Rathmichael: Anne Dempsey visits a new house with three towers, peaked red roofs and a €250,000 water feature in the back garden.
Asked by his large family to build a home to fantastical fairytale like design, the vendor of The Turrets, Rathmichael Haven, Rathmichael, Co Dublin has succeeded admirably in his brief.
With a very large frontage incorporating three tower bays with peaked red roofs and 815 sq m (8,772 sq ft) of accommodation, this is an unusual, luxurious and extremely spacious family home. It has never been lived in and little expense has been spared in its construction and fittings. Landscaping the garden alone, including creating a cascading water feature represents a €250,000 outlay.
HOK is guiding €3.5 million in a private treaty sale.
Rathmichael Haven is a private cul de sac of large detached homes off Ferndale Road, itself a quiet, leafy road winding behind Bray and Shankill and conveniently located to the soon-to-be- completed Southern Cross route. The Turrets - on an elevated site - commands views across Dublin Bay to Dalkey Island and Killiney Hill. House design and room orientation capitalises on this.
There are four reception rooms, six bedrooms and five bathrooms with the turret design helping to create a number of circular shaped rooms. The lounge, kitchen, master bedroom and bathrooms are exceptionally fine. A neutral colour scheme has been used throughout, complemented by floors in walnut and porcelain tile.
Inside the hall door, a 25-foot high turreted lobby stretches upwards providing potential for a spectacular light fitting. The hall - floored in black and white tile - opens on either side of a free-standing staircase with living accommodation to the left and a bedroom corridor to the right.
The lounge spans a section of the house from east to west which is comprehensively lit by many windows and double folding patio doors. A circular granite stone tower fireplace in the centre of the room provides heart and hearth. Seating can be around the fire, with space available to create several more sociable and quiet areas within the room. Stairs lead from the lounge to one of two mezzanine galleries.
A large entertainment room at the rear of the house has walnut flooring, extensive windows and glazed doors opening to timber decking and spot-lit water feature. An attractive circular diningroom has six windows in a semicircle and tiled floor in a pattern of soft reds. A family/TV room is floored in oak.
The huge kitchen / breakfastroom has a marble tiled floor, a Belling electric range, Belfast sink and custom-made units in beech which have many special features including pull out larders and spice rack, island unit with underneath fruit and vegetable baskets.
There is a utility room off the kitchen and a secondary staircase from the kitchen climbs to a first floor guest suite.
The bedroom corridor off the hall has five good-sized bedrooms, including a circular bedroom, all with walnut finished wardrobes and drawer units. Two large, splendid family bathrooms gleam with polished marble.
The main staircase leads upstairs to the master suite. This bedroom/sittingroom suite has sloping ceilings and a lovely atmosphere of privacy.
Contained within the suite is a dressingroom with wardrobes and open shelving, an en suite bathroom with bath, and shower with ultra modern snail design. A third room, circular in shape, has a sunken Jacuzzi bath.
The first floor guest wing comprises a circular bedroom, wardrobe lobby and a wonderful bathroom with polished marble tiles, double Jacuzzi bath in the middle of the room, stylishly minimalist wash-hand basin and snail design shower with bottle glass feature wall.
Finally, two first floor mezzanine galleries look down on the entertainment room and lounge respectively, the lounge gallery designed as a music/hi fi room.
The property is reached through electronic gates via a climbing gravelled drive bound on either side by a low stone wall. There is extensive parking to the front of the house.
The rear has timber decking leading to a lawn area, a landscaped Italian garden with cypress trees, hedging and statutory and nearby an elaborate stone water feature which cascades in a series of gradations making a fine show.
