1881 – Rossdohan House, Sneem, Co. Kerry

House for Dr Samuel Thomas Heard, burnt out 1922. Seddon’s only constructed design in Ireland.

“THE accompanying illustration of the side of the drawing-room of Rosdohan House, county Kerry, some twenty miles below Kenmare, on the banks of the estuary of that name, shows a treatment of decorative woodwork on mediaeval principles. It has for some time been the fashion to assume that all Gothic decoration of this class must be ultra-conventional, and, if not coarse, devoid of that delicacy which is supposed to distinguish similar workmanship in the style of “Queen Anne.”

This particular example of another character was not specially designed in antagonism to that of the day. But being different, and having been asked to explain its difference, I feel bound to say a few words in its defence. Had I known that such obligation would have been entailed upon me when I offered the design for publication, I think I should have shrunk from it. I know it is open to the stock criticism that in woodwork nothing like an arch should be attempted, and so forth. I must, perhaps, plead guilty to this soft impeachment, sheltering myself under both ancient authority and individual preference. The arched forms might have been omitted, and equal effect produced no doubt by bracketing. Granting, however, this defect (if it be one), the Woodwork is used constructively throughout, according to mediaeval principles, and the construction emphasised and not concealed. Scope has been given in the panels of the framed dado for the introduction of various richly coloured woods, arranged in patterns and carved on their surfaces. The design is hardly explicable without the colour for which it was principally designed, and many of the portions which appear to be left plain though in prominent positions, it was proposed, would be the richest of the whole when painted as intended.

The wall space, for the sake of completing the drawing for illustration, is occupied by the well-known sunflower paper, the authorship of which, much as I admire it, I cannot claim, and would fain give credit where due, if I knew. It was intended as a mere vehicle for colour. The room, of which the illustration shows but one side, as high as the cornice, is carried up in reality much higher, as it occupies two storeys of the building, and has a coved boarded ceiling. The doors shown on the right hand lead to a verandah, 9 feet wide, continued along the whole front of the building on either side of this drawing-room, which projects boldly as a bay beyond the general line of the façade of the building. The fireplace is in a wide recess, with coved top, with the tracery shown; beneath this is the arched panelled back ground, with miniature gallery in front, and this stage is meant for the display of decorative pottery and plates. Under this, in the centre, are panels filled with plate-glass mirrors, with shelves on delicate columns to support Oriental jars. The fireplace itself is lined with tiles and bordered by rose-coloured marble, and has a marble fender and mosaic hearth. With this explanation I must leave the design to speak for itself; whether or not it be a worthy exponent of the principles I have sought to embody in it, I must leave others than myself to judge. All I claim for the style is that it is capable of any amount of delicacy and richness, and that effect can be produced in it without contravening any proprieties of construction, —John P. Seddon.