James Gandon
Encyclopedia
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in the late 18th century and early 19th century. His better known works include The Custom House
The Custom House
The Custom House is a neoclassical 18th century building in Dublin, Ireland which houses the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government...
, the Four Courts
Four Courts
The Four Courts in Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's main courts building. The Four Courts are the location of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. The building until 2010 also formerly was the location for the Central Criminal Court.-Gandon's Building:Work based on...
, King's Inns
King's Inns
The Honorable Society of King's Inns , is the institution which controls the entry of barristers-at-law into the justice system of Ireland...
in Dublin and Emo Court
Emo Court
Emo Court, located near the village of Emo in County Laois, Ireland, is a large neo-classical mansion, formal and symmetrical in its design and with beautifully proportioned rooms inside. It was designed by the architect James Gandon in 1790 for John Dawson, the first Earl of Portarlington. It is...
in Co. Laois.
Early life
Gandon was an English architect, born on 20 February 1742 in New Bond Street, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, at the house of his grandfather Peter Gandon, a French Huguenot refugee. He was the only son of Peter Gandon (b. 1713), a gunmaker, and Jane Burchall (possibly née Wynne). From 1749 he was educated at Shipley's Drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
Academy
Academy
An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. In the western world academia is the...
where he studied the classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. On leaving the drawing academy he was articled to study architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
in the office of Sir William Chambers
William Chambers (architect)
Sir William Chambers was a Scottish architect, born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant. Between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making several voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration.Returning to Europe, he studied...
. Chambers was an advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
of the neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
evolution of Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
, although he later made designs in the Gothic Revival style. However, it was Chambers's palladian and neoclassical concepts which most influenced the young Gandon.
In 1765, Gandon left William Chambers to begin practice on his own. His first commission was on Sir Samuel Hellier
The Wodehouse
The Wodehouse is a country house near Wombourne, Staffordshire, notable as the seat of the Georgian landscape designer and musicologist Sir Samuel Hellier and, a century later, Colonel Thomas Bradney Shaw-Hellier, director of the Royal Military School of Music. For almost 200 years the family...
's estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
at the Wodehouse
The Wodehouse
The Wodehouse is a country house near Wombourne, Staffordshire, notable as the seat of the Georgian landscape designer and musicologist Sir Samuel Hellier and, a century later, Colonel Thomas Bradney Shaw-Hellier, director of the Royal Military School of Music. For almost 200 years the family...
, near Wombourne
Wombourne
Wombourne is a very large village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, 4 miles south-west of Wolverhampton. Local affairs are run by a parish council. At the 2001 census it had a population of 13,691...
. Gandon's new practice, whilst successful, always remained small. Circa 1769 he entered an architectural competition to design the new Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange may refer to:*Royal Exchange, Belfast a major mixed-use regeneration scheme in the North East Quarter of Belfast City Centre*Royal Exchange, Manchester, a 19th century classical building, home of the Royal Exchange Theatre...
in Dublin. The plan eventually chosen was by Thomas Cooley
Thomas Cooley (architect)
Thomas Cooley was an English architect who came to Dublin from London after winning a competition for the design of Dublin's Royal Exchange in 1768. He built several public buildings in Dublin in the neoclassical style...
, however Gandon's design came second and brought him to the attention of the politicians who were overseeing the large-scale redevelopment of Dublin, one of the largest cities in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
at the time.
During the following years in England, Gandon was responsible for the design of the County Hall
Galleries of Justice
The Galleries of Justice museum is a tourist attraction on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England. It is home to The Villainous Sheriff of Nottingham where you will discover Nottingham's horrible history and delve into the dark and disturbing past of Crime and PunishmentThe...
in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. Between 1769 and 1771, he collaborated with John Woolfe on 2 additional volumes of Vitruvius Britannicus, a book of plans and drawings of Palladian revival buildings by such architects as Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
and Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
. During his English career he was awarded the Gold medal for architecture by the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, London in 1768.
Designing the Custom House
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
family to work in St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
but in 1781, at the age of 38, he accepted an invitation to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
from Lord Carlow and John Beresford (the Revenue Commissioner for Ireland) to supervise the construction of the new Custom House in Dublin. Thomas Cooley, the original architect on that project, had died and Gandon was chosen to assume complete control. It is said that the Irish people were so opposed to the Custom House and its associated tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es that Beresford had to smuggle Gandon into the country and keep him hidden in his own home for the first three months. The project was eventually completed at a cost of £200,000, an enormous sum at the time.
This conspicuous commission proved to be the turning point in Gandon's career and Dublin was to become Gandon's home and its architecture his "raison d'etre" for the remainder of his life. This city, which in Gandon's lifetime was to grow to become the fifth largest city in Europe, was undergoing vast expansion, mostly following the Palladian and neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
designs already popularized in the city by Edward Lovett Pearce
Edward Lovett Pearce
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of palladianism in Ireland. He is thought to have initially studied as an architect under his father's first cousin, Sir John Vanbrugh. He is best known for the Irish Houses of Parliament in Dublin, and his work on Castletown...
and Richard Cassels
Richard Cassels
Richard Cassels , who anglicised his name to Richard Castle, ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Although German, his family were of French origin, descended from the...
.
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s because it moved the axis of the city. The newly formed Wide Streets Commission
Wide Streets Commission
The Wide Streets Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in 1757, at the request of Dublin Corporation, as a body to govern standards on the layout of streets, bridges, buildings and other architectural considerations in Dublin...
employed Gandon to design a new aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
ic enclave in the vicinity of Mountjoy Square and Gardiner Street. The new classical
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
terraces of large residences became the Town houses of members of the newly built and imposing Irish Houses of Parliament
Irish Houses of Parliament
The Irish Houses of Parliament , also known as the Irish Parliament House, today called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its use as by the bank, was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house...
situated in College Green
College Green
College Green is a three-sided "square" in the centre of Dublin. On its northern side is a building known today as the Bank of Ireland which until 1800 was Ireland's Parliament House. To its east stands Trinity College Dublin, the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. To its south...
south of the river. Gandon also designed Carlisle Bridge (now O'Connell Bridge
O'Connell Bridge
O'Connell Bridge is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, and joining O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street, Westmoreland Street and the south quays.-History:...
) over the River Liffey
River Liffey
The Liffey is a river in Ireland, which flows through the centre of Dublin. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. The river supplies much of Dublin's water, and a range of recreational opportunities.-Name:The river was previously named An Ruirthech,...
to join the north and south areas of the city.
Other Irish works
Gandon's other works in the city included: The Four CourtsFour Courts
The Four Courts in Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's main courts building. The Four Courts are the location of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. The building until 2010 also formerly was the location for the Central Criminal Court.-Gandon's Building:Work based on...
, the King's Inns
King's Inns
The Honorable Society of King's Inns , is the institution which controls the entry of barristers-at-law into the justice system of Ireland...
begun in 1795 and completed in 1816 by his pupil Henry Aaron Baker
Henry Aaron Baker
Henry Aaron Baker , was an Irish architect.Baker was a pupil of James Gandon, 'and acted as clerk of the works to the buildings designed and chiefly constructed by his master for the Inns of Court, then called the King's Inns, at Dublin.' He was a member of, and for some time secretary to, the...
, the Rotunda Assembly rooms, as well as many other buildings in College Green and Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. One of his most prestigious commissions, which came in 1785, was to extend Pearce's monumental Houses of Parliament. He also built the (well known today) curved screen wall which links his extension to Pearce's original building. This building is now the Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland
The Bank of Ireland is a commercial bank operation in Ireland, which is one of the 'Big Four' in both parts of the island.Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history...
. His work in Ireland was not confined to Dublin, nor to civic and municipal commissions. In 1784 he designed the new courthouse in Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
and he also worked on many private houses, including Abbeville, Dublin which he designed for John Beresford in 1792.
Criticism and decline
The success of Gandon's designs and commissions were however not reflected in personal popularity: he attracted huge criticism from his enemies. So hated was the taxation symbolised by the Custom House that the stigmaSocial stigma
Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
of being its creator was to taint the appreciation of his work throughout his lifetime. It was even claimed that Gandon was designing buildings to boost his self-esteem. In the 1780s, during the construction of the Four Courts, one broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
published daily letters from a correspondent castigating and insulting Gandon and his designs. This further fostered the hate directed against him. In truth Gandon had merely rediscovered what architects from Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
to Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
believed, which was that the Palladian form was eminently suitable for the design of public buildings where huge civic prestige was required.
In 1798, revolution
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
broke out on the streets of Ireland and Gandon, an unpopular figure, hurriedly fled to London. On returning to Dublin he found a much changed city. The Irish Houses of Parliament, which had inspired the great period of development, were closed. The 1801 Act of Union
Act of Union 1800
The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...
had placed Ireland directly under rule from London. One by one the Anglo-Irish aristocracy left their fine new town houses in the city. As a direct result Dublin declined from being one of the great cities of Europe.
Gandon had married Eleanor Smullen in 1770; sadly, he was widowed shortly after his invitation to Dublin, but while they were in London the couple had six children. James Gandon died in 1823 at his home in Lucan, County Dublin, having spent forty-two years in the city. He was buried in the church-yard of Drumcondra Church
Drumcondra Church
Drumcondra Church is located in Drumcondra, Dublin. It was erected by a Miss Coghill as a memorial to her brother, Dr. Marmaduke Coghill, who died in 1738. It contains a monument to his memory. Dr...
, in the same grave as his friend the antiquary Francis Grose
Francis Grose
Francis Grose was an English antiquary, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He was born at his father's house in Broad Street, St-Peter-le-Poer, London, son of a Swiss immigrant and jeweller, Francis Jacob Grose , and his wife, Anne , daughter of Thomas Bennett of Greenford in Middlesex...
. It seems that already by the time of his death his reputation was undergoing a re-evaluation, for his tomb-stone reads: - "Such was the respect in which Gandon was held by his neighbours and friends from around his home in Lucan that they refused carriages and walked the 16 miles to and from Drumcondra on the day of his funeral."
In the years since his death, Ireland's troubled history has resulted in destruction and damage to much of Gandon's work, especially his interiors. The Custom House was shelled in 1921 during the War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
and parts of it were rebuilt using a darker shade of native limestone. The Four Courts was burned by Republican forces during the Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
in 1922 and, even though it was later rebuilt, much of Gandon's original work is gone and the interior can today only be appreciated from his original drawings. Yet despite this, the stamp of his work is still clearly visible in Georgian Dublin
Georgian Dublin
Georgian Dublin is a phrase used in the History of Dublin that has two interwoven meanings,# to describe a historic period in the development of the city of Dublin, Ireland, from 1714 to the death in 1830 of King George IV...
today.
Sources
- Hugo Duffy: James Gandon and his Times, Gandon Editions, Kinsale, Co. Cork 1999. ISBN 0946846286