Churchtown House sold for €700,000 in 1997, for €10.5m in 2006 – now a receiver is seeking €3m, writes EDEL MORGAN

IF EVER there was a house that has been affected by the boom and bust of the property market, it’s Churchtown House in Weston Park, Dublin 14. The Georgian house, built in the 1780s, was last sold in 2006 at the peak of the market for over €10.5 million to a buyer who ran a holistic healing centre there, says selling agent Knight Frank.

The six-bedroom house – once the Dutch embassy residence – on an acre has been unoccupied for two years and is now being sold by receiver Horwath Bastow Charleton for €3 million.

This will be the fourth time it’s been on the market in 13 years. In 1997 when it had two acres attached it sold at auction for £700,000 – £200,000 over the guide price.

It sold again in 1999 for £1.5 million and later eight three-bedroom townhouses were built on an acre of its grounds, separated from the main house by a high wall. It exceeded price expectations again when it went to auction in autumn 2006, making €500,000 over the AMV of €10 million

This time around the house has the look of a receiver sale: the rooms are elegant but empty of furniture and its indoor swimming pool is covered over. Approached via a sweeping gravel drive off Weston Road, Churchtown House can also be reached from a rear entrance off Sweetmount Avenue. The gardens, which are being looked after by the receiver, include tended lawns, a lily pond, a formal secret garden, and parking for up to 10 cars .

The 850sq m (9,148sq ft) house has two reception rooms designed for entertaining on a grand scale. They have 14ft-high ceilings and ornate plasterwork.

The house was refurbished a few years ago and retains many of its period features including Adams fireplaces, sash windows, shutters and coving.

Among the more modern additions are a cocktail bar off the diningroom, a 1,000-plus bottle wine cellar accessed through a hidden door in the hall, a conservatory with an exposed brick wall and a pool house at the rear with a 12m pool, eight-person Jacuzzi, and a steam room. Other rooms include a games room, a utility room with a flagstone floor and an office with a vaulted ceiling

The house also has a private livingroom, a pantry and a big, country-style kitchen with a five-door Aga, a bay window seat, a breakfastroom, a stable door to the back yard and a door to the pool area.

Upstairs in the main bedroom there’s a dressingroom and an en suite with a sunken Jacuzzi bath, and sauna. There are two further bathrooms and another bedroom is en suite. Outside there’s a plethora of buildings including a garage, machinery storeroom, workshop and a garden shed.

Churchtown House, Weston Park, Dublin 14

Georgian six-bed on an acre has original period features, good gardens, a wine cellar and a swimming pool.

Agent: Knight Frank