An 18th century wine merchant's house in Dingle, Co Kerry, to which the French Queen Marie Antoinette was to have made a dramatic escape in 1792, should be immediately listed as a historic building, heritage organisations have said.
The house, known as The Presbytery and also The Rice House, after the Dingle wine merchant whose son, Count James Louis Rice, was central to the plan to rescue the queen, is owned by Udarás na Gaeltachta and is currently for sale.
On December 30th, Kerry County Council granted planning permission for changes to the facade, the interior and the rear of the building to make way for a craft shop and cafe, on the basis it was not a listed building.
The renovations would "radically" interfere with what was a near-perfect 18th century building, "a charming provincial essay in the Georgian idiom", completely gutting the Georgian interior, according to Prof Valentine Rice, a research professor and senior fellow at TCD.
Windows, doors, mouldings and the rooms prepared to receive the queen remain in the building which is largely intact but was renovated in the 19th century when owned by the church until sold to Udarás na Gaeltachta.
Count James Louis Rice joined the Austrian army where he was an officer in the same regiment as the future emperor, Joseph 11, Marie Antoinette's brother. At the time of the French Revolution, Count Rice was to pass as a Frenchman to visit the queen. He had bribed the gaolers, hired a coach and relays of horses all the way to the coast where one of his father's wine ships was waiting to bring the queen to Dingle .
The plan fell through at the last minute because she would not leave without her husband, King Louis XV1.
Kerry County Council has now received two requests to designate the building. It is considering the submissions. The majority of Kerry's listed buildings are recommended by Dúchas, Mr Pol Hvideberg, architect and acting executive planner with Kerry County Council, explained.
Dúchas had been notified of the planning application but did not comment other than to say an archaeological survey was needed. Although it has done some localised work, Kerry County Council did not have the resources to carry out a complete survey itself, he explained.
According to An Taisce, Udarás na Gaeltachta, as a public body, must have regard to the provisions of the Heritage Act, 1995. Section 10 provides for special protection of buildings in public ownership which are of historical or architectural significance. It may still be used, however, to preserve the building, An Taisce argues. The Georgian Society has also called for its preservation.
An intervention by board members at a meeting of Udarás na Gaeltachta in Galway last Friday may yet save the Rice House. A proposal by board members Mr Breandán Mac Gearailt and Mr Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald to put a stay on the sale and to invite submissions with a view to perhaps a cultural tourism project was adopted.
"Nothing will be decided now before April. We are hoping by then a package can be put together at local level. No final decision on the sale or on anything to do with the building will be taken until then," Mr Mac Gearailt said, adding that the building had not been withdrawn from the market.