Press Pack Spring / Summer 2019 AREA FEATURE

BALLSBRIDGE LIVING

Just when you thought this lovely leafy suburb couldn’t improve!

40 Elgin Road, , 4 FOR SALE by Sherry FitzGerald. Sherry FitzGerald are delighted to be one of the proud supporters BER Exempt. of this exciting new initiative, Ballsbridge Living, whose purpose is to promote Ballsbridge as a premium area and popular destination in which to live, visit, work and socialise. With its tree-lined avenues and beautiful Victorian red-brick estates it’s easy to forget that this bustling vibrant village is only a stone’s throw away from Dublin’s city centre.

Village Life At its centre is an array of top-quality restaurants, cafes and bars which cater for all tastes, Dylan McGrath’s Shelbourne Social, Avoca and Butlers Chocolate Café have all opened recently bringing even more variety to the area. Your choice looks set to expand further with the arrival of Facebook’s sizeable workforce when they begin to settle later this year into the former AIB Bank Centre premises, their new International Headquarters. There are endless leisure activities available with the RDS hosting regular music, sporting, educational, lifestyle events and seasonal funfairs and ice skating. But what’s sure to appeal to families is the 32- acre amenity which is Herbert Park, complete with tennis courts, playground, croquet lawn, numerous walkways for a leisurely stroll and junior soccer. Enjoyed by the residents of both Donnybrook and Ballsbridge villages, the area enjoys a real sense of community, especially on Sunday’s when it plays host to the Herbert Park Paddy Byrne - food market from 11am – 4pm. Co-Founder of You can also explore a range of sporting Ballsbridge Living clubs in the area, Ballsbridge is home to the world-famous Aviva Stadium, formerly known as . Today, Ballsbridge and neighbouring Donnybrook are home to half a dozen active rugby clubs including Wanderers Buying/Renting/Staying Here RFC, Old Belvedere RFC, Lansdowne RFC, Old You have a great selection of hotels and 33 Wellington Place, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Wesley, Leinster and Bective Rangers – all catering guesthouses to choose from when you’re FOR SALE by Sherry FitzGerald. for men’s, women’s, mini and youth rugby training. If BER Exempt. attending events in Ballsbridge or if you want to cricket is more your style then Pembroke and Merrion put down more permanent roots then contact BALLSBRIDGE LIVING Cricket Clubs are on your doorstep and you have a choice our Sherry FitzGerald Team on 01 269 8888 of tennis clubs, Bective Lawn Tennis Club and Donnybrook Lawn / [email protected] to explore your Join us in supporting this Tennis Club to name but two. options. Alternatively if you prefer to rent, then great initiative, embracing our Lettings Team are here to help on 01 246 Living Here 1155. village life, and get involved. From an unusual bottle of wine to an indulgent manicure, Ballsbridge has it all, salons, supermarkets, boutiques, jewellers, Getting Here City & Country Magazine art gallery, medical centre and pharmacy. In fact, the co-founder Ballsbridge is served by three stops along Email: [email protected] of the Ballsbridge Living initiative, Paddy Byrne is the owner of the Dart local railway service, Lansdowne Road, Instagram: @ballsbridgeliving Life pharmacy and has served as a community pharmacist in Sandymount and Sydney Parade and there are Ballsbridge since 1991. He is passionate about the area and several bus routes running through the village Twitter: @ballsbridgelive Spring 2019 highlighting the many benefits and potential the area has to offer. including the 4, 7 and 18. Facebook: facebook.com/Ballsbridge

36 CITY & COUNTRY MAGAZINE SHERRYFITZ.IE SHERRYFITZ.IE CITY & COUNTRY MAGAZINE 37 The Gloss Magazine April 2019 The Sunday Business Post April 7, 2019 2 Property Property Plus How Ballsbridge got its groove back The Sunday Business Post

April 17 2019 Tina-Marie O’Neill As other city ‘villages’ brace themselves for TheSunday a huge wave of Business Post April 7, 2019 development, businesspost.ie the D4 borough’s New this week ] Q1 2019 in rebirth as a Property Plus review P12 vibrant local The great British Brexodus ] Fine Arts: community Why Dublin anyone for shows there is is the top choice for firms relocating page 14 Dennis? P8 [email protected] PROPERTY EDITOR TINA-MARIE O’NEILL light at the end of the tunnel

ith a building- boom battle ongoing in Don- An Culu in Kenmare, nybrook village Co Kerry: a castle and its residents fit for a king fearing a loss of Wtheir sense of community, our atten- tion turns to the neighbouring Dublin 4 borough of Ballsbridge. An 18th-century settlement and Clockwise from main picture: Number One Ballsbridge, The upstairs landing, where no expense has been spared once part of the estate of the Earl of built by the Comers; Paddy Byrne of Ballsbridge Pembroke, this affluent hamlet at the Living; the RDS; Paddy Cullen’s pub in Ballsbridge heart of the capital’s embassy belt is village; an aerial shot of the suburb Fennells coming out the other side of a trans- formative wave of construction and in the Tidy Town programme, mem- courses in event management and Bankcentre site with both Byrne. “It’s been a long time on the is actively reviving its village identity bership of which comes with its own its students have organised their own and the €450 commu- boil, and was interrupted by a need to through a new initiative called Balls- benefits. clean up event; and its horticulture million landmark nities, par- build a flood wall along the river Dod- bridge Living. “I lived in New York briefly, and students have be given permission to Comer Group de- ticularly in der, following a major flood event in Spearheading the drive is Pad- used to visit Washington Square Park plant a [bee-friendly] ‘buzz garden’ on velopment at Num- Herbert Park. October 2011. dy Byrne, a fourth-generation local for its Friday night comedy events,” a small patch of waste ground beside ber One Ballsbridge. We’re playing “Now that the wall is almost com- pharmacist whose business is located said Byrne. “There’s a bandstand in Pembroke Library. So involvement is Located on the former catch-up with plete, I’ve refocused on Ballsbridge on . Nicknamed the Herbert Park and I’m pushing for evolutionary. University College veteri- what has been done Living, which will eventually be Lord Mayor of Ballsbridge, Byrne has comedy nights there during the sum- “The community has always been nary college site, the mixed-use in Donnybrook in terms membership based. We have a lot of worked in the area for some 30 years mer months. Once you have Tidy there, but it’s never had any focus. campus is home to 88 high-end apart- of Tidy Town initiatives. Every- events planned initially, including a The living-room is sumptuously decorated and knows most of the people who Town insurance, it allows you to hold Tidy Towns is about getting pride back ments, the swanky headquarters of one learns from the process.” Fourth of July event, nature walk- live in the borough. community events. in the area and that’s what Ballsbridge aircraft leasing company Avolon, and a Ballsbridge Living has had a few ing trails, the [last Carnegie-funded] “We’ve gone through the phase of “And in terms of support, Dublin Living is about. delectable choice of eateries including initial rounds of fundraising: key sup- Pembroke Library, the Herbert Park losing our village identity, and feel that City Council has been instrumental “People love living here because it’s Avoca, Shelbourne Social and Butlers. porters include Chartered Land, the comedy events, and a host of events it’s now returning,” he said. “There are in providing high-vis vests and paint so close to town and convenient, but They join stalwarts such as the Roy- RDS, Irish Life, Dalata Hotels and local being held in the RDS, including five a number of things that are feeding for our voluntary road mark painting they go into town to socialise and to al Dublin Society (RDS), established real estate group Sherry FitzGerald. concerts as the Aviva Stadium is being into that change, including Lans- event a few weeks ago and the council eat and forget that there’s lots on their in 1879, and the Aviva Stadium, the Its immediate focus is to raise aware- re-seeded this summer.” downe Place [Chartered Land’s luxury provided bags, gloves and pickers for own doorstep. headquarters of Irish football and rug- ness about Tidy Town-related events Byrne’s involvement is wholly vol- 215-unit development on the corner our local community clean-up. “Ballsbridge Living is about putting by, along with Roly’s Bistro, a slew of in the suburb and to encourage local untary. He is known as someone who of Lansdowne Road and Shelbourne “So, if DCC can’t provide physical Ballsbridge firmly in their minds as the high-profile embassies, Herbert Park residents and businesses to become gets stuck in and gets the job done. He Capture the castle Road], which has come on board and manpower, they offer support in other place for them to do business, to live, and numerous premium hotels, in- involved. said he got enjoyment from watching is very much geared at the owner- ways like that, which makes a huge to socialise and to enjoy.” cluding the Herbert Park, the Clayton At the moment the Ballsbridge Tidy people come together and have fun. occupier market. We’re seeing more difference to us. There’s a sense that the sprawl of Ballsbridge and the Intercontinental. Town drive comprises a group of four. With him at the wheel, there’s little people retiring into the area, which “It’s amazing how quickly that vol- high-end multinational corporates “Ballsbridge’s natural border with The plan is for this to grow into a full doubt that Ballsbridge Living will have for just €4.5 million The underground grotto-style swimming pool is carved out of the rock previously would have had more buy- untary support spreads locally, too,” that have dominated the neighbour- Sandymount is the Dart line. Our nat- committee with representatives from a metamorphic and vastly positive ef- When London-based entrepreneur to-let developments.” he said. “Lots of calls and texts came ing Ringsend area and nearby South ural border with Donnybrook is Her- each road in the suburb, so that ev- fect on the suburb. From an underground grotto-style Kevin Reardon decided to build a family Another, arguably pivotal, factor in looking to get involved when we re- Docklands has now extended to bert Park,” said Byrne. “We don’t work eryone is involved and has a vested home on the shores of Kenmare Bay in swimming pool complex to castellated 1998, he was the latest in a centuries-long in fostering the renewed community freshed the road markings. Ballsbridge Ballsbridge. The advance is reinforced in isolation, though. We work together, interest. More details are available at ballsbridge line to fall for the concept, from Wil- spirit is the borough’s participation College on Shelbourne Road runs by Facebook’s move to AIB’s former planning community clean-up days “This is a long-term project,” said living.ie turrets and towers overlooking a liam the Conqueror to William Randolph drawbridge and moat, An Culu in Hearst and Walt Disney. (It was on a visit to the island of Cyprus that the medieval Kenmare, Co Kerry has it all castles built by the Lusignan kings in- In childhood, spired the mogul to create Disneyland.) or sheer romance, no Reardon grew up in London, but his Reardon was a architectural form can father hailed from Cork and throughout regular visitor to compete with the cas- his childhood he was a regular visitor to tle. On a practical level it Kenmare. Intent on building the house Kenmare, where meets the most important of his dreams, he persuaded Coillte to criterion, impregnable sell him a five-acre woodland site on the he would build walls promise total secu- Ring of Kerry, close to the market town rity. Where status is con- of Kenmare, and some 68km from Kerry the house of his Ros Drinkwater cerned, it’s the benchmark of success. Airport, handy for his business flights dreams The kitchen: timber units and beams add warmth to the modern space FThe turrets and towers add the romance. to page 2

An Culu’s plush reception room The dining-room has oak panelling The huge stone-cut staircase reaches four storeys One of the principal bedrooms

moat below a drawbridge, cading waterfall.The grounds which leads the visitor be- are floodlit, further compli- neath a castellated archway menting the garden, which Capture the castle to a courtyard with lanterns comprises mature specimen and a circular tower. trees and is surrounded by Within the stronghold’s woodland and Kenmare Bay. Exclusive New Extra-large 5 Bedroom embrace is a delightful ter- With Reardon’s family now raced seating area to the south grown and flown the nest, and Detached Houses in Howth for the princely of the castle with spectacular his own business interests Outstanding Family Houses with large private landscaped sites on Thormanby Road close to The Summit. Accommodation includes an outstanding kitchen, dining, family space extending to c.56 sq.m (c.600 sq.ft) panoramic sea views across keeping him distant, Ireland’s 3 Large Dual Aspect Reception Rooms each opening to gardens & 5 Spacious Double Bedrooms, 3 Ensuite. Kenmare Bay and the Caha first castle to be built since the Mountains beyond. Victorian era is now on the On view Saturday 12pm - 1pm Internal Area c.312 sq.m ( c.3,358 sq.ft) or by appointment To the north-east of the market with a guide price of o . 0 1 6 5 Site Area approx 0.3 acre

sum of €4.5m N Prices from €1,475,000. property are a garage and €4.5 million. SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSET MANAGEMENT AGENCY Photo Gallery & 3D tours at

from page 1 P S R A craftsmen laboured to turn his staircase that rises for four garden store. To the north, For more information, con- 01 6318402 [email protected] www.thormanbyhill.com Since 1979 to London. vision into reality. The work storeys from the entrance hall on the far side of the drive, is tact Savills at 01-6634350. At that point, Reardon had complete, he called it An Culu through 843 square metres; a large rock face with a cas- no particular style of house and the family moved in. the ground floor reception An Culu’s handsome exterior: the castle was built in the late 1990s by Kevin Reardon in mind. The notion of cut- The downside of the me- room’s massive stone chim- ting-edge contemporary ar- dieval template is that castles ney piece, big enough to roast vet-padded lifts to all floors, has two, hers with a bath tle, buffering it from the world chitecture didn’t appeal to him are inevitably cold, damp and an ox; the dining room oak the magnificent bespoke overlooking Kenmare Bay, his that traverses its way along the and when a planner suggested dark. Reardon spared no ex- panelling; the minstrels’ gal- kitchen that opens on to a ter- with a steam room and power rhododendron laden N70 that he build a castle, he set about pense in ensuring that An Culu lery; authentic suits of armour race for torch-lit dining after shower. laces its way from Kenmare doing serious research. Within has the best of all worlds – vi- dotted around the place; and dark – and the best plumbing The finishing touch is the to Sneem, the only hint of An no time at all, he was hooked sual poetry, 21st-century mod the sweet Romeo and Juliet money can buy. underground grotto-style Culu’s potential actuality, an on the idea of a neo-gothic cons, everything constructed balcony with its stunning In designing the bedrooms, swimming pool complex – a impressive stone entrance, fairytale pile, complete with to the highest of standards. views of the estuary. Reardon took his cue from Mi- dream home for a mermaid. which leads to a meandering castellated turrets and tow- Timber throughout, flooring Contemporary luxuries in- chael Caine, who famously Remaining faithful to its driveway through the forest ers, accessed via a drawbridge and panelling, is hardwood clude a state-of-the art sound said: “The secret of a happy arboraceous location, the to a parking area at the front over a moat. For the follow- oak and Cherrywood. system, the drawing room’s marriage is separate bath- modern-day alcazar is nestled of the castle. ing three years, an army of Neo-gothic features include blue sky fresco ceiling, the rooms.” Of the six en suite at the edge of a dense wood- Separating the parking area construction workers and the monumental stone-cut work of a local artist, vel- bedrooms, the master suite land that surrounds the cas- from the imposing castle is a Dublin InQuirer December 2018 Visit us online forInstagram: @ballsbridgeliving more

Instagram: @ballsbridgeliving Twitter: @ballsbridgelive Facebook: facebook.com/Ballsbridge www.ballsbridgeliving.ie [email protected]