Lying close to the west bank of the River Foyle, a fort was constructed on the site during the English Civil War.

There are two current proposals to renovate the house; one as part of a recreational park described as being in the style of the Eden Project, and one as a community hub for outdoor activities.

The land, which is underlain with schistose grits and pelitic schists of the Upper Dalradian Londonderry Formation, slopes gradually towards the river.

[2] The site came into the ownership of the Catholic Abbey of Derry but as part of the Plantation of Ulster was granted to The Honourable The Irish Society.

In 1887 a gardener found a 17th-century sword and gun buried beneath an apple tree on the estate that apparently relate to action at the boom.

[8] Priestly died in 1777 and it is possible that the builder made alterations to his plans during construction as the interior rooms are unusual for their varied sizes.

The porch, reached by a flight of steps, is a later addition and the original entrance may have been on the south-eastern face where there is a full height canted bay and a stone pediment survives over the central ground-floor window.

[10] The walls of the hall are formed of schist rubble, faced with cut sandstone, with the basement being constructed of vaulted brick-work.

[1] A tree-lined drive led from the Culmore Road to the hall, with a second avenue forming a circuit around landscaped parkland.

A belt of trees delineated the south-western edge of the estate and a cinder path led from the hall to the river.

A gate on the Culmore Road, that survives to the present, was probably a second access point added by the Alexanders in the 1830s-1850s as part of a one-way system through the estate to reduce congestion during large gatherings at the house.

[9][11] The 3rd Earl of Caledon sold a leasehold on the property to Daniel Baird in 1849, and a family history states this was to finance the purchase of slums in the city and their replacement by new houses.

[7] Sir John Barr Johnston, a Mayor of Derry, was a tenant in 1903, and James Corscaden, a ship owner, also lived there for a period.

[1] The property lay abandoned until 1997 when it was purchased from the McDevitt family by Derry City Council, though the demolition rights are owned by another party.

[8][7] In recent times the property has continued to decline and is now fenced off, the surviving gate and boundary walls are derelict and encroached by housing.

[3] An archaeological excavation was carried out in 2013 but it found that much evidence of the 17th-century military activity on the site was probably lost during the 18th-century landscaping works, Second World War development and the construction of Foyle Bridge.

The current owners, Derry City and Strabane District Council, estimate that it would cost £7-800,000 to structurally stabilise the hall, stables and walled garden.