A classical Georgian home owned by Sir Anthony O’Reilly at 2 Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin 2 has been sold at a private auction for €3.2 million – €900,000 more than the original guide price. The new owner is a Dublin-based businessman.
Similar houses were valued at around €6 million before the property crash. Another four-storey over-basement Georgian house in office use at 33 Fitzwilliam Place was sold in 2006 for €5.5 million.
Low-key campaign
An estate agency acting for Sir Anthony, Paddy Jordan of Jordan Town & Country, originally ran a low-key campaign to offload the house, placing a small advertisement in The Irish Times. It said: "For Sale. Private Residence on Fitzwilliam Square. Immaculate Condition. With Mews. Email:property 3046 @gmail.com."
A number of interested parties approached the selling agent after they became aware of the sale through a news article in The Irish Times.
Mr Jordan then invited three parties, including property developer Michael Roden, to a private auction in the Conrad Hotel last Monday. The bidding opened at €2.5 million and rose in bids of €100,000 until the property was knocked down to Billy O’Sullivan of agents McNally Handy, who acted for the purchaser. Contacted yesterday, Mr O’Sullivan said he had “no comment”to make.
One viewer who visited the 6,500sq ft house said it was in “immaculate condition” with three bedroom suites on the upper floors, a drawingroom and diningroom on the ground floor and a further diningroom and kitchen at basement level.
Property owners on the square also have access to the private gardens in Fitzwilliam Square.
Sir Anthony bought the building as a Dublin home and private office in 1996 for a reported €1.27 million.
The one-time billionaire and former chief executive of Independent News & Media is also attempting to sell Shorecliff, his six-acre holiday home in Glandore, Co Cork, for a figure believed to be around €2 million.
The sale comes after AIB initiated legal proceedings to call in a €4 million loan.
