Known traditionally as both St. Brendan's House and the Priest's House, it sits within the broader Early Christian and medieval ecclesiastical complex at Kilmalkedar, overlooking Smerwick Harbour. Most ruins of this age offer only footings or gable stubs; this one preserves draw-bar sockets, pivot holes, corbels that once supported a timber floor, chamfered window dressings, and even the curved walls and flat-flagged roof of a garderobe, the small latrine chamber tucked into the north-east corner of the upper storey.

The building measures 11.7 by 7.15 metres externally and was divided soon after construction by the addition of an internal cross-wall, creating two chambers on each floor. The ground floor entrance in the south wall led directly into the western chamber, while the eastern chamber was reached through a centrally placed doorway in the dividing wall. On the first floor, a narrow ogee-headed window, just under a metre high, lit the western chamber from the gable; its chamfered jambs were rebated for a shutter rather than glazing. Wall-presses, essentially built-in stone cupboards, survive in the west gable and north wall, and beam holes are visible on both gables where the wooden floor joists once sat. A doorway at first-floor level in the south wall hints at the possible existence of a forebuilding, an external stair or porch structure that would have given access from outside without passing through the ground floor. The function of the building has never been conclusively established, though the arrangement of spaces, the garderobe, and the evident care given to internal fittings suggest a clerical residence associated with the parish church nearby. The Office of Public Works has carried out repairs and repointing of the stonework in recent years, which accounts in part for its unusually complete condition.