durrow abbey co. offaly conservation plan - Offaly County Council

TWENTIETH-CENTURY HISTORY
Durrow Abbey House was gutted by fire during
the Civil War in 1923. Ralph Byrne of William H
Byrne and Son, the Dublin based architects, was
employed to oversee the repair and reconstruction
of Durrow Abbey House for Ottoway Graham
Toler in 1926.
Survey drawings
A series of undated survey drawings, illustrate the
layout of the building prior to the fire. The house
was roughly L-shaped in plan with the main block
facing east and a service block extending to the
west 30 .
The servant’s hall, cellar and billiard room were
located at basement level with a double height
kitchen in the western wing and self-contained servant’s
quar ters beyond. The main public and reception
rooms of the house were located at ground
floor. A large dining room to the south and library
to the nor th flanked the main entrance hall and
stair. A stone service stair was located to the rear
of the main block beyond which stood the west
wing containing a study and several bedrooms. At
first floor level Mrs Toler’s room occupied the large
southern bay windowed room with a boudoir projecting
to the east front. A landing and secondary
stair led to the second floor. Mr Toler’s bedroom
Durrow Abbey following fire of 1923
was located to the nor th of the main block. A series
of five bedrooms occupied the west wing. A room
described as Mrs Gunnell’s room and three additional
bedrooms were located on the second floor.
1926 proposal drawings
Between January and February 1926, William H
Byrne and Son produced a set of drawings for the
‘Proposed Reconstruction of Durrow Abbey for
Ottoway Graham Toler Esq.’ The proposals saw an
ambitious re-use of the nineteenth-century building
after the fire of 1923. A series of photographs
Proposal drawings for Durrow Abbey prepared by William H Byrne and Sons in 1926
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