Edward Lovett Pearce
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce | |
---|---|
Born | 1699 Irish |
Occupation | Architect |
Parent(s) | Edward Pearce (father) Frances Lovett (mother) |
Relatives | John Vanbrugh (cousin) Thomas Pearce (uncle) Frances (sister) Christopher Lovett (grandfather) |
Buildings | Castletown House Bellamont House Parliament House 9 & 10 Henrietta Street Desart Court Cashel Palace Summerhill House |
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 – 7 December 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of
Early life
Edward Lovett Pearce was born about 1699 in
In 1715 following the death of his father, Pearce became a pupil of his eminent architect cousin, it is therefore likely that Pearce would have had the opportunity to see first hand and study the plans and building of
Morris.Following his time in the army, he decided circa 1722, to return to his first career and again began to study architecture, he did this by studying the architectural masterpieces of France and Italy. However it was in the
He spent some time in Norfolk in the 1720s, where he carried out a number of architectural commissions for local families including for the original iteration of Shadwell Court (1727-29) along with his distant relative, the amateur architect John Buxton.[1]
About 1725 Edward married Ann, his own first-cousin, daughter of
Architectural career
By 1724, Pearce had returned to Ireland to become a practising architect in Dublin, It would appear that as the only Irish architect, at the time, to have studied in Italy, his classical concepts were to win him instant recognition, his architectural success seems to have been almost instantaneous; no doubt helped by his contacts and position in Irish society and even more undoubtedly by his association with William Conolly and Castletown.
During the 1730s Lovett Pearce employed William Halfpenny as an assistant and he used the alias Michael Hoare while travelling throughout Ireland.[3]
Castletown
It is not known precisely how much of Castletown is Galilei's work and how much Pearce's. If in Italy Pearce had been employed by Galilei and worked on the plans, then, as was the custom of the time, Pearce's work as an employee would have been credited to his master. Galilei was certainly responsible for devising the overall scheme of a principal centre mansion, flanked by colonnades leading to two service wings, in the true Palladian manner. Castletown was the first house in Ireland designed with this layout. The rigid symmetry of Castletown's classical façades, designed by Galilei was to be typical too of Pearce's later work.
The interiors and final room plans are believed to be the work of Pearce, however the long suite of reception rooms along the ground-floor garden front, are not in the strict Palladian tradition. Such a mansion as Castletown, in Italy, would have been a town
Bellamont House
Another of Pearce's earliest commissions occurred when he was commissioned by his mother's brother-in-law
Stillorgan Obelisk
Following a famine in 1727, an Obelisk at Stillorgan, attributed to Pearce, was erected as a memorial to those who had perished. This granite monument, over 100 feet high, contains in its base a large vaulted hall from which rises a staircase leading to a viewing platform. The attribution to Pearce is probable, although the monument is in an almost avant-garde neoclassical style, with Egyptian influences; however Pearce was living in the parish at this time in a house known as The Grove. This large house (subsequently known as Tigh Lorcain Hall) was replaced by the Stillorgan Bowling Alley in 1963.
Irish Parliament House
In 1727, Pearce was elected
The
Cashel Palace
As architect of the Parliament building, in 1730
Desart Court
Desart Court was constructed in 1733 for the first Lord Desart, John Cuffe. It was a five-bay 2 storey house with a basement. It was ultimately destroyed in a fire by the IRA in 1923.[7]
Other buildings
Among other buildings that Lovett Pearce supposedly designed are
- Stables at Dartrey Estate
- Deanery House off Fishamble Street (demolished 1886)[8][9]
- Gloster House, County Offaly[10]
- Woodlands house in Clonshaugh[11]
- Drumcondra House,[12]
- 9 and 10 Henrietta Street and possibly other houses on the Street.[13]
- Summerhill House, County Meath
- Shadwell Court, Norfolk, England (1727-29)
Legacy
Following the acclaim given to the new Parliament building, the structure was near enough completed in 1731 for Parliament to be held there, in 1732 Pearce was
Pearce also designed smaller and more modest town houses for the wealthy and aristocratic of Dublin; two examples of his work survive in Henrietta Street (illustrated above right). His design at No.9 was for his first cousin Mrs Thomas Carter.
Tragically it was to be a short period, within weeks of receiving the freedom of Dublin, he was struck down with an
Edward Lovett Pearce's rise had been meteoric; in just six years of architectural practice he had scaled the greatest heights of both private and civic architectural practice. He had introduced Palladianism to a country which was to adopt it with a gusto unlike any other European country. At the time of his death he presided over an entire community of Palladian architects perpetuating his interpretations of Palladio's work throughout Ireland.
See also
References
- ^ Hayes, Melanie. "An Irish Palladian in England: the case of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce" (PDF). Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ Blackburne Hamilton, Historical Record of the 14th King's Hussars 1715–1900, Longman's Green, London 1901
- ^ "HALFPENNY, WILLIAM # - Dictionary of Irish Architects". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ On marrying his third wife, Ann Lovett, in 1697, Thomas Coote became the uncle-in-law of Edward Lovett Pearce.
- ^ Maurice Craig, 'Pearce, Sir Edward Lovett (1699?–1733)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 Jan 2013
- ^ Dublin, 19 Jan 1731
"We hear that the Letters Patent are passing the Great Seal of this Kingdom, containing a Commission from his Majesty, constituting and appointing Capt. Pearce, Nephew to General Pearce, a Gentleman of Great Abilities and Experience, to be Engineer and Surveyor-General of his Majesty's Forts and Buildings in the Kingdom of Ireland, in the room of Thomas Burgh, Esq; deceased."
News London Evening Post, 2 February 1731 – 4 February 1731; Issue 440 - ^ "Desart Court". The Irish Aesthete. December 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ "18th century - Design - Deanery House". collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ "Archiseek - Irish Architecture - 1733 - The Deanery House, Fishamble Street, Dublin". Archiseek - Irish Architecture. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ "Gloster House, GLASDERRY MORE, Shinrone, OFFALY". Buildings of Ireland. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ "Woodlands House, Clonshaugh Road, Dublin 17, DUBLIN". Buildings of Ireland. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "1726 – Drumcondra House, Dublin". Archiseek - Irish Architecture. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ "1720 – No.9 Henrietta Street, Dublin". Archiseek - Irish Architecture. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2021.