The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland [Hardcover]

Mr. James Howley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0300055773 | ISBN-13: 978-0300055771

The subject of this book is the varied group of fanciful buildings which feature regularly in the landscapes of Ireland. Although there have been several previous books on follies, this is the first to concentrate solely on Ireland. Most of the buildings examined in this book were built in the 18th and 19th centuries simply to enhance the landscape: they serve no practical purpose other than that of pleasing the eye. Howley covers all these buildings from the sophisticated temples designed by the architectural giants of the period, to the crude attempts of the enthusiastic amateur. He looks at all the different types of building - obelisks, grottoes, monumental columns etc - and how their designs evolved, and places them with the architectural and historical context of the time. To do so, Howley examines the eighteenth century changes in garden design, as well as the social and philosophical ideas behind the building and design of follies. The book concludes with an appendix which lists over 500 follies and garden buildings on a county-by-county basis throughout the whole of Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"James Howley's pioneering book is based on strenuous fieldwork, carried out over many years. The volume is a delight to peruse, a veritable encyclopaedia of the extraordinary and the fantastic." Roger Stalley, The Irish Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

"A work of sustained scholarship and relish for the subject."-Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement; "A feast of ephemeral architectural embellishment."-House and Garden; "[A] pioneering book. . . . It is beautifully designed and the well researched text is accompanied by excellent measured drawings and wonderful photographs. The volume is a delight to peruse, a veritable encyclopedia of the extraordinary and the fantastic."-Roger Stalley, The Irish Times; "A major achievement."-Deborah Singmaster, Architects' Journal --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 24, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300055773
• ISBN-13: 978-0300055771
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,359,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Folly in Howley's Book on Follies, November 2, 2001

By 

Wade Tarzia (Naugatuck Valley Community College, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland (Hardcover)

James Howley has done us a great service in writing about these unusual architectural sites in Ireland. We are surrounded by built things, but so many of them built with the severity of practical needs: domestic boxes, repetitive, hard-angled offices. His book reminds us that not all buildings were made so.

He educates us in these matters by maintaining scholarly momentum without sacrificing readability. Indeed, reading this book involves a curious deception -- you feel as though you have been tramping through the bushes all day and examining fascinating old buildings, then sitting tired but satisfied with a cup of tea, going over drawings and notes. Yet what has happened is that you have absorbed an array of both historical and social lessons.

Although the book is of course aimed at a specific area (Ireland) and specific topic (idiosyncratic buildings called 'follies'), the information is transferable into our daily lives. After having read the book, I found myself sensitized to the unusual in architecture in New England, where I live.

Qualifier: What we may think is unusual is not always a "folly" -- in glancing into the lifeways of our predecessors, we are looking with mystery into that which others saw as perfectly ordinary (a medieval castle privy may be to us a mysterious or amusing construction, although 800 years ago it was just a smelly crapper). In such cases, we need to educate ourselves in the definition of "unusual" and what it means for us and for the people of other ages.

Yet sometimes we find a truly unusual construction from whatever historical and local point of view you want to take. I drove by a yard in Shutesbury Massachusetts in which the owner had used his farm tractor to stack a series of huge flat stones on top of boulders to form a beautiful front-yard pyramid several feet high. My mind flashed instantly to the interesting people and odd places mentioned in Howley's book, and in this union of time and place and human dynamics, we see the ultimate practicality of this book. -- Wade Tarzia