Sir, – It is puzzling to read in “The forgotten legacy of James Franklin Fuller” (October 21th), about the exhibition on Fuller’s work in the Irish Architectural Archive, that the initial plans for Kylemore Castle and Abbey, continue to be wholly attributed to JF Fuller. This without reference to the seminal input for the design and overseeing of construction by Samuel Ussher Roberts, architect, civil engineer, and county surveyor for the western division of Co Galway.
As a past-pupil of Kylemore Abbey and a conservation architect, I am frequently queried about the identity of the architect for Kylemore. My scant earlier research led me to the belief that it was Fuller, initially in collaboration with Roberts, suggesting Fuller was the lead architect with Roberts only playing a minor role.
However in 2003, after the publication of local historian, Kathleen Villers-Tuthill's impressively researched History of Kylemore Castle & Abbey, a very different story emerges. She attributes the plans and overseeing of construction solely to Roberts, who applied his considerable engineering experience, which was necessary for building on such a challenging site. She notes that the inaccuracies of attribution originated from Fuller himself, in his seemingly very eccentric 1916 memoir, Omniana: the Autobiography of an Irish Octogenarian.
While Fuller is fully accredited with being the architect for Kylemore’s memorial Gothic church (1877-81), Villers-Tuthill’s research indicates that when on-site for that project, Fuller “did some works on the Castle”. But she also states that in his 1916 memoir, “he would try to take credit for the entire castle building” and only give scant recognition to Roberts. Though Fuller was architecturally profligate, he was also a keen self-publicist and described as having a “gentlemanly disregard” for many professional standards, including office procedure. If this professionally lax attitude extended to perpetuating an injustice to his colleague Roberts, I would not be alone in wanting to see this righted. – Yours, etc,
ANNE LAVIN,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.