Rothe House & Garden is situated right opposite to the Smithwick's Experience on Parliament Street, Kilkenny.  You take just 10 minutes’ walk from Killkenny Castle.

Rothe House was built on burgage plot between 1594 and 1610, in the English Renaissance style.  Rothe House is an example of a house owned by Kilkenny's merchant class, John Rothe Fitz Piers, his wife Rose Archer, and their eleven children. After John’s death in 1620, his son Peter took over the business and followed in his political footsteps. 

The museum at Rothe House contains a number of archaeological and historical artefacts, most of which were found locally or donated by citizens of Kilkenny to the Kilkenny Archaeological Society.

The garden to the rear of the house has been reconstructed to reflect a typical 17th-century garden. The burgage plot on which Rothe House was built survives intact – one of a few in such an unaltered state. Kilkenny's medieval city wall forms part of the curtilage of the Rothe House complex.