Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Carpenter and architect. John Lascelles or Lassels, who is said to have come from Lancashire, was active in Co. Wicklow by March 1790; in March 1791 the Earl Fitzwilliam's steward, William Wainwright, wrote to the Earl from Coollattin, Co. Wicklow, that 'Mr Lascelles being out of employment I have had him here ever since my return from Yorkshire'. Both Lascelles and ENOCH JOHNSTON  ENOCH JOHNSTON made plans for alterations to Coollattin (then known as Malton House), Co. Wicklow. In 1796 the Earl sent both plans to JOHN CARR  JOHN CARR of York, who commented, in a letter written on 9 January 1796, that Lascelles seemed 'a bad carpenter indeed' and on 22 January, that 'Mr Lascelles is but a stupid fellow'. Carr was entrusted with the design of the alterations but appears never to have visited the site. Before the work was completed, the house was burnt down during the 1798 rebellion, at which time Lascelles was described as a suffering loyalist.(1) Lascelles submitted a plan for rebuilding the house in 1799, but Carr remained the architect. Lascelles would have liked to superintend the new work, but Wainwright demurred, noting in a letter of 13 May 1800 to the Earl that he had previously found it impossible to make Lascelles keep satisfactory accounts. Lascelles may nevertheless have been in charge of the execution of Carr's design(2) until THOMAS HOBSON THOMAS HOBSON , Carr's Yorkshire assistant arrived in 1801.(3) Lascelles also submitted plans for the Flannel Hall in Rathdrum,(4) which was erected by Earl Fitzwilliam in 1793,(5) and he superintended the building of a house for a Mr Montgomery in 1798.(6) A John Lascelles, possibly a son, was admitted to the Royal Dublin Society's School of Drawing in Architecture on 27 November 1823.(7)



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from notes taken by R.B. Wragg, Sheffield University Department of Architecture, from the Fitzwilliam papers in Sheffield Library (courtesay of E. McParland).

(1) JHCI 18, cccxc (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(2) NLI MS 4950 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(3) NLI MS 4949
(89) (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44); see also Christie's sale catalogue, Coollattin House (1980), 11.
(4) NLI MS 4947 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(5) Samuel Lewis, A Topographical dictionary of Ireland (1837), II, 495.
(6) Most of the Montgomery properties listed in Ambrose Leet, Directory of Noted Places (1814) are in Ulster; the nearest to Coollattin is a property called The Knox or The Knocks), near Naas, which belonged to Samuel Montgomery.
(7) MS. transcript from Royal Dublin Society minutes of School of Architectural Drawing admissions and prizewinners (in IAA).


3 work entries listed in chronological order for LASCELLES, JOHN


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Building: CO. WICKLOW, RATHDRUM, FLANNEL HALL
Date: 1793a
Nature: JL prepares plans for same, for Earl Fitzwilliam. (Building erected 1793)
Refs: NLI MS. 4947 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. WICKLOW, COOLLATTIN HOUSE
Date: 1796;1799
Nature: Proposed alts, 1796; proposed new house, 1799.
Refs: Notes by Brian Wragg on Fitzwilliam papers in Sheffield Archives, MP 33 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44); slightly different account given in Brian Wragg (ed. Giles Worsley), The Life and Works of John Carr of York (2000), 132.

Building: ?, ?, HOUSE (MR MONTGOMERY)
Date: ?
Nature: House for Mr Montgomery. Possibly The Knox (Knocks), Naas.
Refs: Notes by Brian Wragg from Fitzwilliam Papers, Sheffield Archives, MP 33 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)