"He was "unique in so many ways", his son Patrick told me in an email shortly after his father died at lunchtime last Thursday, at the age of 88.Desmond Guinness was born on September 8, 1931, and grew up between his father's estates in England and Ireland. OPW statement on the death of Desmond Guinness. Desmond Guinness, a descendant of Arthur Guinness and co-founder the Irish Georgian Society, has died aged 88.
Saving 18th-century houses was low on almost everyone’s list of priorities.Undaunted, Desmond and Mariga Guinness embarked on the task of creating an organisation which would champion the cause close to their hearts, ‘the preservation of what is left of Georgian architecture in Ireland’. To lend some 'tone' to their new home, Lord Moyne gave them an Arab stallion and a friend, Elizabeth Kelly, gave them two beds and her butler.Guests slept on mattresses as Desmond and his wife scoured 'big house' sales and slowly began restoring the castle to its former grandeur. Julian BreamValerie Grove writes: Julian Bream (obituary, August 15) met Laurie Lee when both lived near the Queen’s Elm pub in the Fulham Road in the 1950s and they struck up an instant friendship
"Now in his 50s, he still retains his good looks, and those infamous blue eyes, that sparkle like ice and mask a deep sense of mischievousness. Furthermore, by the 1950s the country was in dire economic straits, both unemployment and emigration reaching record levels. This important building, the first great Palladian house in Ireland, dating from the early 18th century, was at risk of being lost forever when Desmond Guinness stepped in and used his own funds to save the property.
File photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times. Desmond Guinness was born on September 8, 1931, and grew up between his father's estates in England and Ireland. "In the winter of 1958, Mariga and Desmond said they did not go to bed until 4am from the beginning of December until the end of January," wrote Carola Peck in the book Mariga And her Friends. In his heyday, he was a tireless advocate of the society and its work, running operations from a room at home in Leixlip Castle, County Kildare, where – when not travelling – he was an unfailingly generous host with flawless manners. The Tailors' Hall, Riverstown House and Doneraile Court in Cork, the Damer House in Roscrea, Roundwood in Laois, Longfield in Tipperary, and many others, were saved from dereliction or demolition.
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Much photographed and admired for its stylish decor created by the Guinnesses in the late 1950s, Leixlip Castle was always the most hospitable of houses, where Desmond was at his most relaxed and engaging.
Images of the Weekend However, large numbers of these properties had descended into a wretched condition, those in towns and cities often becoming slum tenements, those in the countryside crumbling into ruin. Mr Guinness co-founded the Irish Georgian Society in 1958 to help stop plans to demolish Georgian houses at Kildare Place in the city centre.
Between 1966 and 1968 'Penny' - known as "one of the most lusted-after girls in swinging London" - posed for a series of what have been described as "luscious nudes" by the painter Lucian Freud, the most famous of which, Naked Girl, was bought by the actor Steve Martin, before Freud's paintings began to sell for millions of pounds.For quite some time, Desmond, his wife and his lover all shared Leixlip Castle with Desmond and Mariga's two children, Patrick and Marina. This told everybody to go home. In the middle of the last century, Ireland still possessed an abundance of fine houses, in both urban and rural settings, testifying to the country’s cultural sophistication during the 18th and early 19th centuries. But is it too little, too late?Art museums that consider themselves places of reflection should be thinking harder about what they are for and what needs to changeAs museums around the world prepare to reopen, many do so with a renewed sense of purposeThe Syrian-born, US-based artist talks to Gabrielle Schwarz about his sculptural dioramas of cities ravaged by war – and offers a message of hope for the futureFragments of ninth-century frescoes uncovered during conservation shed new light on faith and power in the Venetian lagoonPosters are a powerful tool in clear and consistent public health-messaging – so why aren’t we seeing more of them?George Mayer-Marton was an accomplished, influential émigré artist – and his Crucifixion for the Church of the Holy Rosary in Oldham must be protectedPhoto: Amelia Stein; courtesy Irish Georgian Society
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