The Court of Appeal has ruled that all six Harry Clarke stained-glass works in Bewley's café on Dublin's Grafton Street are "windows as a matter of law" and therefore the property of the owner of the building.
The six stained-glass works by the renowned illustrator and stained-glass artist have been at the centre of an ownership dispute between RGRE Grafton Ltd, which owns the building, and Bewley’s Café. They are estimated to be worth €1 million.
RGRE Grafton Ltd, the company of developer Johnny Ronan, had argued that the six windows were part and parcel of the premises.
The tenants argued that they are not windows but are moveable artworks that are not part of the structure of the premises.
The tenants said the works are decorative and ornamental and are never used as windows.
At the centre of the dispute were four panels called 'The Four Orders' and separate work comprising two panels called the 'Swan Yard'.
The appeal court decision overturns part of a January 2023 judgment of the High Court which found that four of the works were windows and belonged to the owner of the building while the remaining two pieces were works of art and belonged to the tenants, Bewley's Café.
In that decision Mr Justice McDonald said the Swan Yard windows were installed as part of a double layer of windows and were not part of the external skin of the café and did not contribute to "weathering it". They had been moved to an internal wall in the café and he ruled that these two stained glass panels were owned by the tenants.
The three judge Court of Appeal today ruled the High Court was correct to conclude that the Four Orders windows were windows as they were part and parcel of the premises as they "weathered, lit and ventilated the café". The court said in law they remained the property of original landlord and any successors in title.
However, the court ruled the High Court had erred in concluding that the building’s owners had failed to prove that the Swan Yard windows were also part and parcel of the building.
The appeal court ruled the owners had proved the Swan Yard works were part and parcel of the premises and the property of the original landlord and his successors.
The court found that all six windows were treated as one commission and that in 1928 the Swan Yard windows were installed in the external openings in the wall as the original external windows of the building and "just as the Four Orders windows were windows as a matter of law, so too are the Swan Yard windows".
The court said the High Court’s decision on this was based on "impermissible speculation" which must be rejected in light of the entirety of the evidence.
The court said title to the Swan Yard windows passed under the 1987 sale of the building and were not expressly excluded from the sale.
The legal action began after a dispute over rent arrears.
In 2020, RGRE sought possession of the premises over non-payment of rent, but this was resolved following mediation and arrears of €749,000 were paid.
There followed a dispute in which Bewley's sought to offset further rent payments by offering to sell the Harry Clarke windows to RGRE. But RGRE said Bewley's could not sell what it already owned.
