Restoration of Fota House

written by John Cahill - Heritage Architect OPW

The renowned Irish architect Richard Morrison and his son William designed Fota House for John Smith Barry. Dating from the mid-1820s, the house incorporates an earlier hunting lodge, which was altered and adapted by the Morrisons. Lighter in style than their work at Ballyfin Co. Laois, it still contains a wealth of interior detailing, rich plasterwork, elegant doorcases and architraves, Ionic and Corinthian scagliola columns, marble fireplaces and fine external stone detailing. The interiors are complimented by a painted and stencilled decoration scheme by the firm of Sibthorpe of Dublin from the 1890s. The house had previously been opened to the public in 1893 but closed after a short number of years.

The current restoration of the house commenced in 1999 with European Union, Government and Fota Trust funding and was completed in 2001. The work concentrated on re-opening the principle rooms on the ground floor to the public and restoring a remarkably well-preserved suite of kitchen rooms 'beyond the green baize door'. Externally, prior to the restoration, the house presented an uneven appearance with little of its original render which had been fully removed in some areas and was detached elsewhere. The architectural treatment of the exterior relies on the contrast between the white natural render and the grey stonework of its details. These stone elements, such as window architraves, cornice, string-courses and quoins, are of Cork limestone, which is a very lively stone, quite light in colour and with nice veining. Rusting of iron bars behind the stonework of the portico meant that sections had moved and delaminated. This movement also caused water ingress onto the ends of the timber beams of the entrance hall directly behind the portico supporting the first floor of the house. The deterioration of this timber, in turn, led to the transfer of considerable weight onto the Scagliola columns in the hall, causing the columns to crack and damaging the decorated plasterwork bands of wreaths, crests and oak leaf decoration. The portico, timber beams and related areas were carefully restored using Irish and English specialists.

The major problem, which led to the closure of the house to the public, was the collapse of a portion of the ceiling in the drawing room. Within the thickness of the floor, approximately 250mm in depth, considerable conservation work had to be undertaken. Initially the ceiling's plaster was consolidated and repaired. The ceilings were then strengthened using a steel cable to introduce compression in the floor, to reduce the tension in the bottom of the floor joists. The catenary wire was attached close to each end of pairs of floor joists and hand tensioned to introduce the load while a laser level above and split rod measuring below ensured that there was no springing of the floor. The missing section of the ceiling was then repaired with new riven lath plaster, a jigsaw of the many damaged fragments was made and these were pieced in to the new plasterwork and joined with decoration and gilding.

Destroyed sections of plasterwork were modelled or cast so that elements such as the rose garland which, contains twenty different flowers, could be restored. There were also problems with dry rot in parts of the ante room, drawing room and dining room and these were all carefully treated retaining the existing details. The exhibition approach, devised by rwdp, is unique, treating the lack of a full complement of period furniture as an asset rather than a problem. The principle rooms are left largely unfurnished, allowing for a variety of functions and conferences and concentrating, during tours of the house, on the architectural detailing. There is a high tech installation in each of these rooms allowing touch screen access by the visitor to a sequence of themed images. Furnishing is limited to minor rooms with the original kitchen fully restored and stocked and its adjoining octagonal meat larder brimming with (stuffed) pheasant, rabbit and hare.

A separate Orangery on the axis of the main house, visible from the main staircase, was also restored for Dúchas.

Future phases of work will include opening rooms on the upper floor to the public. These rooms are quite domestic in scale but have beautiful decorations, particularly the lady's boudoir which has fine plaster detailing of feigned drapery.

Unexpected discoveries:

1. Concealed shutters in the long gallery When searching for dry rot in the Long Gallery windows, beautiful timber roller blinds were discovered. These had not been used in living memory and they were so well fitted that they had escaped the notice of architects and engineers who had worked on the house over the years. One of Mrs. Bell's daughters, then in her mid-eighties, was absolutely amazed when she saw them for the first time in 2001, despite the fact that she was born and reared in Fota House. They were in perfect working order when found.
2. Cut limestone in the kitchen When refurbishing the old kitchens wonderful cut limestone was discovered under the plasterwork and it is now fully exposed.
3. Spit in the kitchen On removing the old broken down Aga cooker, the remains of a spit was discovered up the chimney. Hot air rushing up the chimney turned a fan that transmitted power, via chains, to rotate the spit in front of a big fire. A new spit has now been installed and a film of a meal being cooked on it can be seen in the scullery beside the kitchen.
4. Gilding concealed During refurbishment gilding was discovered under white paint on the striking plasterwork in the dining room
5. Pitch pine floor in the Billiard room In 1975, just after UCC purchased Fota, black paint was removed from the floor of the Billiards room revealing a stunning pitch pine floor.
6. Brass banister on the main stairway Also at the time UCC purchased Fota, white paint was removed from the banister rails of the main stairway to reveal brass rails and fittings, previously concealed.