This multi-period dwelling served as the ancestral home of the Stewart family from 1700, when Captain Charles Stewart acquired the property, until Lindesay Stewart sold it in 1934. Since then, the house has remained unoccupied, quietly weathering the decades whilst retaining its distinctive character.

The structure reveals a fascinating architectural timeline; what visitors see today is actually a five-bay, two-storey Georgian house built directly onto the front of an earlier building, possibly dating from the late 17th or early 18th century. The original core consists of a two-storey central block with rectangular wings flanking either side, and careful observers can spot statue niches built into the east and west faces of these flankers. Architectural historian Bence-Jones described it as a plain 18th-century house featuring a central Wyatt window and a door with sidelights beneath a simple pediment, with rambling outbuildings attached via several archways.

Recent investigations have uncovered an impressive network of early 18th-century drainage channels beneath the ground east of the house. These stone-lined channels, measuring between 35 and 50 centimetres wide and standing five courses high at 83 centimetres, are capped with flagstone lintels; a sophisticated engineering solution for its time. Adding to the property’s charm, the northeast garden wall appears to contain a series of rectangular bee-boles, those traditional alcoves once used to shelter straw beehives. Now recognised as a Protected Structure by Donegal County Council, Horn Head House remains an intriguing example of how Irish country houses evolved over successive generations, each leaving their mark on the landscape.