The Art Newspaper

The rebirth of Ballyfin

US collector transforms decaying Irish neo-classical estate into luxury hotel

By Brook S. Mason. Web only
Published online: 25 April 2011

The restored Ballyfin

BALLYFIN, IRELAND. Chicago-based Irish art collector and philanthropist Fred Krehbiel has restored a neo-classical stone mansion set on a 614 acre estate outside Dublin and stocked it with period British and Irish art as well as antiques to create a luxury boutique hotel that opens on 1 May. His restoration of Ballyfin House took him nine years and cost a reported $20m. Desmond Fitzgerald, Knight of Glin, served as adviser.

“I wanted to give a sense of the richness of this country house,” said Krehbiel, a computer parts tycoon and Irish Georgian Society patron. He owns the largest private collection of Irish art, dating from the 18th century to contemporary work, portions of which are kept in a home which he maintains near Ballyfin. He purchased the estate in County Laois for $10m; it had been the ancestral home of the Wellesley-Poles, the family of the Duke of Wellington. The 1826 house was designed by Irish architects Sir Richard and William Morrison for Sir Charles Coote. Later owned by the Patrician Brothers as a school, it eventually fell into disrepair. Now Coote family portraits by Charles Jervas and Jonathan Richardson line the hall, along with more recent work by William Crozier and Michael Canning.

London dealer James Hepworth sourced the art and antiques. “The antiques come from Irish houses, London salesrooms and dealers,” said Hepworth, a partner in the project, who would not disclose costs. Antiques range from Thomas Chippendale gilt mirrors to a Regency gilt bronze chandelier originally from the London's Royal Academy. Hepworth said the mirrors were acquired from the Royal Box at Ascot racecourse.

Then the London interior designer Colin Orchard oversaw the 35,000 sq. ft interiors. “All of the carpets, wallpapers and fabrics I designed are based on specific Regency designs,” said Orchard. “Fred was looking for a house that had been lived in for generations by a family who had travelled abroad. So the gold drawing room has French, 18th-century and early-19th-century furniture, whereas the library is typical English Regency.”

Ballyfin nightly room rates run from €£750 to €1,400, with the entire estate set at €14,500.