[3] A large house was originally constructed on the site around 1660 for Robert Booth, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, which was rated at that time for eleven hearths.

Bowes is detailed as hosting the Lord Lieutenant, George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, at the house in the spring of 1762, and resided there until his death in July 1767.

At that point, nearby Drumcondra House was no longer in use as the primary Coghill residence and was ultimately sold on for use by the Roman Catholic diocese from around 1842 onwards.

It was then acquired by Cardinal Paul Cullen in 1875 for the purposes of housing St Patrick's College.

After that point it was occupied for a period by William Walsh, Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin and works are recorded as carried out on the house at this time by architect John Loftus Robinson between 1884 and 1894.