Mid-terrace cut stone two-bedroom house with clock tower that chimes during daylight hours, built for "elderly gentlewomen of slender means," seeks new owner in Stillorgan.
Few homes come with the bragging rights of having their own clock tower, let alone one that chimes during daylight hours only.
The landmark can be seen all around this part of Stillorgan, including Arkle Square, which is just off Brewery Road.
It forms part of a development that was built by a 19th-century shipping merchant and philanthropist, Charles Sheils, for "elderly gentlewomen of slender means," according to historian Peter Pearson, in his book Between The Mountains and The Sea.
Address: 2 Arkle Square, The Chase, Stillorgan, County Dublin, A94 AC85
Asking price: €595,000
Agent: Hunters Estate Agents
Sheils, who had made his money in Liverpool and New York through a trans-Atlantic partnership, and also in railroad stocks, retired from business in 1840, and following his wife’s death in 1850, he returned to Ireland and settled at Anglesea House, Killiney in south county Dublin, where he died in 1861.
The couple didn’t have any children.
Having been impacted by the effects of the famine, he set money aside for the construction of almshouses, to “relieve as many as I can of those who from their former lives are entitled to a better provision in old age than the Workhouse,” is how his will puts it.
Designed by Belfast architect Sir Charles Lanyon, designer of Queen’s University and of the campanile in front square, Trinity College, Dublin, the houses were built posthumously.
The first at Killough, Co Down, his birthplace, followed by Carrickfergus, Dungannon, Armagh, and Stillorgan, the only one in the Republic.
The residences were sold in 1986 when a developer added sunrooms to the rear of the original properties and a terrace of contemporary townhouses.
Number 2, The Chase is one of the original 19th-century buildings.
The cut-stone fronted terraced two-bedroom, two-bathroom house extends to 104 square metres and features six over six sliding sash windows.
The front door is up a set of steps and opens into the hall, where you can see the good ceiling heights at this level.
There is access to the eat-in kitchen.
Its shaker door cabinetry is set in an L-shape, the party wall, and the front.
These are painted in a soft taupe and have brass pulls and d-ring handles.
This leads through to the living room, which is also accessible from the hall.
This is a finely proportioned room with lots of wall space and alcoves on either side of the open hearth, which has a cast iron surround.
Echoing the front windows, multi-pane glass doors and screens form most of the wall leading through to a sunroom at the back.
This enjoys a south-westerly aspect and isn’t overlooked.
A key feature of this development is the fact that these houses come with a small back garden gate that leads out to a communal green area, around which the houses are set.
There is a fountain at its heart.
The lovely clock tower still chimes hourly, but only during daylight hours.
The prettily planted front of the house is cobblelocked with parking for one vehicle off street, but really, with its location, you could dispense with the car altogether.
The Sandyford Luas stop on the green line is a five-minute walk away. The N 11 about a 20-minute walk via Brewery Road.
Agents Hunters is seeking €595,000 for the D1 BER-rated property which extends to 104 square metres.
