Castle Coole - Features

Features

Officially described as neo-classical Georgian in architectural style, Castle Coole is unusual in that it was the work of two architects who did not collaborate. Richard Johnston, an Irish architect, was initially commissioned and completed the design of the basement. Johnston however was later dismissed in favour of the more popular and fashionable English architect James Wyatt, who, rather than starting the project afresh, began at the point where Johnston left and completed the mansion design from the ground floor upwards. Wyatt adhered closely to the Georgian ideal of near-perfect symmetry throughout, with an Ionic portico and flanking Doric colonnaded wings. Wyatt also designed some of the major furniture items in the mansion, but furniture of that Georgian period is relatively rare. Much of the furniture was provided later by the second Earl, when the Regency style was in vogue. The finely detailed decorative plasterwork throughout the mansion was entirely the work of the English artist Joseph Rose.

Notable aspects of the mansion include the Portland stone façade, floorings and double-return cantilever staircase. An unused state bedroom, prepared in 1821 for King George IV (who failed to arrive), retains original furnishings and flock wallpaper. A drawing room furnished in a French Empire style, a Grecian staircase hall, and a ladies' workroom furnished in a Chinese style reflect the importance of worldly knowledge and awareness during the Regency period. Family motifs, engraved into Italian marble chimneypieces and adorning the plaster frieze of the Entrance Hall, reflect the first Earl's pride in his ancestral heritage.

Curiously, Castle Coole has no external back door nor a driveway extending completely around the mansion – a deliberate feature by James Wyatt to discourage tradesmen from making surprise visits. An extensive basement, now being conserved and partially open to the public (as of 2008), contains the kitchens, servants' quarters, a Roman style bath and a brewery. The grand entertaining rooms to the mansion's back overlook Lough Coole.