€14m for home on Shrewsbury

BUSINESSMAN Niall O’Farrell, who owns the Black Tie chain of dress hire shops, has put his Ballsbridge home on the market at €14 million.

he seven-bedroom house on Shrewsbury Road is next door to the home of property developer Sean Dunne. Both houses are less than a decade old but were built in the grandiose style of their Victorian and Edwardian neighbourhood.

Thorndene, Mr O’Farrell’s property, is a four-storey house with 863sq m (9,290sq ft) of living space including a 50ft basement swimming pool and a cinema.

It’s set on just under half an acre of garden, a relatively small site for the road, where many of the 22 houses have an acre or more of grounds.

Features include a grand staircase modelled on that of Powerscourt townhouse in Dublin, elaborate plasterwork and maple and oak floors running throughout two grand reception rooms.

A vast kitchen floored in travertine marble opens through to a sittingroom, while one of the largest rooms in the house is a study with an antique timber floor shipped from Provençe and an elaborately plastered ceiling. Six of the seven bedrooms have en suite bathrooms while the entire basement area is given over to pool, Jacuzzi and cinema.

Coincidentally, the College of Pharmacy, on the other side of Thorndene, is also for sale, through Colliers Jackson Stops, asking €25 million.