Revlin House

Detached three-bay two-storey house with dormer attic, extant 1881, on a rectangular plan; three-bay two-storey rear (east) elevation. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Renovated. Replacement pitched artificial slate roof with ridge tiles, cement rendered chimney stacks having concrete capping supporting terracotta pots, rooflights to front (west) pitch, and uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves. Replacement cement rendered walls bellcast over rendered plinth. Hipped elliptical-headed central door opening with timber mullions on rock faced step threshold supporting timber transom, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having sidelights below overlight. Square-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows having exposed sash boxes. Set in landscaped grounds with ivy-covered piers to perimeter having overgrown capping supporting wrought iron double gates.

A house representing an integral component of the nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of Donegal with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking rolling grounds and the mouth of the River Eske as it flows into Donegal Bay; the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a restrained doorcase; and the somewhat disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the widely spaced openings on each floor. NOTE: Occupied (1881) by Reverend Samuel Runsie Craig (1844-1923; Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland 1881, 312) and later (1888) by George Turner (----) who was a regular contributor to the "British Bee Journal and Bee-Keeper's Adviser". Revlin House was subsequently occupied by the author Seumas MacManus (1867-1960) and the poet Ethna Carbery (née Anna Johnston) whose marriage was tragically cut short after just one year (The Irish Times 10th June 2006).