The death has taken place of Maura Shaffrey, one of Ireland's leading conservation architects. Her major work in recent years was the restoration of the King House in Boyle, Co Roscommon, which had been derelict for decades. Ms Shaffrey, who was in her 50s, was the author, jointly with her architect husband, Patrick Shaffrey, of two influential books, Buildings of Irish Towns and Irish Countryside
Buildings, which drew public attention to Ireland's heritage of vernacular architecture.
Her passionate interest in historic buildings permeated all of her work. She was among the best-informed architects in this area, having completed a post-graduate degree in conservation at York University.
She was secretary of the Irish Architectural Archive, convenor of the planning sub-committee of the Irish branch of ICOMOS, the
International Council on Monuments and Sites, and a long-standing member of An Taisce.
Prof Kevin B. Nowlan, vice-president of the Irish Georgian
Society, said her untimely death was a great loss. "First of all, she was a lovely person and this expressed itself in her deep concern about the traditional architecture of Ireland.
"Her marvellous work in rescuing and restoring the King House in
Boyle showed that she was also a very skilled interpreter of our architectural inheritance and how it should be preserved for the future," he said. "She is a loss to us all."
Maura Shaffrey was involved in campaigns to save other historic buildings, such as the courthouse in Longford, about which she wrote a detailed report showing how it could be conserved. The local authority wanted to demolish the building.
In her ICOMOS role she produced a report on historic towns in the context of the EU-funded Urban and Village Improvement Scheme, and addressed a meeting of local authorities at the invitation of the then Minister, Ms Liz McManus TD.
Mr David Griffin, director of the Irish Architectural Archive, said Ms Shaffrey had pioneered the use of lime mortar in the restoration of historic buildings, and had produced an advice leaflet on this subject for the Department of the Environment.
"Her work on the King House in Boyle was done to highest standards, but she was not the type of person who was afraid to ask people for advice. She was a very sensitive architect and very careful about everything she did," he added.
Along with her husband, Patrick, she restored a late-17th century building on Ormond Quay as offices for their architectural practice, with residential accommodation overhead. She also restored a medieval tower in Waterford.
