An appeal has been launched to preserve the Limerick home of Kate O'Brien, one of Ireland's best-known female author's which is for sale for over €1 million.
Boru House, a Victorian building on Mulgrave Street, is not on the list of Limerick City Council's protected structures.
The director of Limerick Civic Trust, Mr Denis Leonard, told The Irish Times: "We feel it should be preserved for its social history and from an architectural viewpoint.
"It would be a great shame if it was knocked.
"I'm surprised that the 124-year-old house is not a listed building."
He suggested that it should be made into a museum to the writer, with exhibits of her life and times, and he pointed out that given the city council's limited finances, funding would have to come from the private sector.
The Kate O'Brien weekend, now it its 20th year, was held at the end of February. One of the organisers said: "It's a very good site from a developer's viewpoint and the house could be demolished and there would be nothing to stop them from doing it."
The writer died in 1974 aged 77. Critics regarded her last novel That Lady as her best.
She also wrote Without My Cloak, The Ante-Room, The Land of Spices, which was banned, and a play titled Distinguished Villa.