James Gandon - Criticism and Decline

Criticism and Decline

The success of Gandon's designs and commissions were however not reflected in personal popularity: he attracted huge criticism from his enemies. So hated was the taxation symbolised by the Custom House that the stigma of being its creator was to taint the appreciation of his work throughout his lifetime. It was even claimed that Gandon was designing buildings to boost his self-esteem. In the 1780s, during the construction of the Four Courts, one broadsheet published daily letters from a correspondent castigating and insulting Gandon and his designs. This further fostered the hate directed against him. In truth Gandon had merely rediscovered what architects from Vitruvius to Thomas Jefferson believed, which was that the Palladian form was eminently suitable for the design of public buildings where huge civic prestige was required.

In 1798, revolution broke out on the streets of Ireland and Gandon, an unpopular figure, hurriedly fled to London. On returning to Dublin he found a much changed city. The Irish Houses of Parliament, which had inspired the great period of development, were closed. The 1801 Act of Union had placed Ireland directly under rule from London. One by one the Anglo-Irish aristocracy left their fine new town houses in the city. As a direct result Dublin declined from being one of the great cities of Europe.

Gandon had married Eleanor Smullen in 1770; sadly, he was widowed shortly after his invitation to Dublin, but while they were in London the couple had six children. James Gandon died in 1823 at his home in Lucan, County Dublin, having spent forty-two years in the city. He was buried in the church-yard of Drumcondra Church, in the same grave as his friend the antiquary Francis Grose. It seems that already by the time of his death his reputation was undergoing a re-evaluation, for his tomb-stone reads: - "Such was the respect in which Gandon was held by his neighbours and friends from around his home in Lucan that they refused carriages and walked the 16 miles to and from Drumcondra on the day of his funeral."

In the years since his death, Ireland's troubled history has resulted in destruction and damage to much of Gandon's work, especially his interiors. The Custom House was shelled in 1921 during the War of Independence and parts of it were rebuilt using a darker shade of native limestone. The Four Courts was burned by Republican forces during the Civil War in 1922 and, even though it was later rebuilt, much of Gandon's original work is gone and the interior can today only be appreciated from his original drawings. Yet despite this, the stamp of his work is still clearly visible in Georgian Dublin today.