THE IRISH Georgian Society, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, has done the State some service, not least in changing public perceptions of the real value of our architectural heritage. Certainly, no Government Minister nowadays would be so ignorant and prejudiced as one of their predecessors, who said in the wake of two fine Georgian houses on Dublin's Kildare Place being demolished in 1958: "I was glad to see them go. They stood for everything I hate."
Nor would any architect today make the claim, as many did in the past, that these houses were "jerry-built" and only intended to last a lifetime. Since then, several modern buildings dating from the 1970s and 1980s have been replaced, usually with better works of architecture, while the 18th century terraces so characteristic of the city are still standing more than 200 years after they were built.
That so much has survived is a tangible tribute to the valiant efforts of the Irish Georgian Society as well as An Taisce and others, such as the Dublin Civic Group and the late Deirdre Kelly and Uinseann MacEoin. As Robert O'Byrne recounts in his illustrated commemorative book published this week, The Irish Georgian Society, A Celebration, founders Desmond Guinness and his first wife Mariga managed not only to save Castletown House in Co Kildare, Ireland's most important Palladian mansion, but also to fire young people with enthusiasm, even passion, about the need to protect and preserve an irreplaceable architectural legacy.
Other major buildings which the society played a leading role in saving from destruction include Damer House, in Roscrea, Co Tipperary; Roundwood House, Mountrath, Co Laois; Doneraile Court, Co Cork, and the early 18th century Tailors' Hall in Dublin's Liberties.
Not every battle fought by the society over the years was successful. Number 50 Mountjoy Square, which Mariga Guinness restored personally, was pulled down by a JCB with a hawser line in 1982, four years after Desmond Guinness made the mistake of selling it. Like much of the south and west sides of this well- proportioned square, it was replaced by a fake. Carton House in Co Kildare, which the Government could have acquired for a relative pittance, instead had a hotel bedroom block added to it while the 18th century parkland was turned into two golf courses fringed by "golf villas".
Nevertheless, it is clear that much more would have been lost had it not been for the efforts of the Irish Georgian Society in bringing us to our senses.