1903 – Hollybrook House, Skibbereen, Co. Cork

Built to replace a Georgian house that burned down in 1902, and was rebuilt in 1902-03 to designs by Robert Shekleton Balfour of London for Lt-Col. A.H. Morgan. The Arts & Crafts style house is H-shaped and roughcast, with tall brick chimneys and a lower service wing to one side. Inside, the house is arranged around a domed two-storey galleried ‘Living Hall’ with oak panelling and carving and plasterwork in a 17th century manner. The dining room, study and drawing room are also richly decorated with Wrenaissance style decoration.

“This house is being erected in a somewhat remote district in the south-west of Ireland, not far from the site of the old mansion on the demesne which was demolished a few years ago. Pleasant woods surround the new house on the north and east sides, and the principal rooms command a fine and characteristic prospect to the south and west. The external walls are being built of the rough stone furnished by the quarries on the estate, but they will subsequently be rough cast to keep out the weather. There are fifteen bed and dressing-rooms in all, and a storage tank for water occupies the upper portion of the octagonal tower seen in the view.” The Builder, April 25 1903