Richard Castle

In March 1744, James FitzGerald, 20th Earl of Kildare, purchased and leased lands on the east side of Coote Street (now Kildare Street), Dublin, as a site for his new townhouse. To design the house, the Earl chose Richard Castle (also knows as Cassels), the leading architect in Ireland, then at the height of his career. Castle produced at least five schemes for the front elevation of Leinster House, suggestive of a detailed and involved relationship between architect and client. The third drawing shown above is the one finally chosen.

As with the several surviving designs for the front elevation of Leinster House, these three beautifully executed drawings for proposed ceilings in the Earl of Kildare’s dressing room are indicative of the attention to detail which Richard Castle brought to the project in an effort to satisfy his demanding clients. The third variant above shows the ceiling almost as executed.