The Guinness family have removed furniture and artworks from Farmleigh House following the expiry of a loan deal with the state covering the estate’s contents.
A spokesman for the Office of Public Works (OPW) confirmed that some contents were recently “returned” to the family following the conclusion of the agreement. He refused to say what items had been reclaimed, citing a confidentiality agreement.
When the state paid €29.2m for the house in 1999, the contents were not included in the asking price, but remained in Farmleigh on a 10-year loan. A second decade-long loan agreement has now been drawn up for the remaining contents. The OPW had hoped that the Guinness family would gift some items to the state, and it has ruled out making any further payments.
The most valuable pieces in the original loan included a late 19th-century cut-glass and gilt-metal chandelier in the ballroom; a set of tapestries in the main hallway; and four 17th-century embroidered panels in the dining room which were bought by Edward Cecil Guinness in 1874 from the Queen of Spain. There are also paintings by Sir William Orpen and William Hogarth.
The Benjamin Iveagh library was separately donated to the state in return for a tax break of €3.5m in 2008. Experts call it the world’s best collection of old Irish bindings, and it includes first editions of Ulysses by James Joyce, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift and works by Samuel Beckett.
Advertisement
In addition to the purchase cost of Farmleigh, the state spent €23m restoring and updating the house, adding a swimming pool and gym. The purchase price and refurbishment costs have been repeatedly criticised as excessive. The house was originally advertised at €19m, €10m less than the final purchase price.
Edward Guinness, the 4th Earl of Iveagh, said the family were happy to agree the new loan. “We are pleased to continue to support the OPW in its good work at Farmleigh,” he said. “We are proud that our former family home has become such a tremendous asset to the Irish nation, and we are pleased to be in a position to further support the OPW’s excellent work at the estate.”
The OPW also welcomed the new loan deal, saying many of the finest contents would remain for another decade, including art by Orpen and Hogarth; an Irish mahogany hall-table in the Chinese Chippendale style; a pair of Irish oak armchairs dating from the 19th century; a pair of late Georgian brass-bound mahogany buckets; textiles from the 19th century; and ceramics from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The OPW said some of the items returned to the Guinness family were “surplus” to Farmleigh’s requirements, while others were required by the family “for personal reasons”. It added that three-quarters of the contents in the house were now owned by the state, with the rest on loan from the Guinness family or from Irish institutions such as the Hugh Lane gallery and the National Gallery. The OPW insisted many of the house’s furniture and fittings were acquired outright when the state purchased Farmleigh, including some textiles, fireplaces and light fittings.
The “great charm” of the house lies in the eclecticism of its interior decoration, ranging from the classical style to Jacobean, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Georgian, said the OPW.
Advertisement
“Farmleigh is a unique representation of its heyday, the Edwardian period,” said a spokesman. While the collections at the house include some of the finest works acquired by the Irish state, they also represent the taste and collecting habits of a number of generations of the Guinness family.”