Old and new country homes by the water for €800,000: Two waterside properties, one near the Shannon and the other on Lough Ree, have come on stream, writes EMMA CULLINAN

SOME OF Ireland’s finest riverside buildings – Custom House and the Four Courts – were designed by architect James Gandon, who worked in a classical, Palladian style in the late 1700s. He also designed grand houses, such as Emo Court in Co Laois and, as local word has it, the more modest Abbey House at Killaloe, Co Clare. This also sits beside water: on a 19th-century canal that flows parallel to the river Shannon.

Abbey House was built in 1770, when Gandon would have been about 27, but he was, at that time, apprentice to the architect William Chambers who designed the Casino at Marino as well as working on castles across Ireland and buildings in Trinity.

And Abbey House, which is for sale through joint agents Knight Frank and Harry Brann Auctioneers for €800,000, has essentially been built in the round. Its square formation (with bits jutting out, such as a 1930s porch) emulates the Casino, which was influenced by Italian architect Andrea Palladio’s Villa Rotunda.

The current owners of Abbey House – so-called because it sits beside the 13th-century St Flannan’s Cathedral – restored it when they moved in, in 1987, keeping original features such as decorative plasterwork, shutters, doors, ham-hanging hooks in the kitchen, and sash windows throughout, including some which still contain original, undulating, hand-blown glass.

There are also three period fireplaces in the copious living space on the ground floor. There is a 19th-century white marble one in the drawing room, which opens through French doors onto the garden. Another white marble fireplace adorns the sitting room, while the dining room has an 18th-century fire surround made of black Kilkenny “marble”. The kitchen has a terracotta floor and painted oak units, while the cosy breakfast room has a wood-burning stove (with back-boiler).

Upstairs are five/six bedrooms, two with en-suites, each which features a dressing-room and walk-in wardrobe. Three of the bedrooms have fireplaces and one has a ladder up to a study area.

The 382 sq m (4,120 sq ft) house was built to accommodate Church of Ireland deans: the first one to inhabit Abbey house being Joseph Deane Bourke, Archbishop of Tuam and the third Earl of Mayo.

It sits in just over three acres of land, with outbuildings, including a potting shed. The house is surrounded by an inner walled garden on about two-thirds of an acre, with plants including a 120-year-old monkey puzzle tree, and an orchard with two Victorian glasshouses (one with a grapevine). The garden has access to the canal.

The much newer Lakeside House at Barrymore, Athlone, Co Westmeath, up the Shannon to the north, sits on Lough Ree, and is surrounded by wooded land.

The house, which is for sale at €800,000 through Finnegan Menton, was built in 2002 by the current owners to a high spec in a period style. It first went on the market in the heady days of 2007 for €3 million and got an offer of €2.4 million, which fell through.

There is a grand entrance hall with a curved staircase, from which double doors lead to a drawing room with a marble fireplace and French doors onto a deck. There are tiled patios on three sides of the house, and the living room also has double doors to the outside, as does the octagonal sun room with domed ceiling. The kitchen at this level – filled with modern appliances along with a Stanley range – has doors to the exterior too. Also on the ground floor is a sitting room/bedroom with built-in wardrobes.

While the natural waterways flow past the door, aqua entertainment has been incorporated into the build in the form of a sauna beside a games room and a changing area that opens onto a deck with a hot tub. The main bathroom on the first floor has a Jacuzzi bath.

There are five bedrooms on the first floor with the main one overlooking the lake. This comes with an en-suite and dressing area. Each of the other four bedrooms has an en-suite too.

The bird-haven garden, planted with flowering shrubs and evergreen and deciduous trees, runs right down to the water, where there is a private pier and landing stage.

Lakeside House, Barrymore, Athlone, Co Westmeath Built in 2002, with main bedroom overlooking Lough Ree and its own private pier Agent: Finnegan Menton

Abbey House, Killaloe, Co Clare Built in 1770 by architect James Gandon, beside the 13th-century St Flannan’s Cathedral Agent: Knight Frank and Harry Brann auctioneers