Barrington Tower in Carrickmines comes with 8.3 acres of prime Dublin 18 land zoned residential, writes Orna Mulcahy, Property Editor.
Barrington Tower, a 1950s house built onto a 19th century tower in Carrickmines, Dublin 18 has proved a sound investment for its owners who have lived there since 1979.
They bought the unusual Georgian-style house because it came with lots of open space for their family and a field or two for a pony. Now that open space - 8.3 acres in total - is a prime development site.
Tom Day of Lisney is guiding €15 million-plus prior to auction on June 29th - but given that every small and medium-sized builder in the city will be interested in such an attractive parcel of land, it will be no surprise if it makes closer to €25 million.
Located on Brennanstown Road, between Foxrock and Cabinteely villages, the property is zoned residential, with potential for a major housing development. Although the immediate area is mainly low density development - it's located next door to Brennanstown Vale where large houses stand on sites of up to an acre each - there is obviously scope to provide a high level of housing given the plans to extend the Luas line to Cherrywood. The site is within 100 meters of the Brennanstown Luas site.
Housebuilders have been paying top prices for well located sites and Barrington Tower is larger and better located than most that have come on the market this year. The fact that the house dates mainly from the 1950s may well allow the new buyer to demolish it and embark on a full scale development of apartments and houses on the land.
Barrington Tower itself dates from the 1830s and was built as a viewing point from which to enjoy the land. It take its name from the Barrington family whose remains are buried in the Quaker graveyard that adjoins the property. The tower still looks out over a surprisingly rural landscape with views of Carrickmines Valley and the Leadmines chimney. The curving two-storey house was added in the 1950s by the Maguire family, who owned the Brown Thomas department store. The interior of the house was finished to a high standard with pilasters and carvings salvaged from a Georgian house in Co Louth, while the current owners added a particularly fine Adam-style fireplace in the drawingroom.
Entrance to the house is through the three-storey tower, which provides an elegantly furnished vestibule that has steps leading down to the main hallway with its chequered terrazzo floor and curved oak staircase. Off the hallway, a corridor with an original maple floor leads to the formal reception rooms, a pretty drawingroom with double doors leading to a diningroom. Both rooms have tall windows looking across the front lawn.
Beyond the diningroom is the kitchen which has been refitted in the last couple of years, but still has its hardy white Aga. Leading off the kitchen is a series of useful store rooms and, at the end of the house, is a comfortable family room.
The first floor has a similar layout with big airy bedrooms leading off a curving corridor that also has lots of built-in cupboards. These date from the days when the Maguires used the house as an outpost for Brown Thomas, holding fashion shows in the house and storing clothes there. The old tower has a bedroom and a top room with access to the flat roof of the house. There are stunning views from here across to Dublin Bay on one side and towards the mountains.
