It’s always good to see derelict buildings brought back to life, especially when their restoration is handled with exceptional care and intelligence as shown in Riverstown House, near Monasterevin, Co Kildare. It has been named as overall winner in this year’s Irish Georgian Society’s Conservation Awards, now back after a lapse of three years due to the Covid pandemic.
Located on the river Barrow’s eastern bank, Riverstown is an intriguing house, probably the service block of a much grander mansion dating from the 1740s that was abandoned after being attacked during the 1798 rebellion and demolished not long afterwards. The surviving outbuilding was then adapted and embellished to serve as a replacement house for the one that was lost.
Richard McLoughlin, of Lotts Architecture, talks enthusiastically about its good quality wood panelling and Chinoiserie-style staircase — almost certainly salvaged from the big house — and the addition of a grand salon in a two-bay projection to the rear. But it was all in a bad way in 2016 when he was commissioned by Dermot and Amy Shortt to turn the building into a contemporary family home.
“Dermot spent many childhood summers at Riverstown, and the family had a strong attachment to this very special place. The house retained a wealth of architectural features but had become very run-down and, aside from modern uPVC windows and a small bathroom extension, no changes had been made since the 1950s,” he says. Its restoration and renovation was another adventure.
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Aided by conservation grants from Kildare County Council’s Structures at Risk fund, the roof was re-slated, 18th-century trusses repaired, external walls renewed with a smooth lime render, windows reinstated to historic detail and planning permission obtained to add a flat-roofed, glass-fronted modern kitchen and bathroom to the rear, with the original kitchen turned into a boot room.
Given that the house has two front entrance doors, a second staircase was inserted to improve circulation and a new main bedroom, with en suite and dressingroom, was created in what had been a loft space, leaving its 18th century trusses exposed. The refurbished house has five bedrooms and four bathrooms, including one with a stylish freestanding bath.
A new garden was created to the south, enclosed by recently-planted yew hedges that conceal a tennis court from view and provide a formal setting for two ancient and very substantial Irish yew trees, along with a roofed outdoor barbecue area beside the house. Further plans include rehabilitating the extensive historic walled garden and reinstating a parallel stone-walled barn to the north.
The IGS Conservation Awards jury, on which I was again privileged to serve, had no hesitation in giving the overall award to Riverstown House, with high commendations going to the Office of Public Works for its meticulous restoration of Dublin Castle’s Justice Gate and the brilliant conservation work carried out by Joe Costello and his Stone Mad team on the Honan Chapel in University College Cork.
Commendations were awarded for two other projects: the restoration by Alistair Coey Architects of the 1821 gunpowder store atop a Norman motte in Donaghadee, Co Down, with a camera obscura as its new attraction, and the restoration by ACP (Architectural Conservation Professionals) of the gothic-style limestone fountain commissioned in 1855 by the Countess of Dunraven in Adare, Co Limerick.
Three other projects were also among the finalists: the lavish restoration of a large Georgian house on Dublin’s Merrion Square and new visitor facilities at Carlingford Castle in Co Louth, both by Howley Hayes Cooney Architects, and the refurbishment and extension of a traditional two-storey Georgian farmhouse in Ballycommon, near Nenagh, Co Tipperary, by O’Neill Architecture.
