Ирландияның Farmleigh сарайы және мүлігі

State guest house and estate in Dublin, Ireland

Farmleigh is the official Irish state guest house. It was formerly one of the Dublin residences of the Guinness family. It is situated on an elevated position above the River Liffey to the north west of the Phoenix Park, in Castleknock. The estate of consists of extensive private gardens with stands of mature cypress, pine and oak trees, a boating pond, walled garden, sunken garden, out offices and a herd of rare native Kerry cattle. It was purchased by the Government of Ireland from the 4th Earl of Iveagh in 1999 for €29.2 million. A state body—the Office of Public Works (OPW)—spent in the region of €23 million restoring the house, gardens and curvilinear glasshouses, bringing the total cost to the state to €52.2 million. Farmleigh was opened to the public in July 2001.

Farmleigh was once a small (two storey) Georgian house built in the mid 18th century. It originally belonged to the Coote and then Trench families. Farmleigh Bridge was added to the estate in the 1870s to carry electricity lines from the mill race turbine on the Strawberry Beds to the house. In 1873, the house and estate were purchased by the then Edward Guinness (1847–1927) when he married his cousin Adelaide Guinness. He was a great grandson of Arthur Guinness and was created Baron Iveagh in 1891 and Earl of Iveagh in 1919. Edward Guinness commissioned a major renovation and extension programme to extend the house to the west and add a third floor. These works took place between 1881 and 1884 and were completed to designs by Irish architect James Franklin Fuller. A ballroom was added in 1896, designed by the Scottish architect William Young. The conservatory was added in 1901. As many of the house's features were commissioned by The 1st Earl of Iveagh, visitors gain some insight into his character from the landscaped gardens, classical architecture, and sober symmetrical layout. There are also tapestries on display, which the 1st Earl collected while travelling through Europe as a young man. The Earl's library, on loan to the state, contains some of the earliest books printed in Ireland. Farmleigh eventually passed to Rupert, 2nd Earl of Iveagh, and remained in the ownership of the Guinness family throughout the rest of the 20th century.