Most of Edward Cecil Guinness's aesthetic and philanthropic legacy to Dublin is still intact, writes Stephen Cummins

What does Iveagh mean to Dubliners? That was the question on the mind of Julius Bryant, chief curator at English Heritage, as he arrived in the capital earlier this month. Having researched the life of Edward Cecil Guinness, the first Earl of Iveagh, Bryant was keen to see how Dubliners remembered the successful businessman, art collector and philanthropist who remodelled and extended Farmleigh House, in Dublin's Phoenix Park, in 1881 and, through founding the Iveagh Trust in 1890, funded the largest piece of urban renewal in Edwardian Dublin, providing housing and amenities for the poor people of the city.

"Simply by living in Dublin, Dubliners will be aware of Edward Cecil and Iveagh," says Bryant. "His son Rupert, the second earl, gave the Iveagh Gardens and 80 St Stephen's Green to the Irish government in 1939. It is now used as the Department of Foreign Affairs and known as Iveagh House. When I arrived in Dublin, I asked a taxi driver what he thought Iveagh was famous for. His response was the Iveagh Baths and the hostel near St Patrick's Cathedral.

"It's interesting to hear, because you've got to remember that, although now with Farmleigh we may be promoting this image of him as a man of great wealth and taste, his primary concern as a benefactor in Dublin, and indeed also in London, was social housing. He thought it a disgrace to have slums between the brewery at St James's Gate and St Patrick's Cathedral, which his father, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, had restored, and thus he regenerated that particular quarter."

The great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, Edward Cecil Guinness was born in Clontarf, in north Dublin, in 1847. By the age of 29 he had taken over the family brewery after buying out the interests of his older brothers, Lord Ardilaun and Benjamin Lee Guinness. Over 10 years, Edward Cecil brought unprecedented success to St James's Gate, multiplying the value of the brewery enormously. By 1896 he had become the richest man in Ireland after floating the company on the stock market before retiring a multi-millionaire at the age of 40. He remained chairman of the public company and chief shareholder.

"He was a serious and applied businessman, though he was a reluctant businessman as well," says Bryant. "I think probably most of all he'd have liked to have been a connoisseur collector, but his elder brothers weren't interested in running the brewery so it fell to him."

Interested in fine art all his life, Edward Cecil amassed a distinguished collection of Old Master paintings, antique furniture and historic textiles. While he was furnishing his London home at Hyde Park Corner, after he had retired, he began building his art collection in earnest. As a result, much of his collection of paintings was donated to the British state after his death in 1927 and is housed at the Iveagh Bequest at Hampstead, north London. While this lays claim to much of his collection of paintings, it is Farmleigh that best displays his taste in architecture as well as his tastes in antique furniture and textiles.

"At Farmleigh, people will get a very good impression of the character of Edward Cecil Guinness," says Julius Bryant. "First of all from the setting, the wonderful landscaped gardens and the classical taste in architecture. You don't find yourself coming up the drive approaching some gothic castle. It's a very sober, very symmetrical and very planned exterior. You get an immediate impression of him as a fairly stable, sensible sort of guy, as his business success confirmed.

"Coming into the house you're immediately surrounded by wonderful tapestries and 18th-century furniture. When he was a young man, travelling through Europe, his collecting interests were in historic textiles, which was a very unusual field to be interested in. He was really quite a pioneer in his interests. In the dining-room there are 17th-century Italian embroidered silks of classical subjects. In the downstairs corridor there are 17th-century tapestries after Dutch paintings. He was impressed by the rich colourful interiors of Italian houses and interpreted that. He liked that sense of luxury and I think he furnished both Farmleigh and 80 St Stephen's Green in a way that was a deliberate contrast from factory life. He wasn't, at that time in his life, looking for masterpieces. Rather, he was creating homes."

Owned by the fourth Earl of Iveagh until 1999, Farmleigh House now belongs to the State, which spent in the region of €52 million on its purchase and restoration. It is open to the public on a regular basis, and tours and events on the grounds are free.

"It has a museum quality to it now," says Bryant. "I remember when I first came here, six or seven years ago, and it was slightly messy. It inspired me that, although lived in by the family at the time, so much of Edward Cecil's design, furnishing and decoration remained intact."

Unlike his father Sir Benjamin and brother Lord Ardilaun, there is no statue to Edward Cecil in Dublin. In St Patrick's Cathedral there is a window on the theme of charity dedicated to him.

"It's not something I think he would have wanted," says Bryant. "The artist who did it, Frank Brangwyn, knew Iveagh and commented that he would have preferred the money be given to the poor. It's the buildings built by the trust . . . rather than Farmleigh, that are really his monument."

Farmleigh is open from Thursday to Sunday and on bank holidays until November 14th, after which tours can be arranged by appointment. Tel: 01-8155900 or see www.farmleigh.ie