 Hartwell "et al" comment that it was one of Shaw's major works, and one of the first of his to be destroyed.However de Figueiredo and Treuherz comment that the house showed Shaw "at his most grim and stark", and that it was a "dark, forbidding house".It was not liked by other members of the family, Ismay's wife commenting that "the house had served its purpose in keeping [her husband] amused for fifteen years".