A lavishly refurbished and beautifully decorated house in Foxrock is a vivid reminder of the Celtic Tiger era. Waverley, a 698sq m (7,513sq ft) seven-bed on an acre of Diarmuid Gavin and Paul Doyle-designed gardens, has a dramatic double-height entrance hall with a sweeping curved staircase; a downstairs toilet with black-and-gold mosaic-tiled walls with a gold leaf ceiling; a cinema room; a timber gazebo in the garden with a ceiling studded with star-like LED lights; a gym; and a walnut-lined home office.
The owners bought the premises in the middle of the property boom in 2005 for €7.2 million, then set about completely revamping it: “We kept one or two things,” the owner says – for example, the double-height nine-panelled front window with a sandstone surround and the portico leading to the front door. But they changed much of the rest of the house, working with architectural firm Frank Ennis & Associates and designer Suzanne Roche.
Now Waverley, located on Westminster Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald and Christie’s International Real Estate for €8.45 million, making it one of the few high-priced homes for sale at the top end of the market. The redbrick property, designed to look like a stately period home, was built in 1999 and previously rented as an embassy residence. Now it is a completely modern home with a B1 Ber, triple-glazed windows, geothermal central heating and underfloor heating on the ground and first floors.
The wide, double-height entrance hall is dominated by a huge Barovier & Toso Murano glass chandelier and a ceiling with black glass panels (from Jonesborough Glass). According to the owner, the entrance hall was originally all black: “It was very dramatic but a bit glitzy – I wanted to tone it down.” Now it has cream walls – panelled, like most rooms in the house – with a pale oak floor and a large polished black limestone fireplace.
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Straight ahead is the kitchen/family room and on the left are the interconnecting diningroom and drawingroom, which run from the front to the back of the house. Both rooms have walnut floors, chandeliers and white marble fireplaces. There is a bay window in the diningroom at the front and French doors opening on to a small side terrace. A large bay window at the side of the drawingroom accommodates a desk and a grand piano; French doors open on to the back patio. The black-and-gold toilet is off the front hall on the right, beside a cosy cinema room with black-panelled walls, an oak floor painted black and a huge TV.
When it came to the kitchen/family room, the owner specifically wanted a wide, open-plan design so it would be easier for the couple to keep an eye on their five young children. From the kitchen entrance, you can see straight through to the back lawn. The wide Mark Wilkinson kitchen has pale cream cupboards, a long timber-topped island and a walnut floor. A wide arch marks the division between the kitchen and the family room, described in the agent’s brochure as a “Hamptons-style orangery”. A huge roof lantern, tall windows and French doors into the garden make it a bright space.
There is a good-sized dining area off the kitchen, next to another livingroom – this one is cosy and dark with grey walls. A utility room at the edge of the kitchen has a Belfast sink and cupboards, there is also another downstairs toilet and a side door leading outside.
The grand staircase with black banisters and a creamy carpet leads to a wide landing overlooking the front hall. Most of the bedrooms upstairs – five on the first floor, two on the second – are doubles, with tiled en suites and walk-in wardrobes.
Like all the rooms in the house, the bedrooms are in turnkey condition, all smartly decorated. The main bedroom has a wall of wardrobes, a walk-in wardrobe and an en suite with the same black-and-gold Bisazza mosaic tiles as the downstairs toilet, a free-standing Duravit bath, a separate shower and twin circular sinks. Double doors in the bedroom open on to a balcony looking over the back garden and beyond it, Foxrock golf club, on to which the property backs. It also gives a clear view of the 46sq m (500sq ft) well-equipped home gym in the building at the bottom of the garden.
There are two bedrooms off a wide landing on the top floor and a great view over the golf club from dormer windows. There is also a second laundry room with a washer, dryer and Belfast sink off the landing as well as a hot press.
The garden of Waverley was designed first by Diarmuid Gavin and later by Paul Doyle. It is tended to twice a week by a gardener. Four steps lead up from a wide back patio to the long green lawn at the centre of the garden, bordered by 13ft-high perfectly trimmed cylindrical hornbeam trees. But this is just part of the garden: a path bordered by tulips and shrubbery behind the hornbeams leads right around to the gym building at the lawn’s end and on to three separate areas behind yew hedges on the other side of the garden: one is a play area with artificial grass, another has a trampoline sunk safely into the ground.
And then there is the huge circular iron pergola designed by Gavin to look like a giant birdcage: there are four gates into the space which has a table at its centre. Garden lights and wisteria thread through the roof. “We served drinks from here for a 21st party recently,” says the owner. “Waverley is a great party house.” The timber gazebo with a pitched slate roof is another space that is popular with the family’s children: it has those LED rooflights, four wall-hung heaters and a gas-fired fire bowl.
The lawn at the front of the house, beside a long driveway, is described as “Teletubby-style” in the brochure – it is a series of undulating mounds. A detached 38sq m (410sq ft) building is an executive home office. It has walnut flooring and panelling and a large wooden desk, with lots of shelving, storage and a Eurocave wine cooler. It is tempting to call it a man cave. Waverley is one of three houses off a short lane off Westminster Road, nearly opposite Gordon Avenue.
