My Favourite Room

Ethna Dorman, this year’s ‘Home Of The Year’ winner, on the move from merchant banking in Manhattan to a cosy courtyard in west Dublin

When Ethna Dorman placed the obligatory red spot, indicating her special place, on a beautifully carved desk in her restored carriage house on the fifth episode of Home of the Year and declared, “When we were courting, my husband William pointed out this desk and said he made it, so I decided to marry him on the spot”, we were intrigued, but left hanging — the house, not Ethna’s life story, was the subject of the programme.

And a gorgeous house it is, too; not only a wonderful restoration job but a home full of character, personality and memories; a worthy winner of the overall title of Home of the Year 2020.

Judge Hugh Wallace enthused, not only about the way the original stable features of this beautiful house in west Dublin were retained, but also about the furniture — and it transpires Ethna’s late husband William made practically everything.

Hugh remarked particularly on the desk and guessed that the owner obviously values it because she’s a letter writer. And he wasn’t far wrong there — Ethna has many contacts abroad, having lived in London, New York and Princeton, before finally coming back to Ireland.

Ethna now enjoys a full but quiet life, keeping in touch with her five children, four of whom live in the States; devouring online lectures on Plato and the other great philosophers, as well as being a member of the local church council. But her life abroad was an exciting one. The story of her and William’s romance is an extraordinary tale, and she had many career highs, including a top position in the world of international finance — becoming the first woman trader on the London Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange — and awards for having been in the Century Club. “That meant when I worked in New York, in the late 1970s, I earned over a $100,000 a year,” Ethna explains in a throwaway remark.

Originally from a farm in Roscommon, Ethna moved with her family to Dublin when she was still quite young, and after she finished school, she did a secretarial course — shorthand, typing and bookkeeping — and got jobs in local companies. So far, so average.

However, in the mid-1970s, Ethna moved to London and then her talents began to be recognised. She worked for a top firm where she was treated as a full accountant, though she had never done any accountancy exams. Then she moved sideways and got into shipping. “I started buying bulk commodities for a trading company — sugar, rubber, cocoa, coffee. Then I discovered the futures markets and I decided that was where I wanted to be,” she says, matter-of-factly. “I went to France to do a course in the futures market. I was the only woman doing the course and exams,” the glamorous, silver-haired 60-something says.

Soon after, Ethna, who was still only in her 20s, was headhunted by a big American trading company, EF Hutton, who appointed her as their London trader. “I was the biggest trader in London at the time,” she explains, but she pooh-poohs the notion that these are extraordinary achievements. “It was challenging, but nothing compared to bringing up five children,” she insists.

Soon, Ethna’s bosses in EF Hutton presented her with another challenge: to move to the States.

“There was a cornering of the silvers market and as a consequence, all metals rose sharply. For example, gold rose from $350 to $850 an ounce. It created an international currency problem and interest rates rose from 3pc to 22pc,” she explains, adding, “I had experience in currencies that was needed in New York.”

As it happened, Ethna’s sister Olivia lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and Ethna visited Olivia as often as possible. During that time, she became friendly with Olivia’s neighbour, Joanna, who had three little girls. “They used to call me Auntie Matches because I allowed them to blow out the match when I was lighting my

“I was the biggest trader in London at the time. It was challenging but nothing compared to bringing up five children”

“It was like the Von Trapps. At 9pm, the girls excused themselves, and went to bed, leaving me alone with their father”

cigarette,” Ethna says with a laugh.

Sadly, Joanna became very ill, and what Ethna did next was unexpected. “I went to see her in the hospital before she died. I was standing at the end of the bed and out of my mouth came these words: ‘I promise to take care of your children’. Afterwards, I thought, ‘How the hell did that happen?’”

When Joanna died shortly after, Ethna called to see the family to sympathise. “The girls all climbed up on my lap and cried. They needed to cry, and I allowed them and supported them. And so they set me up with their father,” she explains.

It was eight months later when the girls — Kim, Tia and Dominique — put their plan into action. “I got a phone call from Kim, who was 11,” Ethna recalls. “She said: ‘I would like to invite Auntie Matches for dinner and so would my daddy and two sisters’. I went, and it was like the Von Trapp family. At nine o’clock, the girls got up, excused themselves and went to bed, leaving me alone with their father. Within six weeks, I was married.”

William — or, to give him his full name, William Rawlins Livingston Dorman — for whom carpentry was a hobby, as were horses — had a high-powered position in the financial world; he was the compliance director of Merrill Lynch.

When they married, Ethna gave up her job and took a new position in a merchant bank near their home. She relished her new life as the mother of three girls — “I love them and they love me,” she says. Soon, they were joined by two more children, Liam and then Lydia.

Sadly, just before the birth of Lydia, William lost his job in the crash of 1989, and the ever resourceful Ethna decided to study to be a real estate agent, and had another successful career buying and selling houses in New York and New Jersey.

However, it wasn’t easy providing for five children in the States and the couple were stretched to the limit. Then something happened which focussed Ethna’s mind. “It was a big snow in 1993, and William fell and broke his collarbone. Then one day, after shopping, I was coming home, up the driveway and round

the bend to the house, when Liam came hurtling towards me at 50 miles an hour, on a toboggan. I was very fortunate, I was able to stop the car; the number plate got stuck on his collar, preventing him from going under the car. I lifted him up; he was moaning, ‘Mommy, mommy, my back’. I was saying over and over, ‘You’re alive, you’re alive’. I’ll never forget the sound of the snow beneath my shoes as I carried him to the house,” Ethna says.

Thankfully, he was fine, but that decided Ethna — she dug her heels in and insisted they move to Ireland. Kim, the eldest, was already at university in St Andrews in Scotland, and William and Ethna and the other four moved back, initially to Tipperary.

“To get William out of his beautiful family house in Princeton, I had to find a lovely home,” Ethna says. “Friends helped us, and we found a beautiful old house in Tipperary to rent, but it was cold.” Ethna also felt it would be better for the children to go to school in Dublin.

The house in Tipperary had a courtyard, which William loved, and he agreed to move to Dublin if Ethna found a house with a courtyard. After much searching, she found the perfect place next to Luttrellstown and its magnificent gardens in west Dublin. The property consisted not only of a courtyard but also five buildings, one of which was a long cottage dating from the 1800s — originally the home of the manager of Luttrellstown — which they did up, “squished” into, and settled.

Kim, Tia, Liam and Lydia all live in North America now, while Dominique, an events manager and cheesemaker with Sheridans, lives in Kildare. Fortunately, Ethna got to see them all just before the lockdown, when, as a surprise for Lydia, they all flew to New York to celebrate her 30th birthday. Nowadays, she keeps in touch daily through WhatsApp with all five and her nine grandchildren. (In normal times, Ethna goes to see the family in the US regularly and rents the house out via Phil Brennan through Unique Irish Homes and Home Away.)

Sadly, William died 10 years ago, and five years ago, Ethna, never one to sit around moping, applied for planning permission to restore the carriage house — giving herself a smaller, more manageable home — helped by her sister Olivia, who lent her the money.

Ethna recently applied for planning permission for a cafe, which she hopes to open along with Dominique, when the nearby Shackleton Gardens being restored by Fingal County Council are open to the public.

Her home is a delight, and Ethna’s one sadness is that William never got to see what she did with the carriage house. But she has the joy of many happy memories with him. “I can’t say it was always easy. I relied on him a lot for his wisdom, then I realised I had a bit of wisdom of my own. And he did trust me enough to cross the Atlantic with me,” she says.

And to her great joy, he is there in spirit through his lovely furniture.

All episodes of Season Six of ‘Home of the Year’ are available on RTE Player until mid May

TOP RIGHT: The clock tower in the courtyard. “William used to get up on the ladder and wind the clock once a week. It hasn’t been wound since he died,” says Ethna

ABOVE: Former financial expert and mother of five Ethna Dorman outside her converted carriage house, which dates from the early 19th Century. Her builder was Egan Bros Construction. The architect for the project, Michael Kavanagh of MVK Architects, suggested the terracotta exterior, and Ethna loves it. “He said the Victorians were much more adventurous than us with colour,” she says. “And he insisted I keep the hoof marks where the horses kicked the stalls” TOP LEFT: On the ground floor of the carriage house there was space for two carriages and two horses. This area was converted into a living room, dining room and a kitchen. The architect put windows where the carriage doors once were, so it’s full of light. Ethna’s late husband William made the table, while the chairs were from his family home in Princeton. William also made the dresser as a wedding anniversary present for Ethna. The silhouettes over the sofa are two of five silhouettes of her children in the room. “So that they are always with me,” Ethna says. There are also portraits of three of Ethna’s children by artist John Dinan

RIGHT: Ethna’s beloved desk, which convinced her that she should marry William. “It was a serious situation, a widower with three little girls. I figured if he could make that [the desk], he’d always be able to earn a living,” she says

ABOVE: The carriage doors were replaced by windows allowing views of the other buildings — the manager’s house, which Ethna and William lived in when William was alive; and the stables. The portrait of her son Liam is by John Dinan. The sculpture of the horse is just one of many equine motifs around the house; horses were one of William’s hobbies

LEFT: The hayloft upstairs was converted into two bedrooms. The floor had to be lowered to allow enough headroom. Again, the restoration is sympathetic to the era and to the carriage house’s original incarnation, as can be seen in the exposed brick walls