A 200-year-old house in Dun Laoghaire which was once the Turkish consulate is one of many period houses which have had their selling prices slashed, writes FRANCES O'ROURKE
THE VALUES of large period houses which soared during the property boom have unsurprisingly taken the biggest hit in the recession. Activity in the €1 million plus sector of the market has slowed considerably in the last 18 months, say agents who during the boom years might have sold several high priced homes in a week. Some houses have sold for over €1 million in the past year: in Dún Laoghaire, for example, Charles Broadhead of Lisney says that his agency sold “a reasonable number”, but in many cases, the prices achieved were “just creeping over the €1 million”.
And Sherry FitzGerald reports that its entire Dublin network has agreed sales on just 30 houses over €1 million so far this year.
Many sellers have had to slash their original prices, some by over 60 per cent, to achieve a sale. White Lodge, a 200-year-old semi-detached house tucked away at 10 Eglinton Park, a street of Georgians next to the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club course, was first put on the market in 2008 for €3.75 million. Now it’s for sale at €1.995 million, a 47 per cent cut, with Sherry FitzGerald.
Up to the 1980s, White Lodge was the home of the Turkish Consulate in Ireland: the consul, a Dún Laoghaire man, owned the house and its semi-detached neighbour Marylands, which he used as offices. It was later restored as two houses.
The current owner, who has lived there for over 20 years, is leaving because the 297sq m (3,200sq ft) house and well-tended, 0.6-acre garden is too much for one person to handle.
White Lodge and Marylands sit by themselves behind electronic entrance gates, with off-street parking for quite a few cars. It is a true Georgian house, built in 1804 and retains many original features.
Two good-sized but compact reception rooms open off the front hall. The drawingroom opens into a large sunroom with a mural painted on its wall by artist Norah McGuinness.
The diningroom opens into a kitchen-cum-sitting area and into a utility room off that. Both the reception rooms are decorated in period style, with sweeping swagged curtains and handsome furniture, some of which could be included in a sale.
The formal south-facing gardens are filled with mimosa and evergreens, a pear tree and cherry blossoms; a path leads to a secret garden with a pond and an overgrown gazebo.
There is a walled vegetable garden with a 30ft greenhouse. There is also a large double garage which could be converted and a separate studio which could be a granny flat or au pair’s room. Upstairs, a balcony off the main bedroom looks down onto the garden. There are four bedrooms upstairs, two of them en suite.
The house is in good condition, but does need work – for example, it needs a new gable wall and new owners may want to replace PVC windows.
Eglinton Park is a road parallel to Tivoli Road and this house stands between the HSE headquarters on Tivoli and the front entrance to the old golf club course, where developer Cosgrave is looking for permission to build up to 600 houses on the site. However, there will be no vehicular access to the site from Eglinton Park.
Meanwhile Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is providing space for the Bowls Club in Moran Park in Dún Laoghaire, which was to relocate to the former golf club.
White Lodge’s other half, Marylands,took advantage of the boom: withdrawn from auction in May 2002 at €900,000, it was sold a year later after a major makeover for around €1.5 million. Now White Lodge is taking its chances with a price cut in a recession.
