DAMAGE TO the west wing of Russborough House in Co Wicklow caused by a fire on February 7th is less than feared, according to a detailed assessment carried out by conservation architects Howley Hayes for the Alfred Beit Foundation.
Salvage and repair works are already under way to ensure that the wing can be repaired as soon as possible, and it is hoped that all of the public parts of Russborough will be open to the public for the 2010 season, from March 14th, as originally planned.
“Remarkably, given the intensity of the fire, the external walls, windows and carved stone urns have all survived fully intact, as have all of the historic joinery, decorative plasterwork and chimney pieces,” they said.
Although the roof and first-floor ceilings of the west wing will have to be completely replaced, “all of the period joinery on this level, including several items of purpose-designed, fitted furniture installed by the Beits in the 1950s, have survived.”
The entire west wing was renovated in the late 1970s by Sir Alfred and Lady Beit as a private apartment. It was at about this time that the Beits donated Russborough to the foundation, which holds the property in trust “for the benefit of the Irish nation”. The west wing – part of which was originally used as stables, with fodder stores above – is considered to be an important part of the impressive symmetrical composition that makes Russborough one of the finest Palladian houses in Europe.
All the contents of the wing had been removed in advance, while brick vaulting in the former stables and a dividing wall between them and the wing’s habitable rooms restricted the spread of the fire, so that all of the ground floor rooms remain virtually intact.
“The cause of the fire is not yet fully understood, but the forensic engineers investigating the incident agree that it was accidental and that it probably started in the roof space at the west end of the wing, above the brick vaulting of the former stables,” says the assessment, which is being studied by the Alfred Beit Foundation.
Approximately 80 per cent of the roof, which was fully repaired in two phases between 2005 and 2008, has been lost, together with most of the plasterboard ceilings and partitions on the first floor, which dated from the 1970s remodelling of the wing. “While the repair costs will be considerable, they are likely to be less than was first feared. Apart from the roof carpentry almost no historic fabric of significance has been lost, and that which has (timber, plaster, slate and lead) is eminently replaceable,” it says.