1730 – French Park, Co. Roscommon
Architect: Richard Cassels
Large three storey mansion with two storey wings connected by simple curved sweeps. Similar in design to houses at Strokestown and the Bishop’s Palace at Elphin.
Richard Cassels (1690-1751)
Richard Cassels (1690-1751) was of German origin and also known as Richard Castle. He settled in Ireland around 1728 and worked with Edward Lovett Pearce on the Houses of Parliament before becoming the leading country house architect of his day in Ireland. He was responsible for some of the largest houses in Ireland including Russborough (1742-1755) in County Wicklow which has the longest frontage of any house in Ireland and Carton (1739-1745), County Kildare. He was also accredited with Summerhill, County Meath, an enormous house which was burnt in the Civil war of 1922 and finally demolished in the middle of this century. However it may be that the building was designed by Pearce before his death or at least outlined and that Cassels was the executant architect.
In Dublin his major works were: Tyrone House (1740-1745) for the Beresfords; Leinster House (1745-1751) which he designed for the Earls of Kildare; the Rotunda Hospital (1757-) which was based on a country house composition; and Powerscourt House which is now a shopping centre. His Dining Hall at Trinity College was demolished after two collapses of the foundations and was replaced in the 1760s by a design by Hugh Darley.
Cassel’s first independent work in Dublin is the Printing House also in Trinity, a simple little building with a doric temple front. It is unusual for Cassels in that the columns are true free-standing as his other works have frontispieces of engaged columns or pilasters. It is possible that preliminary work for this design was done by Pearce as it was completed only a year after his death. Cassel’s work conforms to English Palladianism of the period without betraying any hints of his foreign origins.
1730 – St. Mary the Virgin & St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Sligo, Co. Sligo
Architect: Richard Cassels
A much modified Georgian Cathedral with Victorian glass and fitttings from 1890, the Cathedral of St.
1730 – Strokestown Park, Co. Roscommon
Architect: Richard Cassels / J. Lynn
A substantial house in the Palladian manner of a central block flanked by wings and curved sweeps.
1731 – Summerhill, Co. Meath
Architect: Edward Lovett Pearce / Richard Cassels
Summerhill House was a 100 roomed country house which was the ancestral seat of the Langford Rowley family.
1733 – Ballyhaise Agriculture College, Co. Cavan
Architect: Richard Cassels
Ballyhaise House was built for the Newburghs, a local landowning family, in the 1730s. Richard Cassels (1690-1751) was of German origin and also known as Richard Castle.
1734 – Barlow House, Drogheda, Co. Louth
Architect: Richard Cassels or Francis Bindon
A fine mid eighteenth century built by Alderman James Barlow. With five bays on three floors and a basement,
1734 – Printing House, Trinity College Dublin
Architect: Richard Cassels
This is probably Richard Cassel’s first independent work in Dublin. It is a little building with a doric temple front,
1736 – Gill Hall, Dromore, Co. Down
Architect: Richard Cassels
The Gill Hall estate was named after a Captain Magill an officer in Cromwell’s Army, prior to the 1641 rebellion he is said to have obtained half the townland of Ballynagarrick from Art Og Magennis for the sum of £150,
1738 – Newman House, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin
Architect: Richard Cassels
Like Iveagh House further along St Stephen’s Green, Newman House is obviously two houses planted together due to the lack of a unifying facade.
1739 – Carton, Maynooth, Co. Kildare
Architect: Richard Cassels / Richard Morrison
In 1739, the 19th Earl of Kildare employed Richard Castle to build the existing house replacing an earlier buildng.
