The house was built sometime in the late 1700s by Thomas Bealer, a miller with extensive property in the area. (There is a Beale's Lane and a Beale's Hill not far from here.
He sold in 1804, to David Howe, "A certain field wherein Thomas Beale hath erected a dwelling house and other valuable improvements situate in the North Liberties of the city of Cork". Howe was a master cooper connected with the famous Cork Butter Market, then the largest in the world. The house was sold for £341.50 plus £34.26 a year ground rent which is still being paid to his heirs. During his tenure Cork was at a peak of prosperity. It was at this time that the mansions were built along this hill, making Montenotte the most sought after address in Cork.


Current Owners, John & Margaret Carmody

The next occupant we can be sure of is in 1871 when Charles Joseph Cantillon, Mayor of Cork and first chairman of the Gresham Hotel Limited lived here. The house was substantially remodeled in the time of Mr. Cantillon when an extra wing and a ballroom (now the dining room) were added. He was succeeded by Sir Daniel and Lady Ellen O' Sullivan. Their children, born at Arbutus Lodge, included Charles, later Major O' Sullivan, father of Maureen O'Sullivan, the actress and grandfather of Mia Farrow. The house was sold by the O'Sullivans around 1900 to Mr. Dwyer, followed by a medical family, the Kearneys. It was then purchased from them in 1961 by Mr. Sean Ryan who converted it into a hotel. The Ryan family sold the hotel in September of 1999 to the Carmody family. Today the Arbutus Lodge continues to be run as a very personal hotel, under the new ownership of John and Margaret Carmody.