Costelloe Lodge is an early 20th century building in

Casla Casla (also known as Costelloe) is a Gaeltacht village between Indreabhán (Inverin) and An Cheathrú Rua (Carraroe) in western County Galway, Ireland. The headquarters of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta is located there. The village lies on the ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, Ireland. It was designed by

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

for J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

, after Ismay's original fishing lodge was burnt out in an IRA attack in 1922. Ismay had bought the house a year after the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' disaster and, largely ostracised by

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

, spent much time at the lodge until his death in 1937. After the attack on the house Ismay engaged Lutyens to undertake a major reconstruction. The garden was laid out by Lutyens’ long-time collaborator

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British Horticulture, horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Sta ...

. Little documented and unreferenced in the major studies of Lutyens, the lodge remains privately owned and is a protected structure.

History and architecture

J. Bruce Ismay succeeded to the chairmanship of the White Star Shipping Line in 1899, on the death of his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

. In 1912 he joined the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that Sinking of the Titanic, sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking Iceberg that struck the Titanic, an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York Ci ...

'' on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. The ship struck an iceberg and sank, with the loss of 1,514 passengers and crew. Ismay took a place in the last lifeboat to leave the ship, an act that led to severe public criticism. Ismay was largely ostracised from society after his rescue from the Titanic, and spent much of his time at Costelloe until his death in 1937. He had bought the original fishing lodge at

in 1913 and, a keen

angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * Angler (video game), ''Angler'' (video game) * Angler (restaurant), a seafood restaurant in San Francisco, California * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish ...

himself, visited frequently. In 1922 the lodge was burnt out in an arson attack by the IRA and Ismay commissioned Lutyens to rebuild it. Lutyens had established himself as one of England's leading architects of

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

s. In his study of English domestic buildings, '' Das englische Haus'', published in 1904,

Hermann Muthesius Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius (20 April 1861 – 29 October 1927), known as Hermann Muthesius, was a German architect, author and diplomat, perhaps best known for promoting many of the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement within German ...

had written of him, "He is a young man who has come increasingly to the forefront of domestic architects and who may soon become the accepted leader among English builders of houses". Muthesius’ prediction was fulfilled; over the course of the next twenty years Lutyens became preeminent as a designer of country houses, began the construction of

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

and became the foremost architect of memorials to the British dead of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The rebuilding of Costelloe was completed by 1925 and the house is designed in Lutyens’ trademark

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

style. The plan is long and irregular, with a total of nine bays under sweeping

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roofs. The construction material is rendered

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

. The house is little documented and is not referenced in the major studies of Lutyens and his work. The lodge is a protected structure and remains privately owned.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , title = The English House , last=Muthesius , first = H. , author-link = Hermann Muthesius , orig-year=1904 , year=1979 , edition=Single volume , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=M4jRAQAACAAJ&q=editions:-7GFYV4ktzcC , publisher=

Granada Publishing Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil and ...

, location=Frogmore , isbn = 978-0-258-97101-7 Buildings and structures in County Galway Works of Edwin Lutyens in Ireland Arts and Crafts architecture