Collectors of Irish furniture, or indeed anyone simply interested in the subject, are recommended to pay a visit to Number 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street, which has just celebrated the 10th anniversary of its opening to the public. Dating from 1794, the house is owned by the ESB which has restored the property to much how it would have originally looked when serving as the home of members of the Dublin middle class in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is particularly worth visiting during the next few months because, while certain pieces of furniture come from the National Museum of Ireland, many of the best items on view have been lent from a private collection and may not remain in the house for much longer.
Among the finest of these is a mid-18th century mahogany bureau bookcase in the first-floor back drawingroom. Although now standing to one side of the fireplace, the narrowness of this piece suggests it was probably made to be placed between two windows. The most attractive features of the bookcase include a swan-neck broken pediment concluding in rosettes, and a pair of doors still containing their original mirrored glass; were this piece to come up for sale, it would certainly command a very good price, thanks to its elegant proportions and excellent condition.
Elsewhere in the same room are a number of other fine examples of Irish Georgian furniture, not least a small early 19th century mahogany tea table resting on three cabriole legs carved with shell and floral decoration and with a scalloped top carved with a shamrock motif. Against the back wall stands a delightful, modestly-sized Irish silver table, also mahogany and dating from circa 1760; with its shallow lip on top, carved shells at the centre of the apron and deeply incised lion claw feet, similar examples quite frequently turn up at auction around the country. Only slightly less often seen are mahogany card tables like the Chippendale-style example dating from around 1780 shown open in the drawingroom and the substantial 18th century mahogany chair, its arms carved to terminate in birds' heads while the scroll-worked legs conclude, as before, in lions' claws. From the ceiling hangs a Waterford crystal chandelier of circa 1790.
The adjacent front drawingroom, by the way, has an excellent group of Irish 18th century landscapes, including half a dozen by Thomas Roberts - views of Ballyshannon, Co Donegal; Belleek, Co Fermanagh; and Clonskeagh, Co Dublin among others - and several by James Arthur O'Connor and John Henry Campbell. The selection is probably larger and richer than would have been usual for a house such as this, but this need hardly trouble visitors who can, instead, relish the chance to inspect such a group close together.
While every space in the house has something of interest - the floorboards of the governess's room, for example, are stencilled to imitate carpet patterns as was the fashion from the mid-18th century onwards, and the master bedroom on the second floor contains a fine four-poster bed, probably Irish and dating from around 1770; the other room with the greatest concentration of this country's furniture is the ground-floor diningroom. Here, both the table and the suite of chairs are mahogany and of the same date, around 1820. The former is supported on two large pillars resting on four clawed feet with brass castors while the latter, a set of eight, have simple reeding on the legs and acanthus-style carving on the handles of the carvers. The diningroom also holds a mahogany pedestal-style sideboard from the same period with rope edging, an 18th century plate bucket and a turf tub of circa 1780 which is so large that it must have been made for a country house rather than a town residence.
Two other items deserve to be noticed, the first of them being a mahogany wine cooler made in this country around 1820 to the designs of the architect Francis Johnston, possibly for Dublin Castle since its decoration includes various official insignia such as the harp and the stars of the Knights of St Patrick. The drawings for this cooler are held by the Public Records Office in Northern Ireland, while its pair is in ┴ras an ┌achtarβin. Also not to be missed is a William IV mahogany glass-fronted cabinet with hexagonal columns crowned by acanthus finials and glazing bars in the fashionable gothic style. Just by way of stylistic contrast, facing this piece in the corridor outside is a neo-classical sidetable in veneered rosewood with brass mounts showing a pair of griffins facing a centre panel holding lyres and swans.
Number 29 shows evidence of thorough research undertaken in its recreation; the doors, for example, have been grained in the manner of the late Georgian era and even the smallest item of bric-a-brac is contemporaneous with the surroundings. The house is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
On Wednesdays at 6.30 p.m. from September 19th next, Number 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street will host a series of lectures on life in Dublin during the 18th and 19th centuries. To book seats and for further information, telephone 01-7026165.
