Speaker: Robert O’ Byrne. Over the past century, the Irish Big House has weathered many storms, but how does it fare today? What are the challenges facing such properties in the 21st century, and what remains to be done to ensure that this element of the national patrimony enjoys a secure future? In his talk, Robert O’Byrne will look at the history of the country house in Ireland since Independence, exploring attitudes to these buildings across 100 years, examining what initiatives have been taken, both public and private, and exploring gains and losses since the 1920s.
Biography: A former Vice-President of the IrishGeorgian Society, Robert O’Byrne writes andlectures extensively on Ireland’s historic housesand gardens. His latest book, Left without aHandkerchief, telling the stories of ten houseowners affected by the upheavals of the 1920s,was published earlier this year. Since 2012 he has written an award-winning blog, www.theirishaesthete.com. A book of his photographsfrom this – The Irish Aesthete: Ruins of Ireland -was published in March 2019, and an exhibitionof his photographs will be held in the IrishArchitectural Archive in December 2022. Overthe past two years he has curated a number ofexhibitions on country house gardens for the IrishGeorgian Society. Last autumn 2021, his series onthe same subject was shown on RTE television.
