May 2, 1953

Terence Reeves-Smyth (May 2, 1956) is a writer and authority on Irish architecture and landscapes. The author of several books, Reeves-Smyth is currently employed at Built Heritage, Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

His books include

Irish country houses, (1994).
Irish Gardens, (1994)
Irish Gardens and Gardening Before Cromwell, (1999)
Jacobean Architecture in Ireland, ( 2006)


Terene Reeves-Smyth is co-author of:
Landscape archaeology in Ireland - Volumes 116-118 (1983)
Irish Castles (1995)

Here is an example of his prose, found in his description of the gardens at Downhill in his guidebook, from, The Garden Lover's Guide to Ireland (2001 ) :

Downhill is famous for its exquisite neoclassical park buildings, but it also boasts two lakes, extensive woodlands and a gatehouse garden. The nucleus is the dramatic ruin of the house, built in 1775-87 for Frederick Harvey, Bishop of Derry and Earl of Bristol. Poised dramatically on a cliff edge to the north is the dome Mussenden Temple (1783). Other buildings include the Lion Gate (1781), the Pigeon House (1783), and the ruins of the Mausoleum, built in 1779-83 as a memorial to the Earl-Bishop's brother.
....Noteworthy is a bog garden...The woods south of the road have two enormous Sitka spruces that are among the largest in Ireland.

We see in the passion and knowledge Reeves-Smyth brings to his research a connection between family and a home, a connection which draws on a personal and historically articulated relation to the Irish past, a relation that makes Americans envious sometimes. The vision that emerges from the work of Reeves-Smyth is of a world where people exist to humanize a landscape, rather than one where landscapes give proportion to persons.