Beschreibung:

Unique Scale Model by Benjamin Woodward “The Castellated Gate Lodge” Dromore Castle, Templenoe, Co. Kerry ************************ The above lot is the Scale Model of Dromore Castle Gate Lodge, designed by Benjamin Woodward Architect, Cork & Dublin, 1816-1861. This imposing model, is made in two sections, mostly of Baltic pitch pine and measuring approximately 105cms (41¼”) high x 114cms (45″) wide, on a scale of one inch to one foot. The Gate Lodge was completed by Benjamin Woodward c.1849, in the Gothic Revival style. The lodge has a chimney at one end and a hexagonal turret at the other, while the castle has a round turret with spiral staircase and round rooms, attached to a larger round tower. Dromore Castle lies in woodland overlooking the Kenmare Bay, six miles outside Kenmare on the road to Blackwater Bridge and Sneem. Commissioned by Denis Mahony and designed and built by the architect Sir Thomas Deane the building was started in 1831, but not completed until 1839. Deane’s Scale Model of the Castle is now owned by the National Architectural Archive, Dublin where it is on permanent display. Benjamin Woodward (1816-1861), Architect. Born on the 16th November, 1816, in Tullamore, County Offaly, little is known about his early education. However, after the family eventually settled in Dublin, he began an apprenticeship in civil engineering, probably in 1833, with William Stokes Civil Engineer, a friend of the family. His proficiency in the profession of architectural design was thus self-taught. In June 1844, he produced a set of measured drawings for Holy Cross Abbey, Co Tipperary. On the strength of these he was elected to the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. The drawings also caught the eye of Sir Thomas Deane the celebrated Cork architect. It was their expertise that persuaded Deane to invite Woodward to join his Cork firm in 1846. Later that year these same drawings were exhibited at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. Woodward was then appointed to help design large scale neo-Gothic works, including Queen’s College Cork, (1846-1849), and later The Asylum at Glanmire in Cork. In 1851 Deane made him a partner in the firm of Deane and Woodward, alongside his son, Thomas Newenham Deane In 1852, when the plans submitted by Woodward for the design of the new Museum at Trinity College Dublin met with approval, the firm moved to Upper Merrion Street, Dublin. The partnership continued to flourish in Ireland and England and the acceptance of Woodward’s plans for the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, which was begun in 1855, marked the highlight of his career. His Irish work included approximately twenty private dwellings in Kerry, Dublin, Kilkenny and Wexford, his last major project for Deane and Woodward being the Kildare Street Club in Dublin. Designed in 1858 with Venetian details, it included a magnificent central staircase and remarkable stone carvings executed by C.W. Harrison and probably by James O’Shea. It was finished in 1861, but he did not live to see its completion, dying that year at the age of 45. Woodward was one of the most accomplished, original and prolific architects of 19th Century Ireland, designing over sixty buildings in the last twelve years of his life alone. He was also devoted to the conservation of medieval buildings. He incorporated the original C12 Romanesque chancel during the restoration of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tuam,. He was the first Inspector of National Monuments to be appointed under The Irish Board of Works. Reference “Dictionary of Irish Biography”, R.I.A. 2009. Provenance: After the death of Denis Mahony, who was a Minister of the Church, the castle was left to his son Richard, who, when he died in 1870, owned over 26,000 acres in County Kerry. The estate passed to his son Harald Segerson Mahony. A gold-medallist in Philosophy at TCD, he was the last Irishman to win a Wimbledon Singles title, in 1896, also winning the Irish Singles