Two postings ago or so, I referred to some very interesting gossip/history gleaned on the rocks of the West Coast of Ireland. I said then the story was so good, it deserved a blog posting all to itself. So here we are.
That spot on the rocks near Clifden in Connemara was less than a 15 minute stroll from where the English aviators
John Alcock and Arthur Brown
landed their (teeny tiny) plane in June 1919 after completing the
first Trans-Atlantic flight in history. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight_of_Alcock_and_Brown) But as you see below, there was no one around for miles the day we visited.
About 30 minutes into our stroll a man approached us from the other direction. Indeed the man approached us because he had been walking over these same
rocks every summer for years, and this was the only the third
time he ever met anyone on his walk. He wanted to know how we came to be walking on these deserted rocks. So, as total strangers in Ireland are oft wont to do, we talked. And talked.
Romeo H and I mentioned how we had had a most enjoyable visit to Emo Court House in County Laois a day or two earlier. I had never heard of Emo, or its house before I visited; it was a total surprise of neo-classic fabulous.
That small gem of architectural ´
oh and ah´in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Co. Laois had impressed us greatly. The tour of the house was worth every penny of the €4/3*we spent.
(http://www.laois.ie/LeisureandCulture/Heritage/LaoisHeritageTrail/EmoCourt/)
The gentle stranger on the rocks appeared to be interested in our story of Emo House, so we went on to tell him that
Emo Court was designed in 1790 by architect
James Gandon for the family of the first
Earl of Portarlington. Now anyone who knows even the slightest thing about architecture in Ireland knows James Gandon designed and built many fine buildings in Ireland, most notably the Customs House, Dublin. A building many consider the most beautiful municipal building in Ireland. (
http://archiseek.com/2010/1791-custom-house-customhouse-quay-dublin/)
James Gandon designed buildings primarily for public use. Emo House for private family use was one of the few exceptions. Because of the Portarlington family varying fortunes/misfortunes the house and gardens were not completed for another 70 years, in 1860 or so. Sadly like many ´big houses´in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921 and the Irish Civil War, June 1922 - May 1923 the house was left empty and fell into disrepair.
Until the Heroes came. - THE JESUITS.
Yes, the Society of Jesus bought Emo House in 1960 for use as a seminary. And why, you might ask, did that make heroes out of the Jesuits? Well I´ll tell you why: The building and the, ahem, ´scantily clad statury´
and murals in the same ´nearly nothing style` of mainly female beauties were not in keeping with the religious order´s sober lifestyle. However the head of the seminary was far seeing enough to understand the building and murals were
part of Ireland´s heritage; so they covered all the titillating statuary with blankets
and stored them in the basement.
The policy of preservation was mainly adhered to, with one or two blundering exceptions, until the S. of J.´s closed the seminary and put the house up for sale in 1969. We went on to tell the man on the rocks that Emo House was then bought for private use by .... wait for it - this is a REALLY cool name:
Major Cholmley Dering Cholmley-Harrison.
Now dear reader you think this might be the wind down to an interesting enough (hopefully) story. But it is not. It goes on. And up. Didn´t your man on the rocks, there in the middle of no where on the extreme west coast of Ireland respond... `
Oh yes, I sold the major the house for the Jesuits´!
Turns out, your man on the rocks was a real estate agent decades ago; he had even more to tell us on the house and its owners. The major with the cool name was the first person to make a million on the English Stock Market. Having secured his future, he set about building up a past. And what better way to start creating a past, than to own a stately home. (As you will see later, Ireland can be very very grateful indeed that the major wanted to ´build up a past´). But I digress.
It seems in the late 1960´s
Major Cholmley Dering Cholmley-Harrison an English man,
was driving by the property in Co. Laois one day on the way to the races. He saw the for sale sign and that was it. The major signed a verbal contract for the sale of the house, so to speak, with our man on the rocks in the West of Ireland inside of 24 hours!
Already retired Major Cholmley-Harrison put a lot of time and money - lots of it, into repairing, and restoring the building back to its former glory. Including of course bringing back upstairs the scantily clad statuary from under the blankets in the cellar under which they had been under cover for over forty years.
The man on the rocks in the West of Ireland went on to say, Major Cholmley-Harrison´s own children had already been well set up in properties else where, so to the great good fortune of Ireland he handed the house over to the state in 1994.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/benefactor-who-gave-emo-court-to-state-1.925930
Now your man on the rocks had more to tell us about the house; it seems in the 1950´s when Emo House was still a seminary, a very bad case of wood rot was discovered in the house. Architect Michael Scott Architect was brought in to advise. And you know what he advised: Pulling down the whole house and building anew. Again our heroes the Jesuits came through. The then head of the seminary, thought the house too significant and decided on the much much much more difficult route of sourcing funding to treat the whole building for wood rot, and to cover the costs of ensuing renovation as needed.
Our man on the rocks had more to say, again. Seems this architect Michael Scott was a disaster as an advisor on this matter, he being a
reinforced concrete sort himself. As can been seen in his design of the ... how can I say this, ´
not ever been voted the most beautiful buidling in Ireland` - Busáras
http://www.irisharchitectureawards.ie/index.php/gold-medal/winner/busaras
Now Busáras, which in Irish means bus station, may be architecturally significance for its ´International Modern Style´ but beautiful it is not as far as
I am concerned at least.
There is an ironic twist in the tail of this story that was recounted to us on the rocky West Coast of Ireland, a twist that Dubliners and those who love Dublin might catch on to but others likely not:
You might recall, I said above that James Gandon who designed Emo Court House back in 1790, designed and built the Customs House in Dublin in 1791. A public building considered one of the most beautiful in Ireland. Well guess what, that
reinforced concrete edifice known as Busáras, that was designed by your man who suggested Emo Court House be torn down. Well that same building, Busáras is situated in Dublin - right behind James Gandon´s Customs House!
What and ironic twist of ugh is that! If you want to catch this unfortunate situation ´live´, check out this YouTube below. From 3m 20 seconds to 3m 27 seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ouqEan7c-s
So we left your man on the rocks on the West Coast of Ireland after an hour of the best of chat*².
Life can be good for gossip seekers sometimes!
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* Emo Court will be remembered by me for another reason. And a good one too. Paying the entry fee to Emo Court was the first time I was able to take advantage of a senior discount.
*² The gentleman on the rocks had a lot more to tell us about former sales and clients he dealt with. Frederick Forsyth being one I can mention. But in this family friendly blog I could not possibly tell you other ´stuff´ he told us that he encountered in his buying and selling of expensive property in Ireland in decades past. Sorry!
³ Should anyone think I am a boring architectural purist who cannot get excited about anything build less that 500 years ago. Well you´re wrong. Check out
Lisa Cassidy´s beautiful tribute to buildings, and parts thereof from in and around Dublin. I do so enjoy reading her blog on the topic.
http://builtdublin.com/about-built-dublin/ So there!
Note
the ticket in the left corner signed by Jackie our tour guide (owner of
French Escapade) and myself. Margaret's Watercolor Journals are a
treasure. She has done them for years all over the world, they are
filled with charming sketches and stories. Consider doing this on your
travels...
We have eight travelers signed up which means that there is still room for a couple more, IF
the hotel has any rooms left. If you want to give it a shot here is
the website with the dates, prices, details, photos, hotel, itinerary
and enrollment form. 
May 24 - May 31, 2017
This
past May my students and I enjoyed a fabulous painting trip organized
by the small group tour company French Escapade in Giverny and Normandy
France. That's us painting in Monet's Garden one evening, just us
artists, no public allowed so no crowds! So special.
I am honored that my watercolor "PETAL TO THE METAL" has
been juried into the prestigious show AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS 2016
NATIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION to be held September 23 through November 13,
at the Bennington Center for the Arts in Vermont.
