Skiddy's Almshouse, Cork

Skiddy's Almshouse is an important historical landmark in the city of Cork. It was built in 1718 and completed in 1719, making it the oldest inhabited building in the city. The building was constructed using a bequest from Stephen Skiddy, a wealthy Cork-born wine merchant who left funds for the establishment of an almshouse in his will of 1584. The almshouse was intended to benefit the city's poor, regardless of their religion.

The first almshouse built using Skiddy's bequest was located near North Gate Bridge. However, it was quickly replaced by the current building by the end of 1718 due to complaints about poor ventilation and narrow spaces. The new almshouse was built on a corner of the medieval Saint Mary's Churchyard and was part of a campus that included the Green Coat Hospital and School. The other buildings on the campus were demolished in the 1950s, leaving Skiddy's Almshouse as one of the few surviving institutional buildings from the eighteenth century in Cork.

The almshouse was funded not only by Stephen Skiddy's bequest but also by a bequest from Roger Bettridge, who included it in his will in 1717. The almshouse is an L-shaped building with a stone arcade enclosed by a ten-foot wall with a large iron gate. It has undergone two restorations, one completed in 1975 by architect Frank Murphy and the other completed in 2005. The first restoration was undertaken by the Cork Preservation Society, which had saved the building from demolition in the 1960s. Murphy's restoration won him an RIAI Europa Nostra award, and the second restoration was completed after the CPS sold the building to the Social Housing Development Company in 2000.