Two unique brick houses from the early 1880s can be found in Monasterevin, Co. Kildare. Both were designed by William I. Chambers, an English-born architect who came to Ireland in 1879. This period was an interesting one in the use of brick in Ireland with ‘new’ factory or machine-made Irish brick making its first appearance.
The library is an excellent example of a modern building where brick is used in a contemporary and practical way. The building is a three-storey cultural and administrative centre built for Cavan County Council, housing the county library headquarters, central library, county archive and arts office.
This large institutional building, ‘The School of the Twin Sisters’, is named after Bridget O’Brien, who died in 1876 leaving a fund in her will for the founding and supporting of a house and school for educating poor and destitute children.