Two side-by-side developments, each offering four-bedroom semi-detached houses, are being launched today at Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Agents Douglas Newman Good and Sherry FitzGerald are handling sales in this new scheme, which is a continuation of the successful Castlefield development being built by two separate Lynam companies.
Prices start at £150,000 and rise to £158,000 for houses on larger sites with garages. The first 58 houses being released today will be ready for occupation by September next and the entire scheme of 300 houses is expected to be completed by the end of next year, according to the agents.
The now matured Castlefield development backs on to a new site known as Charnwood although there are separate entrances. However, as the houses are similar in design, show-houses for the new development are on the Castlefield estate.
Clonsilla is still very much a village on the outskirts of Dublin, with old cottages and farmland giving the area a country atmosphere.
Charnwood is built on lands belonging to a former stud farm and is situated on Shelerin Road, off the road to Clonee. The Arrow train service to the city stops at the quaint Clonsilla station and there is also a quality bus corridor to town which takes about 30 minutes outside of rushhour. The Lynam family have a long pedigree of house building in the Dublin area. Apart from Castlefields, they have built Roselawn, Delwood and Lambourne in Castleknock.
Because this scheme has been constructed by different branches of the Lynam family, there are two separate but co-ordinating house styles. This has produced a pleasing assortment of frontages with none of the sameness of many new estates.
Co-ordinating features of both designs include an unusual arched window in the smallest front bedroom, full brick facades to the front and extensive use of leaded stained glass in interior doors. The houses are given a spacious feel with the use of double doors to sittingrooms and an extra-wide hallway and landing.
The houses being sold by Douglas Newman Good and built by Lynam Homes are of rustic redbrick to the front with porched entrances. The Ashwood is the smallest at 1,240 sq ft and is priced at £150,000. This has a leaded glass front door which gives good light to the inner hall. There is a guest cloakroom.
The sittingroom has an attractive wood and cast-iron fireplace (the fireplace allowance will cover the showroom model) and a box bay window. Double glass doors to this room are useful for entertaining. Connecting doors lead to a smaller diningroom with glass doors to the garden. The kitchen is good-sized, with a breakfast area and a range of pine units with extras such as a wine rack and a pretty carved cooker hood. As in all the Charnwood houses, there is a plumbed utility room with cupboards off the kitchen.
All the bedrooms - two doubles and two singles upstairs - have fitted wardrobes and the main room has a particularly splendid range of cupboards with built-in bedside shelving. This room is en suite. The children's bedroom has an unusual curved window looking out to the front.
The Oakwood is a larger four-bed semi of 1,340 sq ft and costs £163,000. This house has a guest cloakroom, a wider sittingroom and separate diningroom at the back of the house which could be turned into a study or family room. The kitchen has oak units and a large breakfast area which might serve as an informal diningroom. The utility is off this. There is a useful broom cupboard off the hall - an essential rarely found in houses of this size - and there is also a guest cloakroom.
Three of the four bedrooms are doubles and one is a small single. All have fitted wardrobes. The smallest room has the signature curved window and the main room is en suite. A large family bathroom is also off the landing.
Gardens are adequate and these will be fenced at the rear and landscaped to the front.
The houses built by E.P. Lynam and selling through Sherry FitzGerald have a different interior layout and are of yellow brick to the front with decorative detail. These are all four-bedroom semis of 1,265 sq ft and prices go from £150,000 to £165,000 according to plot size and garage availability. There is just one design to chose from in this house-type. Front doors are of stained glass and the hallway is angled to provide space for both a hall table and telephone area. A guest cloakroom is off this. The "door and a half" to the sittingroom is of bevelled cut glass and this room is nicely proportioned and has a box bay window. An arch leads to the diningroom, with glass doors to the garden.
The kitchen in this house has oak units, a fitted utility room off and a dining area overlooking the garden which receives extra light from a Velux window in the sloping ceiling. Upstairs, there are two double and two single bedrooms all with fitted wardrobes and a curved window in the smallest room. The master main bedroom is en suite and the wardrobes here, as in all the houses, are particularly well-designed. The family bathroom is off the landing.
Again, gardens are landscaped to the front and fenced to the rear. Open spaces and the maple, beech and lime trees around the development add to the rural character.
