Aghadoe House, KNOPPOGE (MA. BY.), KERRY

Description

Detached nine-bay two- and three-storey Lombardo Romanesque style country house, built c. 1860, possibly incorporating fabric of earlier house, 1828. Designed by William Atkins. Comprising two-bay two-storey advanced main block, single-bay two-storey flat-roofed entrance bay to right having single-storey prostyle tetrastyle limestone ashlar portico and single-bay two-storey projecting bay to left on an engaged octagonal plan. Two-bay two-storey side elevation to south-east with two-storey box bay window and three-bay two-storey elevation to south-west with single-bay two-storey return to rear and single-bay two-storey projecting pavilion block to south-west corner. Attached seven-bay three-storey service wing to north-west with single-bay three-storey advanced end bay to north-west. Burnt in 1922. Extensively reconstructed, c. 1925. Renovated in late twentieth century to accommodate use as youth hostel. Pitched and hipped profiled concrete tile roofs with deep overhanging boxed eaves to south section, rendered chimneystack with cornice, and having cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Pink sandstone ashlar walls with limestone plinth and entablature. Round-headed windows with flush limestone surrounds and concrete sills, paired at first floor. Some triple windows with rusticated cement surrounds. Triple-arch arcade to porch with balustrade, timber one-over-one pane sliding sash windows and nine-panel door with fanlight. Detached six-bay two-storey stone-built stable building, built c. 1860, to north-west on a U-shaped plan comprising four-bay two-storey central block with segmental-headed integral carriage arches and single-bay two-storey projecting flanking end bays. Detached four-bay single-storey rubble stone-built outbuilding, built c. 1860, to north-west with open arcade; now derelict.