The largest, finest, and earliest Palladian house in Ireland

Castletown House was built between 1722 and 1729 for William ‘Speaker’ Conolly. Conolly was the wealthiest commoner in Ireland owning over 100,000 acres of land. It remained in the hands of Conolly’s descendants until 1965 when it was purchased by a property developer Major Wilson. The house was saved from demolition in 1967 when it was purchased by the Hon. Desmond Guinness, founder of the Irish Georgian Society. It is highly significant in terms of European architecture as its façade was almost certainly designed by the Italian architect, Alessandro Galilei, and its wings were by the Irish architect Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. It has since been lovingly restored by the OPW and is now open to the public.