Look around you, even now as Dublin city continues the dreary process of becoming like any other modern, commercialised metropolis pulverised by an ever- changing army of international brand names, there remains the saving grace of its Georgian legacy. The architectural splendour of the few surviving late 18th-century squares and individual landmark buildings seduce the eye and even manage to blank out much of the contemporary ugliness we have created. Behind the fine doorways with their elegant fanlights are further wonders, the surviving rococo and neoclassical decorative plasterwork of the Georgian interior dating from a period in which homeowners wanted their dwellings to reflect a continental cosmopolitan flair. The rococo gave way to the neoclassicism of the Adam style as perfected by the Scottish architect, Robert Adam. One Dublin stuccodor knew exactly what his clients wanted, and set out to provide it. Michael Stapleton may not be a household name, yet in his time he was a dominant designer, greatly in demand.
