Sir William Basil Goulding, 3rd Baronet (4 November 1909 – 16 January 1982[1]) was an Irish art collector, cricketer, squash player, prominent businessman and amateur architect.
The family home was also the location where Sir Basil Goulding had the notable 'Goulding Summer House' built by Scott Tallon Walker architects.
Goulding was the founding Chairperson of the Contemporary Irish Art Society in 1962, along with Gordon Lambert, Cecil King, Stanley Mosse, James White and Michael Scott.
The enthusiasm and vision of these founding members of the society was the catalyst which led to the development of many important art collections in Ireland.
The purpose of the society was to encourage a greater level of patronage of living Irish artists which, at the time, was extremely low.
The first purchase in 1962 was an important painting by Patrick Scott, donated to the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.
Sir Basil Goulding used his influence as a successful businessman to create opportunities for artists to complete corporate commissions.
[12] In 1969 he commissioned artworks for Fitzwilton House by Irish and British artists, Robert Ballagh, Barrie Cooke, Anne Madden and Michael Farrell – some of which have since been transferred to the Trinity College Dublin Art Collection.
[18] The land was donated to the people of Cork by Sir Basil Goulding in the late 1960s and was subsequently developed as an amenity park.
[22] Its main office building, Fitzwilton House was commissioned by Basil Goulding to a design by English architects, Shoolheifer & Burley and completed in 1969.
[13] It was a bold expression of modernist architecture with a complex layered façade incorporating at least five different concrete finishes forming a dramatic backdrop to Dublin's Grand Canal.