On with the Showhouse
The €1.4m flagship show home at Holsteiner Park is now available with all fixtures and furnishing in situ, writes
IT’S little wonder that the equestrian theme resonates throughout the showhouse at Holsteiner Park, a private gated development of country retreats on the Dublin-Meath border: the scheme is built on land that once belonged to the neighbouring Williamstown Stud. Clonee is today brimful with Dublin families who have been coming here for the last 20 years in search of bigger homes for their buck. The Dublin boundary runs just outside the old town, with most res- idents in Clonee’s estates located on the east side, so they never left their native county. When racehorse breeder Aga Khan IV, one of the world’s richest royals, took over the stud farms once owned by his father Prince Aly Khan in 1960, his inheritance included Williamstown Stud close to the lively dormitory town on the Meath side of the boundary line. Some of the stud’s land was developed by Glenveagh Properties into Holsteiner Park, a tree-lined scheme of 21 four and five-bed detached Georgian-style homes that launched last year. No. 4 Holsteiner Park, the furnished showhouse for the high-end estate, has now gone on sale. Selling agent Neil Hughes from Knight Frank says: “A few of our existing buyers work as doctors and consultants in hospitals located in Dublin and bordering counties, some are owners or managers of companies, and some work in the legal profession.” The equine motif is also reflected in the names of the Holsteiner Park house types, all of which are named after champion racehorses such as Frankel. The showhouse is called the Galileo, after the stallion who won The Epsom Derby, The Irish Derby and the King George. Galileo is Coolmore Stud’s most storied resident, having sired Frankel, who was unbeaten in his 14-year career. The big advantage in buying a furnished show house is that you get it fully kitted out and furnished by a top designer, in this case by Arlene McIntyre from Ventura Design who took inspiration from Holsteiner Park’s setting near the stud farm to create a distinctly equestrian aesthetic that would appeal to buyers with an outdoorsy lifestyle. As a result, the furnishings include plaid sofas, button-backed chairs, and a mudroom with bespoke cabinetry which — like the showhouse’s collection of glistening chandeliers — was made by Ventura Design itself. Arlene says: “We just felt the surroundings had a lovely horsey feel, so we proposed an equestrian country feel, so there are oak herringbone parquet floors in the hallway with lovely panelling to the walls. The chandelier in the hallway is one of one of our own.” The five-bed detached showhouse has a whopping 3,455 sq ft of floor space, excluding its 400-sq ft detached garage. It sits on a third of an acre on grounds which were landscaped by Ingrid Swan and are enclosed by extensive laurel hedging and rail fencing. A gravelled driveway behind a set of gates sweeps up to the two-storey house’s grand entrance, in the form of a porch with a large black front door. The Georgian influence is echoed in the symmetrical proportions, the granite plinth over
the front door, and the brick chimney breast — a rarity in a new home in the era of energy-efficient building. There is painted nap render to the facade, with feature brick detail to the centre of the building, and natural granite to the sills of the high-performance Nordic pine windows, which themselves are surrounded by raised reveals. The roof is finished with grey slate-effect bullnose tiles. Inside, there are high ceilings and a Georgian-style turning staircase in the entrance foyer, which has a study/reading room to the right. Arlene says: “When we were creating the home office, we went for rich deep burgundy tones on the walls, built-in joinery, and brought in really cool artwork that features local racing and horses.” To the left of the hallway is a living room fitted with two further chandeliers and a Wanders smart wood-burning stove set into an Agean limestone fireplace surround and a recessed mantle, all complemented by a black granite hearth. Double doors lead from both the living room and the vast hallway to the large open-plan kitchen/diner/sunroom/living space to the rear of the home. Gallagher Kitchens supplied the hand-painted in-frame kitchen with quartz stone worktops and Siemens appliances. The central island, which doubles as a breakfast bar, is painted in Farrow & Ball’s Wilderness Green. Two sets of French doors — one from the living area and one from the triple-aspect sunroom — lead to a granite patio and an 80ft-long back garden. Also on the ground floor is a laundry room, a guest WC, a cloak area, and the mudroom, which has access to one side of the house. Upstairs, Gallaghers also supplied the shaker-style wardrobes in the five bedrooms that radiate off the central landing, including the walk-in wardrobes to the master ensuite to the front. Two other bedrooms are also ensuite. This level is home to the family bathroom, which, like the other bathrooms, are fitted with porcelain tiles to the floors and wet areas, chrome-effect towel radiators, and Villeroy & Boch sanitaryware. The A3-rated home is equipped with a heat recovery ventilation system that provides a constant supply of fresh air, while the heating, which is provided by a Panasonic air-source heat pump, can be controlled at multiple zones throughout the house. PV panels generate additional electricity supplies all year round. The showhouse at Holsteiner Park is available to view between 11am and 12pm tomorrow. No. 4 Holsteiner Park and its contents is asking €1.4m through Knight Frank (01) 634 2466 and Coonan New Homes (01) 628 6128. Four of the nine properties, excluding the showhouse, are still for sale at Holsteiner Park. Two are also from the Galileo design and priced between €945,000 and €975,000, and one is from the Camelot range, a five-bed detached type that is smaller than the Galileo, at 2,865 sq ft, and is priced from €850,000. Also available is one four-bed detached Frankel type, which spans 2,650 sq ft and costs from €820,000. All are aimed at those trading up from Clonee itself and West Dublin locations.