1907c – Youth Hostel, Tra Na Rosann, Co. Donegal

Remote holiday home, Trá na Rosann House, overlooking two coastal bays, designed for Honorable Robert and Lucy Phillimore by Edwin Lutwnes circa 1907 – the date is uncertain. The two larger pitched roofs are linked by a smaller intersecting one, all finished in rough Granite and with slate-hung gables. The original living room led out into the verandah surrounded by stone piers. The original open staircase to the sleeping accommodation was from this outdoor space. The interiors feature stone flagged floors and walls.

After her husband’s early death in 1919, Lucy continued to visit the area, and in 1937 she donated the lodge to the emerging An Oige Organisation. Lucy died in London on the 30th of November 1957. A few changes to the house have been made – the verandah has been partially enclosed around the staircase and one of the slate-hung gables has been rendered at some point in time.

Described by Rowan in The Buildings of Northwest Ulster as “Two gabled blocks like staggered triangles set on the hillside and linked by a short arm. The larger is surrounded by a verandah of fat granite piers, one of which stops short about two inches below the beam it is meant to support – a typical Lutyens joke. The roofs are hugh unbroken slopes of heavy local slates, and the gables are slate-hung. Inside the verandah an exposed granite stair leads ranch style, to the attic bedrooms. In the common room a big slab fireplace with a cobbled hearth.”