One of the quadrants linking the main block to its pavilions at Strokestown Park, County Roscommon. This part of the building dates from the 1730s when Thomas Mahon commissioned architect Richard Castle to enlarge and modify an earlier house on the site. Castle undertook the project with exceptional skill by deploying a handful of familiar motifs, in this instance a pedimented doorframe below a recessed niche, both flanked by regular windows and oculi on their respective floors. The crispness of the cut limestone contrasting with the rendered surface of the walls enhances the overall impression of refined simplicity.
Too simple. Because the water table breaks the door and can’t be rusticated, Castle could have done away with the water table, brought the quoins down to a cut stone plinth and carried the cut stone around the curve to balance the entablature. Your blog happily always interrupts whatever I am doing. Regards, Rob van Rhijn
Thanks for your comment. I rather like the water table, since it is sited at mid-point of the door and least interferes with the overall design at this point. But to each his own…
Really beautiful – show us more
Soon, I promise…