above the main entrance as its central feature. The facade is devoid of pilasters, having only rusticated cornerstones as decoration. A pediment crowns the central projection. The interiors, as at Russborough and elsewhere, were again in the rococo style, contrasting with the exterior.
Tyrone House (1740)
Cassels designed this Dublin town house for Marcus Beresford, Earl of TyroneEarl of Tyrone
The Earl of Tyrone is a title created three times in the Peerage of Ireland.It was first created as part of the Tudor attempt to establish a uniform social structure in Ireland by converting the Gaelic kings and chiefs into hereditary nobles of the Kingdom of Ireland...
, in Marlborough Street between 1740 and 1745. Smaller than Powerscourt
Powerscourt
Powerscourt may refer to:*Viscount Powerscourt, title in the Irish peerage*Powerscourt Estate, County Wicklow, Ireland**Powerscourt Golf Club, on the estate*Powerscourt Waterfall, the highest waterfall in Ireland, near the estate...
House it is said to be the first substantial aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
ic house to be built in the north of the city. It is fine example of Cassels' robust sober style. The central Venetian window above the principal entrance is the sole example of decoration or flamboyance to this dramatically severe facade.
Leinster House (1745)
The house was originally known as KildareKildare
-External links:*******...
House after James Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, who commissioned Cassels to build it between 1745 and 1747. Intended to be Dublin's grandest mansion, the result could not have disappointed Kildare. It is said that another Irish architect, James Hoban
James Hoban
James Hoban was an Irish architect, best known for designing The White House in Washington, D.C.-Life:James Hoban was born and raised in a thatched cottage on the Earl of Desart's estate in Cuffesgrange, near Callan in Co. Kilkenny...
, later copied the facade of Leinster house for his design of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(although Castlecoole designed by James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
bears a closer resemblance).
Rotunda Hospital (1757)
Originally the main maternity hospitalHospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
for Dublin, it was redesigned by Cassels who transformed it into a palladian palace, complete with a rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
which gives the hospital its name.
Legacy to Ireland
Richard Cassels died in 1751. His legacy is that he gave Ireland a distinctive type of palladianism all of its own, which to be fully appreciated one has to regard the buildings simultaneously externally and internally, the restrained, even severe, but nevertheless grand external facades, which do not jar the eye in the Irish landscape, give no hint of the flamboyance, even wild rococo exuberance within. This is found almost nowhere else in Europe, the cold grandeur of England's finest palladian mansions such as Kedleston HallKedleston Hall
Kedleston Hall is an English country house in Kedleston, Derbyshire, approximately four miles north-west of Derby, and is the seat of the Curzon family whose name originates in Notre-Dame-de-Courson in Normandy...
or Holkham Hall
Holkham Hall
Holkham Hall is an eighteenth-century country house located adjacent to the village of Holkham, on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk...
could not be further removed from the joy and movement of the interiors of one of Richard Cassels's Irish Palladian interiors.