The Irish Country House: A New Vision

This book offers a unique presentation of fifteen distinctive and unusual house interiors in the Irish countryside. Whether transforming a derelict estate, preserving a historic hunting lodge or recreating a Gothic fantasy, each of these houses reflects a renewed vitality in contemporary Irish design.

Photographs taken especially for the occasion reveal the dynamism and diversity of the various owners, from the ornamental renovation of a castle by a Mexican financier to the palette to that of a neo-Elizabethan house by a contemporary artist. The stripped-down interiors of a Westmeath manor reflect its painstaking restoration by descendants of the original owners, and at Coollattin - Ireland's largest country house, partly restored, partly still dilapidated - the building's Baroque splendour is amplified by its raw, unfinished state.