The creation of the guesthouse at Millbrook in Abbeyleix involved the renovation and extension of the historic house and stable, both protected structures, and the construction of a new ‘coach house’ building. Designed for chef Cúán Greene and his company Ómós, whose name is an Irish word meaning homage, duty and respect, the buildings together form a luxurious sixteen bedroom accommodation whose aesthetics sought to embody these sentiments and the broader ambition of the project to create an experience that is both forward looking and anchored to the cultural and material traditions of Ireland.
At the inception of the project the buildings were in a ruinous state, brought down to brick and dirt by years of neglect. While the primary reception rooms of the house were brought back to their original state, the remainder of the buildings were reorganised. Millbrook house was rearranged around a central hall space that brings light down internally to all three stories. Many Irish classical houses, from Russborough to Vernon Mount, would have an interior hall at first floor that organised bedrooms, gave light to the centre of the building and created a unique experience. The central hall here connects to this rich tradition with curved geometries and changing views to the sky. The house was extended to form a new corner subtly resonating with the existing house through its proportions, lintel and corner details and buff stock brick.
The new stable yard was formed by the addition of the new coach house, a building designed to be a subtle addition to the composition, borrowing its materials, proportions, and scale from the existing stable. The loft rooms in the coach house conclude a spatial sequence from the green tunnel of the road to the vegetal laced masonry of the courtyard, through the red stable door to the grand window looking across the mill creek at one’s feet to the grand Georgian manor in the neighbouring field - looking back while looking forwards.
The project involved the collaboration on interior design with ASCA Studio and Relief Gallery and gardens with Edward Shackleton landscape architect.
