Last chance to see 'Fading Façades' exhibition, which brings new life to old ruins

An exhibition of photographs at the Westmeath County Buildings Atrium Space brings new life to old ruins, and features a number of noteworthy Westmeath estates.

Photographer Robert Smith has more than 20 photographs in ‘Fading Façades’, a monochrome collection illustrating some of the large ruined houses of Ireland.

In the late 19th Century some 6,000 large houses existed in Ireland; today, for a variety of reasons, they have dwindled to a few hundred and of those left, many are beyond repair, but still remind us of their past grandeur.

Robert wanted to capture their existence before they vanish forever.

It was a chance meeting in 1988 with Mark Bence Jones, who passed away in 2010, that made Robert aware of these houses and instilled in him a need to photograph them.

It was not until many years later that Robert had the time to finish his work and fulfil his promise.

Included in this collection are two houses from Westmeath – Rosemead House in Delvin and Tudenham Park House on the shores of Lough Ennell.

The exhibition aims to nurture in new audiences an interest in these buildings, and thereby preserving the memory of the great Irish artisans who built these houses.

Westmeath Arts officer Miriam Mulrennan says of the exhibition: “As soon as I encountered Robert’s work I knew there were so many points of interest to taking the show into the County Buildings.

“There is a reflective quality in all of these pieces, as well as an underlying educational aspect.

"We too often forget that all of these ruins have a story that it is important to acknowledge and preserve, whether that story has sadness or celebration attached to it, if forms part of the narrative of our unique landscape.”

The exhibition is in the Atrium, County Buildings, Mullingar till December 9.