Last year Jack Fitzsimons died. His legacy as a principled Irish politician should never be forgotten but he will be remembered more by me for writing Bungalow Bliss.
Jack was a Co. Meath man, an architect, who wanted to help people build their own homes and who thought that his profession charged too much. The result was Bungalow Bliss advising on all aspects of building from choosing a Fred Flintstone chimney to installing a septic tank. It was a best seller, running to ten editions and is still available second hand on Amazon.
Jack believed passionately in preserving Ireland’s architectural heritage and especially thatched cottages so it was unfortunate that his well intended tome should have spawned such architectural anarchy along Irish country roads and lanes. It was (still is?) used as a blueprint for the pagodas, villas, estancias, haciendas, ranches, Noddy & Big Ears houses that line the roads, often with an old, crumbling, derelict farmhouse alongside. With virtually no planning restrictions his book encouraged and led to rural Ireland being changed out of all recognition. While in the UK, town and city centres were being ripped out in the name of progress in Ireland it was the countryside, a good example of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
But why shouldn’t people choose the sort of home they want to live in? Why shouldn’t they make it special by choosing dodgy architectural features? My house in West London looks like every other terraced house in West London so I’m thinking that Jack did aspirational home owners in Eire a service and it’s snobbish, small-minded and selfish to think otherwise.