Boomerang bungalow on Foxrock’s Brighton Road is back for €1.75m

The dismantling of a Foxrock site once owned by property developer David Agar continues with the arrival on the market of St Benedict's, a vast dormer bungalow on Brighton Road, now for sale seeking €1.75 million through Lisney.

In 2005, it and two neighbouring homes made headlines when they sold in a single lot for €22 million. The houses weren’t the point – their collective gardens made up a plum 2.35-acre site with development potential in the sought-after south Dublin neighbourhood. One of the houses, Fairholme, was sold on, with a reduced garden, for about €4.2 million, and Agar moved into St Benedict’s, renaming it Damson Lodge, while working on plans for developing the rear gardens. Plans changed and by early 2017 a receiver put Damson Lodge and the other house, named Craughwell, on the market.

Richmond Homes bought the lot – as well as the development site to the rear – and is now quickly selling on Damson Lodge – again called St Benedict’s. For a time it was Agar’s own family home and he renovated and extended the once modest mid-century house before moving in, creating a high-spec, luxurious 280sq m (3,014 sq ft) property.

With its painted timber cladding to the front and extensive raised deck to the rear, it’s an attractive looking and substantial dormer bungalow.

Inside there are five bedrooms – three upstairs and two with en suites downstairs, as well as bright living quarters and a great sense of space.

Having been a rental for some time it has, in the last month, been repainted and furnished for the sale and it is looking its best, with calm colours on the walls setting off the wide plank flooring and new carpets.

The country-style kitchen, with its cream-coloured Aga and painted timber units and breakfast area, opens on to the rear terrace. Unusually, there’s a boot room as well as a pantry and utility room.

To the front, St Benedict’s is set back from the road, with great privacy allowed by its long front garden and tall walls. At the rear, also gleaming with a fresh coat of paint, is the new garden wall – and what ends up being built by Richmond Homes on the site on the other side of that wall will be of keen interest to prospective buyers viewing St Benedict’s.

In 2015 Agar applied for planning for six large homes on that site; Richmond Homes has more ambitious plans for apartments and houses.