Important Sale on the Premises at Costelloe Lodge

The Entire Contents of Costelloe Lodge Costelloe (Casla), Connemara

On the instructions of the Executor of the late Agnes Toohey & Property from other Important Clients

on

Bank Holiday Monday 6th May 2013 at 12pm

Costelloe Lodge was built at the end of the 19th Century as a fishing Lodge and was famously the home of J Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, owners of the Titanic. Ismay had survived the sinking of the Titanic, escaping the sinking ship on one of the last lifeboats and was picked up the following morning by the Carpathia. In the aftermath of the sinking and through the public enquiries that followed, Ismay, while officially exonerated, was much vilified by society on both sides of the Atlantic and he retired to live at Costelloe Lodge, in the seclusion of Connemara with his wife and family. The Lodge, which was largely a wooden building, was burnt by Republicans in 1922 and rebuilt in 1925. The renowned architect Edwin Lutyens worked on the house in 1913 and later, in the twenties was very involved in the building and refurbishing of the premises. Sir Edwin Lutyens was a leading architect of his day and designed the Cenotaph in London, the British Embassy in Washington, Liverpool Cathedral together with major works in New Delhi. Ismay spent much of the ensuing years at Costelloe Lodge, through the 20's and 30's and died in 1937. Ismay's widow continued to live in Costelloe Lodge for a period thereafter, in the midst of the wonderful gardens, originally designed by Gertrude Jekyll.
Costelloe was famous for its salmon fishing and Ismay, himself, is said to have taken three hundred salmon, in a single season in the late 1920’s, and the famous fishery undoubtedly attracted Jack and Agnes Toohey to the Lodge, which they bought in the early 80’s. Agnes was a glamorous and talented dress designer and sports woman, who fenced for Ireland and who combined the two disciplines of her life, when she designed the official Olympic uniforms for successive Irish teams. Agnes’s sports career developed through the 1950’s, reaching its peak by the time of the Rome Olympics in 1960. Agnes later served on the Executive Committee of the Irish Olympic Council from 1985 to 1986.
Born in Dublin in 1923, Agnes married Jack Toohey, a descendent of Lithuanian Jewish emigrants from Limerick, who became a major textiles and garment manufacturer in Dublin. Agnes had trained in London with the Vienna Clothing Company, returning to Ireland in the late 40’s to look after her mother. Continuing to work as a designer in Dublin, she soon joined Jack, who set up the famous Doreen Holdings clothes company and Agnes became the company’s main designer, with innovative patterns and design. The company became a major success with outlets in Ireland and the UK and one of Ireland’s leading exporters of clothing. In the 1930’s, Jack Toohey was one of the best known personalities in the Leinster Motor Club, racing against many of the great drivers of the day and winning the Leinster Trophy in both 1935 and 1936, clocking 108 mph on the closed 6 mile circuit, which followed a route from Tallaght to Templeogue and back to Firhouse, driving a 993 Ford Smithfield Special. In the 1950’s, he also competed in the Monte Carlo and Tulip Rallies. Meanwhile Jack and Agnes assembled a major art collection of paintings and contemporary sculpture. Jack died in 2002 at the age of 93, and in his honour and memory, Agnes donated an important sculpture by Edward Delaney to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and this sculpture was erected at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham in 2009.