Pragmatic Pretensions, The Decorative Interiors of the State Apartments
A contested symbol for generations, Dublin Castle has served as chief host to state ceremonies under colonial rule and within the life of the modern Irish state. Little known to the general public, the eclectic interiors of the Castle’s State Apartments vary from accomplished early Georgian rooms to convincing reproduction decorative schemes of the twentieth century. This lecture will explore the architecture of the classical rebuilding of the ‘Great Court Yard’ at the Castle, the decorative evolution of the State Apartments, and the challenging rebuilding of large tracts of the complex in the mid-twentieth century carried out by the Office of Public Works.
Graham Hickey is Conservation Research Officer at Dublin Civic Trust, a charitable organisation that works to promote the architectural heritage of Dublin. He has held an interest in the Dublin Castle complex for many years, having completed his post-graduate thesis in building conservation on the rebuilding at the Castle in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as having worked in the State Apartments, and more recently advising the OPW on proposed decorative improvements to the interiors.