Christine Casey (1960–2026)

We were extremely saddened to hear of the death of Christine Casey (1960–2026), Professor of Architectural History at Trinity College, Dublin. Christine was an eminent scholar, and the field of eighteenth-century architectural history has been indelibly shaped through her research projects, publications and teaching.

We are immensely proud to have published her final book, Architecture and Artifice: The Crafted Surface in Eighteenth-Century Building Practice (2025), and to see it nominated for the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britian’s Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and shortlisted for the Walpole Society’s Berger Prize. When Christine was unable to join us in person for one of the PMC’s Book Nights, she joined the panel remotely by Zoom, instantly captivating the audience with her erudition, which she blended with her gift for communication. Her presence – albeit virtual – filled the room.

Christine was a colleague who inspired others to work with precision and care for the objects of the past and the histories we write about them in the present. In Architecture and Artifice, she called for the reader to take notice of the overlooked material practices that were crucial to architectural production – what she described as the ‘vibrant craft culture in masonry, carving, joinery and plasterwork’ in Britain and Ireland. Christine was not only an historian of buildings but of the people that built them. She was deeply interested in the human histories of the countless craftspeople who have shaped our built environment, but who are often not named or whose work is not fully accounted for in architectural histories.

Christine was also well known through her two volumes in the Pevsner Buildings of Ireland series – Leinster, with Alistair Rowan (1993), and Dublin (2005) – and through her wider contributions to the survey and preservation of Ireland’s architectural history.

We have incredibly fond memories of working with Christine and of interactions with her that were characterised by warmth, wit and collegiality. We extend our sincere condolences to Christine’s family, friends and colleagues.