Castletown House

Castletown House, Ireland's finest [[Palladian]] country house, is an imposing building built in 1722 for William Connolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The main block was designed by Italian architect by [[Alessandro Galilei]] and the wings were added by [[Edward Lovett Pearce]] in 1724.

 

The house was inherited by Tom Connolly in 1758 and the interior decoration was finished by his wife [[Louisa Lennox|Lady Louisa]] (great-grand-daughter of [[Charles II of England]] and [[Louise de Keroualle]]) during the 1760s and 1770s. Much of the work was carried out to designs of [[William Chambers]].

 

Two particular features of Castletown is the Long Gallery, an 80 foot long room decorated in the [[Gallery_of_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum|Pompeian]] manner in blue and gold and the main staircase, which is cantilevered and made of white [[Portland stone]].