"Coolririe" is being laid to dust.  The shell of one of Armidale's earliest homes on the corner of Mann Street and the New England Highway, is being demolished to make way for a modern 17 square "Alluna" motel block.

For more than 100 years the stately building had been the home of Armidale families with such well-known names as the McArthurs, Webbs, Everetts and Humphreys.

Armidialians lived in the dignified, stately home.  Students from UNE knew it as home away from home for 10 years, after the University bought it in 1956 as a town hostel.

Mrs E Mulligan lived there form 1916, when her father, Mr A H McArthur, bought it, to 1939 when it was sold at his death.

There were five hallways, five bedrooms, three living rooms, a sitting room, a smoke room, a dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, pantry room.  Under another roof were three stables, two garages, one feed shed and one shed.

Deodars, a row of pine trees on the western boundary, cypress tress were a feature of the home.  A well-kept English garden with roses, ivy, delphiniums, and lilac apparelled the grounds in glorious colour during spring and summer.

"Alluna" proprietor, Mr R Sattler, bought the site from the UNE two years ago, and sold the building to Mr David Allingham for removal.

Nine and thirteen and a half inch walls were made from the "old" hard Armidale bricks, and some hand-made ones.  Ceiling beams "which are still in good condition".