Lyons House
Michael Aylmer inherited the estate at the age of four in 1733 and became indebted to banker Nicholas Lawless (later Baron Cloncurry), eventually losing the house in 1796. First Nicholas Lawless (construction during 1786) and his son Valentine (construction 1804-10) combined to build a large country house in its own gardens, decorated in the Directoire style, of which there are few examples in Ireland, and with a private lake. Valentine Lawless, after 1799 the second Lord Cloncurry, spent £200,000 on renovation included frescoes by Gaspare Gabrielli and three ship loads of classical art imported from Italy. A fourth shipment was lost when it sank off Wicklow. Treasures which were successfully imported include three columns from the ruins of the Golden House of Nero in Rome, used in the portico, and a statue of Venus excavated at Ostia.
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Famous quotes containing the word house:
“A man’s worst enemies are those
Of his own house & family;
And he who makes his law a curse,
By his own law shall surely die.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)