When the first detailed six-inch maps of Ireland were produced in 1842, the house at Baltydaniel was marked as 'Pencil Hill', a name that sits oddly against the composed Georgian architecture of the building itself, and which has largely slipped from common use since.

The house was built in 1786, according to local historian J. Coleman Grove White, whose multi-volume study of Cork properties, published between 1905 and 1925, remains a useful source for houses of this period. The entrance front faces south-west and is five bays wide, with a single-bay central breakfront projecting slightly from the main facade. This kind of gentle emphasis on the centre was a standard gesture in Georgian domestic design, drawing the eye to the front door without any theatrical effect. That door is round-headed, with a fanlight above and narrow sidelights on either side, all details characteristic of the late Georgian manner. The roof is hipped, meaning it slopes on all four sides rather than finishing in gable ends, and two substantial chimneys sit off-centre on its ridge. Dormer windows suggest usable space in the roof space itself. To the rear, the house has acquired two further two-storey extensions, both hipped to match the main block. A cobbled yard behind is surrounded by farm buildings, one of which, on the north-west range, carries a bellcote, a small ornamental structure designed to hold a bell, here most likely used to signal meal times or the working hours of the farm.