A property company owned by clients of Davy stockbrokers has objected to a proposal to put the landmark Gables restaurant building in Foxrock village, south Dublin, on the list of protected structures.
The objection was lodged to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council in response to its draft development plan by Dot Opportunity Nominees 3.
The company owns the building at Westminster Court and Torquay Road, which is near Leopardstown racecourse and is well-known locally. "The only substantive elements of architectural and artistic merit are on the exterior of the building," it said in a submission on the council's 2022-2028 draft development plan.
A protected structure designation aims to preserve all parts of a structure because it meets a category of special architectural or historical interest or meets other special interests.
Companies Office filings show that Dot Opportunity Nominees 3 has its registered office at Davy House in Dublin. The submission is one of 1,245 to the council on its plan.
“At a time when both commercial landlords and businesses (especially food business) is suffering significantly from the huge burden and loss of trade imposed by Covid-19 lockdowns imposing burdens such a protection as proposed, places added burdens, costs and delays which due to the items outlined above we consider is not equitable,” it said.
A separate submission by the estate of the late Nora Tallon, wife of the late architect Ronnie Tallon, asked for clarification on the proposed addition on the protected list of the flat-roofed Tallon House. The house, built in 1970, is on a wooded site at Torquay Road adjoining Foxrock golf club.
The estate sought confirmation that neither the Gate Lodge nor the Potting Shed on the wider property formed part of the proposed addition to the protected structures record. It also sought confirmation that there were no restrictions on Tallon House and the Gate Lodge being sold as two separate entities at any time in the future.
Another submission, by a company called Homeland Estates B, challenged the inclusion on the protected strucutres list of Árd na Glaise, a dwelling at Stillorgan Park. The company is a subsidiary of Homeland Group, whose directors are Neil Collins, Christopher Fiegen and Colm Crossan.
The council refused planning permission to build 63 residential units on the Árd na Glaise site in 2019 and again in 2020, according to the submission.
“This submission clearly demonstrates that there is no architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical reason why the property should be included on the council’s [record of protected structures]\,” said Homeland Estates B.
