Latest news with #Rathgar
News.com.au
06-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Inside $9m Brighton mansion with cinema and spa
A limestone-wrapped veranda, a Canary Island date palm and a home cinema better than Gold Class, this Brighton showpiece is anything but ordinary. The five-bedroom estate at 24 Tennyson St, known as Rathgar, has sold for around $9.1m, according to industry sources, marking one of Brighton's biggest residential transactions of the year. Dating back to the 1880s, the original Victorian-era home has been meticulously renovated under the direction of designer Stephen Akehurst, with a transformation that preserved its ornate charm while introducing modern resort-style living and luxe functionality. Melb designer home set to amaze buyers Instead of opting for a knockdown-rebuild, the sellers retained and restored the double-fronted brick residence. They expanded it into a grand family domain with a 14-metre solar and gas-heated pool, 12-person spa, home gym, wine cellar, mudroom, and custom-built theatre that Nick Johnstone Real Estate Brighton director Nick Johnstone said had a 'wow' factor buyers couldn't ignore. 'It was a beautifully renovated period home and it had that timeless quality people really love,' Mr Johnstone said. 'Buyers were taken by the open fireplace, the mudroom, the cinema, it just had that 'wow' factor.' Set behind automated gates on nearly 1272sq m of blue-chip land, Rathgar opens with manicured gardens and a curved veranda trimmed in iron lacework, details that made a striking first impression to buyers. Mr Johnstone said some prestige buyers were drawn to ultra-modern homes, and others loved the solidity of older ones. 'This home had the appeal of both. When people walked through the gates, it really took their breath away,' he said. Inside, the home is appointed with resurfaced blackbutt floors, pure wool loop pile carpets, and classic finishes including marble fireplaces, silk drapery, and French crystal chandeliers. The rear of the home features an open-plan living space centred around a hand-laid stone fireplace, adjoining a marble kitchen fitted with custom joinery, a Paul Bocuse Rosieres freestanding cooker, and Liebherr appliances. French doors lead out to a limestone and bluestone paved terrace with a built-in barbecue, stepping onto a lush lawn framed by privacy hedges, a glass-fenced pool, and resort-style entertaining zones. The Nick Johnstone Real Estate Brighton director said the home had a great deal of character. 'It had a bit of a ski chalet feel in parts, especially that mudroom,' Mr Johnstone said. 'And it's in such a sensational position, near the Were St shops, near the beach, and finished to a standard that's very hard to find.' Upstairs, the three secondary bedrooms each include built-in robes, study nooks, and custom daybeds, with one offering a view to the Melbourne CBD skyline. The main suite sits at the front of the home with a marble ensuite, walk-in robe, and views to the landscaped gardens. Additional features include a second upstairs retreat, double garage with workshop, home gym/studio with separate entry, a 90,000 litre underground water tank, hydronic heating, central airconditioning, a drying cabinet, and laundry chute. Mr Johnstone said the home was a standout even among Brighton's trophy homes. 'Mostly younger families came through, and a few international buyers,' he said. 'But the majority were existing clients — people who've done well and were ready to buy in that top-end price range.' Mr Johnstone declined to comment on the final price.
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Folly of abolishing bedsits only to promote co-living is now becoming clear
A letter published in this newspaper yesterday reminded me of the decision, made by the then- housing department in 2009, to ban bedsits with effect from 2013. The letter, from Enid O'Dowd , outlined a decision of a private landlord to sell a house he owns in Rathgar, south Dublin . This house has, up to now, been let in four units. The landlord is selling to avoid facing the expense of bringing the premises up to the standard required by statutory regulations. Nobody knows exactly how many bedsits were eliminated in 2013. These were the first and cheapest rung on the housing ladder . They suited students, single people, separated people and many others. It appears that perhaps as many as 15,000 bedsits disappeared around that time. Many bedsits formed part of substantial private houses which had been converted to bedsit use as the middle classes deserted city centres to live in suburbs in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The irony is that wealthy middle-class people have taken advantage of the abolition of bedsits to reconvert those substantial houses to trophy homes on leafy residential roads. Strangely, the initiative to abolish bedsits came from Threshold, the housing charity, which convinced the department that nobody should live in a dwelling unless it has separate bathroom and kitchen facilities. READ MORE Sharing such facilities was viewed by Threshold and the department as inherently undesirable and substandard. By further irony, the same department was to be found sponsoring what it described as 'shared living accommodation' or 'co-living' developments (involving the use of shared kitchen and other facilities) less than six years after it killed off bedsits. Equally ironic was the emergence of house-share rentals among many young people who could not, or did not want to, own or rent a place by themselves. Those arrangements almost invariably involved sharing bathroom and kitchen facilities. Many bedsits were very basic and a great number of them were in less than good repair. But the folly of abolishing bedsits as substandard in an era of house sharing demonstrates the futility involved and the harm done by ill-considered legislative intervention. The landlord described in Enid O'Dowd's letter is letting four dwellings in one house at below-market rents. The landlord's hand has essentially been forced and he is now selling up. The house in Rathgar will become a single owner-occupied dwelling. Why, oh why, does any planning regulator need power to dezone housing development land in the present circumstances? I am not arguing for the abandonment of basic standards in rented accommodation. On the contrary, we have seen some horrific examples of several bunk beds being crammed into rooms. These are obvious instances of ruthless exploitation of vulnerable and otherwise homeless single workers. But I strongly believe that the response of successive governments (albeit combinations of the same political parties in the main) to the housing crisis has been close to hopeless. Limiting rents to existing levels and increases by reference to consumer price indices is futile. As the expense of being a regulation-compliant landlord increases, and as the freedom of landlords to realise the value of their original investment is curtailed by ever-increasing rights of tenure for tenants, the result is inevitable. The market becomes more and more dysfunctional. Landlords who preferred to charge below-market rents in exchange for trouble-free lettings to careful tenants are penalised in comparison to those who are in a position to let dwellings for the first time at today's inflated rent levels. This simply does not make sense. Nor is it sustainable. With a rapidly increasing population and a sclerotic system of planning and development control under the aegis of the same department that attempts to regulate housing costs and standards, it has become clear that State intervention should focus on increasing supply. [ What's stopping us converting Dublin's O'Connell St into a residential neighbourhood? Opens in new window ] [ Fianna Fáil is in desperate need of a candidate for the presidential election. Applications are invited Opens in new window ] All the indications are that departmental and governmental initiatives to increase housing supply are faltering. Our planning laws, including the activities of the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR), act as an impediment to increasing the housing supply. Why, oh why, does any planning regulator need power to dezone housing development land in the present circumstances? What local authority has engaged in harmful over-zoning of housing development land in the last 10 years? As early as the Housing Act 1966, local councils in their capacity as housing authorities were legally charged with ensuring that the demand for housing was met by their planning strategies, development plans and use of powers of compulsory purchase to provide sites for housing. In the wake of tribunals investigating planning corruption, the housing department came up with the OPR to police the sector. But when you think of it, the whole planning and development process, including An Coimisún Pleanála, combined with the role of the courts in judicial review, is designed to be preventive rather than enabling. We need a radical change of direction.
Irish Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 1st: On good landlords, summer childcare and calling the tune
Sir, – Today's Irish Times features Rental Tenancies Board (RTB) investigations of bad landlords ('Policing Dublin's rental market: 'I paid about €400 to share a bed-bug infested room with four others', June 28th). This prompted me to write to tell the story of a good landlord who is now selling up, and his four tenants who face homelessness, due to the actions of an overzealous environmental health officer and over the top regulations. This landlord owns one property in Rathgar divided into four units and was bought to provide him with an income in retirement. He charges significantly less than current market rents, for example, €660 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, and every Christmas gives the tenants wine and chocolates. He is registered with the RTB and pays taxes on his rents. His problem arose when an existing tenant became eligible for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and unlike many landlords, he was happy to sign the relevant forms to get her HAP. READ MORE A few months after this, an Environmental Health Officer called and issued an improvement notice to the landlord – a seven-page document stating he had broken this and that regulation and must put things to rights or face conviction and fines and possible imprisonment of a term not exceeding six months. Not surprisingly, the landlord decided to sell, not having the money to spend on doing work which appeared to be unnecessary! The house will not be bought by an investor as the existing rents are modest and cannot be raised much under current law. The house will be bought for personal use; the four tenants will have to leave and face the near impossible task of finding new accommodation. Isn't it time for some common sense? When regulations are over the top, it's easy to break them. These tenants are happy with their accommodation and with their landlord, unlike the people featured in your article. Can any reader suggest how this sad situation can be resolved? – Yours, etc, ENID O'DOWD, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Budapest Pride Parade Sir, – After the huge effort he put in to making it happen, it was heart-warming to see that Hungary president Victor Orbán's Budapest Pride parade was a tremendous success with tens of thousands of people marching through Hungary's capital on Saturday. He is clearly a keen student of Tom Sawyer, who, when tasked with the dreary chore of whitewashing his aunt's fence, discovered that to make people want to do a certain thing, you simply need to make it difficult for them to do so. – Yours, etc, BRENDAN O'REILLY, Sutton, Dublin, 13. Israeli military operations Sir, – Your article ('Israeli military operations in Gaza 'well over the top', ex CIA chief says,' June 28th) reported that the former director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, criticised both Israel and the Trump and Biden administrations over the bombardment of Gaza. The 'news' was not that he expressed these concerns but how he did so, using such moderate language that he served only to reinforce the extent to which the United States and its key European allies are in thrall to Israel. There was no surprise that he deflected questions of genocide as being for others to decide – it would have been newsworthy had he done otherwise. It was his other comments that were revelatory. Brennan described the killing of anywhere from 60,000 to in excess of 100,000 Palestinians as over the top, which begs the question of what would represent an acceptable number of killings? Even more alarmingly, the former CIA chief also said the number of children and women killed by Israel over the last 21 months was 'unnecessary'. I cannot imagine how someone in his position would determine what necessary amounts to when the slaughter of innocent children and women is being considered. These remarks represent evidence, not of a capacity for institutional America to be critical of Israel but of what Bob Fisk described as 'the craven genuflection of the American elite toward Israel'. – Yours, etc, FINTAN DRURY, Strand Road, Dublin 4. An alien in New York? Sir, –Keith Duggan's article (' The capital of capitalism: New York's old brigade plot how to stop the rise of Zohran Mamdani, ' June 28th) speaks volumes about who many New Yorkers view as their perceived danger, namely Zohran Mamdani. The weaponisation of his positions predominantly focused on trying to lower costs and aspirations, of daring to try to make the vast majority of people's lives easier would be laughable if the consequences not so serious. The smear campaign being primed to bring Mamdani down range from super PACs to the city newspapers. They are in favour of returning Eric Adams to City Hall. The fact that Adams has been indicted on bribery charges, among other things, tells you all that you need to know about what many New Yorkers and Americans see as radical – not allowing income inequality to deepen and daring to present any alternative viewpoints on the Middle East conflicts (freedom of speech appears selectively applied). This autumn's election outcome will reveal how many New Yorkers and ultimately Americans are willing to accept a status quo that works for a selective few. – Yours etc, GEMMA HOGAN, New York. Beaches and dogs Sir, – The letter (June 27th) detailing how an older swimmer being virtually assaulted by a dog walker at Sandycove is just the latest in a pattern of offensive behaviour by some dog owners. Dublin has more than 30,000 dogs and about one-third are unlicensed. Those unfettered animals are fouling our best recreation spots. Along with people's safety we must consider public health. Dogs can carry dangerous infestations of roundworms and toxicara canis. Local authorities are gradually limiting access by dogs to bathing places where barefoot children can be made ill by dog faeces. However, those initiatives will only work if there is enforcement and the fine for dog fouling is now just €150. The necessary changes must include a ban on dogs in all bathing resorts and nature reserves, backed up by fines of €1,000. Dogs on beaches is the new smoking in pubs. It should be banned. – Yours, etc, CELINE REILLY, DIARMUID Ó GRÁDA, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14. Boxed off Sir, – While reading and listening about the housing crisis, I am always curious as to how it is that adult children living at home with their parents always end up in the box room. – Yours, etc, MARY DALY, Rathfarnham, Dublin. Childcare in summer Sir, – Liz Carolan (' I'm paying €757 to keep my child busy for 3.6 hours a day. Summer childcare maths doesn't add up ,' June 30th), outlined the issues facing parents of school-aged children when it comes to childcare during the summer months. As a parent of three children, I know only too well of the difficulty in arranging and paying for various private summer camps , whilst my wife and I juggle work commitments to ensure the children are brought to and from the clubs. I am lucky that I can afford to pay these additional costs without the household budget coming under strain. What about other not so fortunate families? It must be a constant source of anxiety for many parents. With all the talk of cost of living supports and two-tier child benefit etc. why is it is that we allow our national schools to lie dormant for two months every year whilst parents scramble to access privately run clubs? Each parish in the country has national schools locked up from the end of June until classes resume in early September. Is it not obvious that local councils should be funded to run a summer programme of daily clubs and activities that can be accessed by local families for a reasonable fee? Not only would this fully utilise the country's infrastructure, but it could also provide summer employment for older secondary schoolchildren and help them learn about civic responsibility in their locality. Surely, if the Government wanted to make a real impact to improve the cost of raising children in Ireland this is an obvious and relatively easy 'win' for them? – Yours, etc, ROBERT FOLEY, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. Calling the tune Sir, – Your correspondent (Letters, June 30th) talking about Neil Young and Van Morrison not playing their most famous songs reminds me of a notorious concert by Cat Stevens in 2009. As witnessed by the late, great Gerry Ryan, Stevens played an 'experimental' set to an increasingly restive audience. Eventually, according to Gerry, one concertgoer could stand it no longer and shouted out 'Sing Peace Train, ya b*****xs. – Yours, etc. BRENDAN COFFEY, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Truth and reconciliation Sir, – Freya McClements article, (' Long-standing quest for truth by bereaved Omagh families collides with reality ' June 28th) can hardly come as a surprise to anyone. This is the same experience encountered by victims, survivors and everyone who has been unfortunate enough to be adversely affected by the Troubles and their legacy over the past 59 years. As the chairman of the Omagh Inquiry said, 'We are where we are', and we have been here many times before. We have been assured by former senior officers within the RUC that there are RUC 'murder boxes', as they are called with nothing inside but a single sheet of paper stating the name, address and details of the where, when and how the victim died. Whether information was deliberately suppressed by the officers involved or they were overwhelmed by their caseloads, we will never know in many cases because they have died in the meantime. In regard to other 'official' documents, several retired civil servants have expressed frustration at being unable to find documents from the 1980s and 1990s, even ones they themselves originated. On the UK government side there is a belief that the majority of the relevant documents have been released under the general 10 and 20 year rule, but the difficulty is unearthing them! On the Irish Government side there is a worry that documents, particularly Defence Forces records, no longer exist. Maybe it is time for both governments to open their books, they cannot hide behind 'national security' when everyone knows it is the prospect of embarrassment and shame that are the real reasons. We need the two governments to move on from this position. When the Truth Recovery Process began its very modest attempt to find new ways of looking for the truth from former combatants, we succeeded in finding six people willing to provide information to victims through a mediation process. All of these volunteers were involved in the first period of the Troubles. This more or less coincided with internment, when over half of all the deaths and serious injuries occurred. In return for conditional amnesties, these participants were willing to disclose all the information they had, meet victims and survivors through a mediation process, if the latter so wished and participate in a thorough verification process. Inevitably, none of them were young. Three have since died and another has dementia. Like many older people the remaining two are not in the best of health. If official records are lost and the people who wrote them are no longer with us to test their veracity, where does that leave us? Particularly where investigations led to people being wrongly convicted whose only way of clearing themselves would have been to turn informer? The proposal we made six years ago and have submitted to various official bodies and politicians remains on the table. We know that some significant political figures consider it worthy of serious consideration. We appreciate that many victims and survivors do not wish to go down this road and we accept that is their prerogative. Indeed, when members of the Kenova Team approached us on behalf of relatives of one victim and we located people with the relevant information who were willing to meet with them, the offer was declined. It is a difficult choice for anyone to make after so many years, whatever their role in these awful events. It seems that most people would prefer to pass up the opportunity to know what happened, or why, or engage in any act of reconciliation that might be possible before the moment passes. This does not augur well for the future. – Yours, etc, PADRAIG YEATES, Secretary, HARRY DONAGHY, Northern Chair, Truth Recovery Process, JOHN GREEN, Southern Chair, Truth Recovery Process. Portmarnock, Dublin. The end of something Sir, – MJ Tomlin (Letters, June 28th) bemoans the use of the word 'arse' in the Crosaire and asks where do we go from here? It's a race to the bottom, presumably. – Yours, etc, EOGHAN MAC CORMAIC, Galway. Sir,- MJ Tomlin is 'shocked' by Fidelia's use of the word 'arse'(sic) in a recent Crosaire clue. Methinks your letter writer is behind the times. – Yours. etc. PAUL DELANEY, Dublin. Sir, – Regarding the standards of The Irish Times and the Crosaire clue which included the word 'arse'. I suggest that the follow up word would be 'elbow'. – Yours, etc, CARMEL KELLY. Malahide, Dublin.
Irish Times
05-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Irish Times
Elegant Rathgar five-bed with an Italian influence for €2.6m
Address : Foggia, 180 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 14 Price : €2,600,000 Agent : Sherry FitzGerald View this property on Foggia at 180 Orwell Road in Rathgar is named after the Italian province where Padre Pio resided until he died in 1968. The owners of the Dublin 14 house, who have lived there for nearly 50 years, have always felt an affinity to the saint. Originally built in 1949, number 180 has been extended by the owners and refurbished many times over. With a floor area of 262sq m (2,820sq ft), the house now has five bedrooms and four bathrooms. It is currently on the market with Sherry FitzGerald , seeking €2.6 million. Set well back off the road and entered via electronic gates, the detached house is as private as a city home can feel. The gravelled front driveway with mature trees and hedges all around has parking for at least four cars. The veranda-style porch has rustic sandstone tiles that look like they too have an Italian influence. To the right of the tiled hallway are the livingrooms. These consist of a drawingroom that runs into a family room, which in turn opens into the kitchen that has pocket doors to the diningroom. The owner says the rooms were deliberately laid out like this to ensure one room flows into the other, making the house conducive to entertaining. READ MORE 'Going back to the 1970s when we extended the house, it was unusual to opt for open plan,' she says. 'We decided to go with pocket doors so we can keep it all open or close rooms off when needed. We wanted the kids to be able to bring their friends around and have their own space. It's been a great party house, from Christmas to anniversaries and engagements to graduations.' Self-contained living space On the other side of the house through an inner hallway is a self-contained apartment of sorts. In a large, well-lit dual-aspect room there is a fitted kitchen with a dining and living area, and doors out to the garden. Off this is a bedroom and shower room. Upstairs there are four more double bedrooms. The principal bedroom comes with a walk-in wardrobe and en suite shower room. The main bathroom has a Jacuzzi bath and separate shower cubicle. Entrance hall Family room Kitchen Diningroom Family room looking out to garden Rear patio Garden The rear garden can be accessed from the kitchen or the family room. This south-facing oasis is both tranquil and thriving, with the only sounds coming from birdsong. Covering approximately 0.13 hectares (0.33 acres), it has a sandstone patio with a dining area that is set out beneath a covered pergola. A lush lawn is bordered by an abundance of trees, plants and flowers, with an archway leading to a shed and storage area. [ Villa-style Rathgar home combines period and modern style for €2.495m Opens in new window ] The exterior of the double-glazed windows and door frames are in the shade Card Room Green by Farrow and Ball and sit perfectly against the greens of the garden. Inside the house, the design is classical and the palette neutral so new owners could move in without too much fuss. It has a D1 Ber and uses gas-fired central heating. For the current owner, it will be difficult to say goodbye to Foggia, although she has nothing but good memories of her family's time there. 'It's a family home, so it's time for us to move on and allow another family to move in. I have to say, though, I'm still madly in love with it after all these years.'
Irish Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Villa-style Rathgar home combines period and modern style for €2.495m
Address : 8 Garville Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6 Price : €2,495,000 Agent : Lisney Sotheby's International View this property on A couple with a penchant for revamping their homes moved into 8 Garville Road in Rathgar , Dublin 6 , six years ago. The double-fronted Victorian house – bought for €1.235 million in 2019, according to the Property Price Register – had been divided into separate living quarters and needed a complete makeover. With the help of 'a good builder', work began more or less right away, and now the villa-style house built in the 1830s is a larger property that combines period and modern styles with some clever design features. The owners, who've lived in neighbourhood since the 1990s, are rightsizing, they say, with plans to live nearby. Number 8 Garville Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6, a 287sq m (3,089sq ft) five-bedroom semidetached house, is for sale through Lisney Sotheby's International Realty for €2.495 million. It has a B1 Ber, with insulation including wraparound cladding at the back of the house and internal cladding at the front. It makes great use of windows and rooflights and even has a small internal courtyard off the main bedroom. The couple kept future-proofing in mind as they revamped their home: three of the five bedrooms and three bathrooms are on the bottom, garden-level floor – and there are no steps anywhere at this level, accessed through the door beside the front steps. Overall, upstairs and down, it's a bright spacious home furnished with an eclectic mix of modern and period furniture, and original art on walls everywhere. It's presented in meticulous condition. Entrance hall First-floor drawingroom Kitchen/dining/livingroom Ground-floor family room Study Steep granite steps lead up to a new pale-blue front door, opening into a front hall floored with oak parquet. A reception room running from the front to the back of the house opens on the left: it has its original sanded floor and original marble fireplace, restored ceiling coving, new period-style centre rose and tall double-glazed sash windows. A study on the right of the hall is painted a deep blue-grey. READ MORE A double bedroom off the hall behind the study has a centre rose and sash window overlooking the back garden. There's a smart shower room beside it and opposite, cupboards concealing a washer and dryer. A room at the very end of the hall with French doors opening into it is labelled a 'study/gym/bedroom 5' in the agents' brochure. It is bright, with nearly floor-to-ceiling corner windows and another tall narrow window on the other side of a low bookshelf. The real life of the house is downstairs, accessed either via the staircase from the top hall or from the door at the side of the front steps. A garage that was once converted into separate accommodation is now integrated with the house, providing useful extra space. All downstairs is floored with oak parquet. The large kitchen/living/diningroom stretching nearly the full width of the house at the back is airy and bright, with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors opening on to a large patio and rooflights over the kitchen and livingroom area. A large island, quartz-topped like the countertop, has a sink with Quooker tap, lots of storage and a heater at one end next to seating. A large pantry off it has a tiled floor, sink and lots of shelves. A door off the livingroom opens into a room fitted out as a child's bedroom, with a glass sliding door opening on to the back patio. There's an open utility area in a hall leading to the front of the house: a washer and dryer are concealed in floor-to-ceiling cupboards opposite a quartz-topped counter and sink. At the end of this hall at the front of the house are a smart family bathroom and another double bedroom. Internal courtyard Main bedroom Bathroom Garden The main bedroom is positioned between the two downstairs halls: a door from it opens into a good-sized double walk-in wardrobe and a door from here opens into a smart, fully-tiled bathroom. Most surprising is the small internal courtyard – French doors open from the bedroom into it. At the front of the house is a good-sized family room with a wood-burning stove. In all, there are four/five bedrooms and four bathrooms in the house: at Christmas, says one of the owners, it accommodated six adults and four children, with each family having their own space. The back garden has something for everyone. The pale porcelain-tiled patio is very much an outdoor room. A few steps up lead to a small lawn, a profusion of trees and bushes (including birch, holly, myrtle and a quince), a woodland area at the back, lots of decking and paths winding through it. The decking was a Covid lockdown project, says the owner: he kept going through the second lockdown and built a children's fort around a mature palm tree. There's an electric-car charging point and room to park two cars in the front garden, crucial on this narrow Dublin 6 street between Frankfort Avenue and Rathgar Road.
