Wordwell, 2023
Hardback, 352 pages

The Building of Adare Manor tells the story of the trials and triumphs of house building at Adare Manor, County Limerick. Home of the Quin family (later Earls of Dunraven) since the mid-17th century, the building underwent a dramatic transformation.

James and George Richard Pain provided the initial drawings, but the 2nd Earl’s personal interest in design soon inspired him to become his own architect. He and his Welsh wife, Caroline Wyndham spent some twenty years travelling collecting ideas and inspiration.

The house was completed in the 1850s and 1860s by the 3rd Earl of Dunraven with the assistance of Philip Charles Hardwick. Portraits were lost at sea and panels warped by damp; a cholera epidemic swept away masons; and the Great Famine brought the family close to bankruptcy. Yet the building works continued to create of a house without parallel in Ireland.

Anna-Maria Hajba is an archivist responsible for collections and cataloguing at the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick. She is also an architectural historian with an abiding interest in patronage and country house building in the 19th century. Her previous published works include Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of North Cork (Wordwell Books) and short books on the history of Adare Manor, Adare village and the village of Doneraile.