That impression is not entirely fanciful. The building, known today as the Dean's House after its later use as a parochial residence, is considered a rare surviving example of early eighteenth-century Dutch domestic architecture on Irish soil, complete with a handsome eaves cornice and interior panelling in Memel pinewood, the fine-grained Baltic timber prized by joiners and cabinet-makers of the period.

The house was built sometime between 1706 and 1715 for the Uniacke family, a prominent Cork dynasty, by a Dutch builder recorded as Lewventhen. That much has been passed down through the architectural literature, though scholars have noted that the precise origin of the attribution is now obscure, meaning the documentary trail that might once have confirmed it has been lost or has yet to be recovered. What the building itself provides is more durable evidence: the brick construction alone sets it apart from the rubble-stone and lime-render vernacular typical of Irish towns of the same era, and the interior woodwork remains contemporary with the original build. The Memel pine panelling in particular, imported from the forests of what is now Lithuania, speaks to the mercantile reach of early Georgian Ireland and to the taste of whoever commissioned the work.