Curating the Irish County House

Curating the Irish County House: considerations of presentation and preservation; public and private perspectives from curators and custodians of the Irish county house in the 21st century.

The Irish Georgian Society presents a series of ten consecutive Tuesday evening talks (6pm) this autumn at the City Assembly House, 58 South William Street, Dublin 2.

Talk 1: Tuesday 29th September

Conjuring up the past: curating Irish houses 1983-2026 by Christopher Moore, independent historic house curator and interiors specialist.

Talk 2: Tuesday 6th October 2026

Recruitment: Specialist Generalist (Curator), Russborough, County Wicklow by Pauline Swords, Head of Collections & Conservation at Russborough House, County Wicklow

Talk 3: Tuesday 13th October 2026

Birr Castle: presenting and preserving an historic family house by Lady Alicia Clements, General Manager of the Birr Trust, and member of Historic Houses of Ireland.

Talk 4: Tuesday 20th October 2026

Beyond the Rope Barrier: Rethinking the Irish Country House for Contemporary Audiences by Dr Emma O’Toole, Collections & Interpretation Manager, The Irish Heritage Trust.

Talk 5: Tuesday 27th October 2026

Newbridge House & Malahide Castle by Cathal Dowd Smith, Curator & Collections Manager for Fingal County Council

Talk 6: Tuesday 3rd November 2026

Emo Court – Reinterpreting an Irish Country House Interior by Dr Aidan O Boyle, part of the curatorial and collections management team at the National Historic Properties branch of the Office of Public Works.

Talk 7: Tuesday 10th November 2026

Curating Hillsborough: Where History Happens by David Orr ACR, Castle and Collections Manager, Hillsborough Castle and Gardens

Talk 8: Tuesday 17th November 2026

Preserving and presenting Castletown by David Sheehan, Chairman of the Castletown Collection and Mary Heffernan, General Manager Castletown, National Historic Properties, Office of Public Works.

Talk 9: Tuesday 24th November 2026

‘Much beyond any place I have seen in Ireland’: Re-presenting Ballyfin for the 21st Century by William Laffan, art dealer and cultural historian.

Talk 10: Tuesday 1st December

What’s it all for? curating the Irish country house by Frances Bailey, FSA, Freelance Curator; formerly Senior National Curator, National Trust.

The one-hour talks take place in person at 6pm each Tuesday evening during autumn 2026 in the City Assembly House, 58 South William Street, Dublin 2, as well as online.

Subscribers will be able to attend talks in person at the IGS's City Assembly House or online live through Zoom. Additionally, all talk subscribers will receive a recording of the talk which can be watched for a two-week period after the date of issue.

There will be a Q&A at the end of each talk. Those watching the talks live online can submit their questions through the Zoom Q&A function.

It is possible to book talks individually (€15 each) or book for the whole course for a discounted rate (€120).

The Society would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's National Built Heritage Services of the Society's Conservation Education Programme of which Curating the Irish County House talks are an action. Additionally the Society wishes to thank The Heritage Council for their wider support of the Society's work through its Heritage Organisation Support Fund 2026.

For further architectural events in Ireland visit the Ireland Architecture Diary

Description supplied by the event organiser.