The tales of Ballyfin and Glenmere Welcome back to Period Dramas, a weekly column that alternates between rounding up historic homes on the market and answering questions we?ve always had about older structures.
It?s no secret that the mansions of the American Gilded Age and those found throughout the countrysides of Ireland and the UK were far from long-lasting. Often, these estates, if not flat-out demolished, have become museums.
But there are a few houses that live on much as they were originally intended: as centers for entertaining, gathering, and relaxing. And if they?re lucky, they get turned into a luxury hotel.

Courtesy of Ballyfin.
The exterior of Ballyfin.

?I had known about Ballyfin since the 1980s,? says Jim Reynolds, managing director of Ballyfin, a luxury hotel in central Ireland. ?It was the sort of house where you could turn up, knock on the door, and the housekeeper would just let you in to have a look around.? Ballyfin House, a Neoclassical mansion, was built in the 1820s for the prominent political Coote family by the architects Sir Richard Morrison and his son, William Morrison. The Coote family enjoyed the house for about a century before leaving Ireland due to the changing political climate brought about by the Irish War of Independence.
The Cootes sold the estate to a group called the Patrician Brothers, who ran a school in the mansion until it was sold in 2002 to its current owners, who brought on Jim Reynolds to...