Welcome to Roundtown
The Turkington-designed showhouse at Terenure Gate in D6 has designer furniture worth ¤100,000, writes Mark Keenan
WOULD you be able to find Dublin’s Roundtown district today? The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837 edition) carries a breezy description listing off its attractions: “Roundtown is a village in the Parish of Rathfarnham and the Barony of Newcastle, two and a half miles from the General Post Office. The place takes its name from the arrangement of its cottages in the form of a circle — it is neat and pleasantly situated. In the immediate vicinity are numerous handsome seats and elegant villas.”
In the 1860s, both the Carmelites and the Presentation orders found locations for new schools in the big country houses around Roundtown, just outside Rathgar and Harold’s Cross. The latter bought the big house ‘Netherby’ and converted it into a convent, opening for enrolment the following year in 1868. Today Presentation Primary School is celebrating 150 years of providing young girls with a good starting education. Pass there today and the yard is brimful of happy children playing in its front yard. Down the Road, Terenure College was established at Terenure House, the oldest part of the current building dates from the 1780s.
In 1870, the Roundtown area was renamed Terenure, reverting to its older moniker, although amateur archaeological sleuths can still find the remaining outline of the wide Roundtown cottage circle today at the village Y junction with its curved car sales forecourts on either side. Today Terenure is known for the schools, for the huge Bushy Park and for its rows of upmarket Victorian red and brown brick homes.
Through the 1990s many of the remaining big country houses were developed for infill apartments and very few new homes have become available since then. In the Tiger years, the Presentation Order sold a significant amount of its grounds to reinvest in the school.
The land, which included the original 19th-century convent building, was sold for housing and the latter was demolished amid controversy in 2006. A few years ago the developers Kimpton constructed Terenure Gate, which consists of 29 houses, 11 apartments and a single duplex.
Launched last year, the homes have sold steadily and there are just three left. Now the Helen Turkington designed and furnished front showhouse has been brought to market completely furnished and is on offer for €825,000 through DNG New Homes.
The houses have been constructed in a style which reflects some of the older three-storey, gable-fronted terraces of the later Victorian and Edwardian eras, located just down the road on the city side of the urban Village.
Also on offer is the last regular (unfurnished) B type for €810,000. But the big advantage of plumping for the showhouse, is that for €15,000 extra, you’ll get €100,000 worth of furniture, fittings, floorings, appliances, curtains, lighting, carpets and so forth, as selected in a themed design by Helen Turkington.
And, of course, that price also includes Continued on Page 2
the professional flair and know-how — what you’d have to spend to hire a list-one designer like Turkington to configure and furnish your home.
As the agent says: “For what you get, you just turn the key and walk in. There’s even wall pictures and ceramics.”
It comes with beds in the bedrooms, sofas, dining and kitchen tables and chairs and the warm multi-seasonal lighting for which Ms Turkington is noted.
Looking back at her treatment of the show house, Ms Turkington remains particularly pleased with how it turned out.
“Buying a home is one of the most important decisions you will ever make,” she says.
“When planning the design for a house I always try to imagine how the new owners will experience each space. The design concept for the showhouse at Terenure Gate was contemporary classic while remaining sympathetic to the new architecture of the houses.”
The mid-terrace three-storey home fronts onto Terenure Road West across a small green. It comes with a railed balcony at first level.
Enter through a late Victorian style squared front door (some carry recessed porches in the period style) into the hall and then into the front reception. “In these three-storey homes we designed each room using a combination of our luxurious fabrics and bespoke furniture, using a muted colour palette full of texture,” says Turkington. The mid hall area carries the downstairs wc and also a utility room. At the end of the hall is the open plan kitchen, dining and livingroom which leads out into the garden. This is one of the strongest selling points in the property. The designer adds: “The open-plan kitchen area is for the modern family, Where ever possible I love to have a cosy corner off a kitchen and we completed this space with lots of warm lighting for those winter evenings.”
Up the stairs on the first floor is the master bedroom suite which has a decent sized ensuite bathroom, its own walk in dressing room and a store room. “A fusion of subtle lighting, muted tones and soft carpeting, with spacious fitted wardrobes, I aimed to ensure that master bedroom exudes luxury.” There’s another bedroom here and a study as well as a main bathroom. There is a recessed balcony off the second bedroom and the study/home office on this floor.
Finally, on the top floor is the third children’s bedroom, a substantial store room and another main bathroom. With the secondary bedrooms the designer let loose a little. “I love the fun of the children’s bedroom where we went for a traditional combination of reds and blues, complimented by our bespoke headboards, using a gorgeous star print fabric.” In total the accommodation spans 1,668 sq ft.
While the other type B (unfurnished) is on offer at €810,000, the third remaining house at the scheme is the last unfurnished Type A. This in an end-of-terrace home of 2,000 sq ft and the agent is seeking offers in the order of €880,000. This has the master bedroom on the top floor with a screened balcony area. Interestingly the developers also modernised the old convent gate lodge which sold since the scheme launched — it had an asking price of €700,000.
All the houses here are A-rated. Each home is pre-wired for alarms, while there are ambient fires fitted in faux chimney breasts in all living rooms. The kitchens are by Bedroom Elegance, with classic painted wooden doors and Velstone counter tops as standard and gardens have Indian sandstone patios. Contact DNG.