Want to make like Rapunzel and let your hair down? Then head to Lanesborough in Co Longford to a 1950s round tower home with architectural heritage and talking point curves.
The Round House, a C1 Ber-rated, three-bedroom, two-bathroom detached residence, could be just the place to let your hair down. It might also be one of the more affordable historic homes of our 20th century built heritage.
Built around 1952, it is one of about 61 houses overall, built by the ESB for Bord na Mona workers on the outskirts of the town, and it is listed on the Buildings of Ireland register.
Designed by architect and town planner Frank Gibney in an era when the state was at the forefront of homebuilding projects, it is set within a relatively typical-looking housing estate to the south east of Lanesborough.
Givney is know for adding artistic flourishes to some of the homes he built for turf workers across the state. In the 1950s he received commissions from Bord na Móna to build more than 700 dwellings for workers and their families in at least eight locations in the midlands; Kilcormac, Rochfortbridge, Mountdillon, Cloontuskert, Derraghan, Timahoe, and Bracknagh and Lanesborough.
This one is turret-shaped, in part, with a round room at entrance level housing the open plan kitchen living. To its rear is a rectangular, two-story building that has been linked to the turret part and is where the principal double bedroom and shower ensuite, and stairs up to the first floor are located.
Upstairs there are two more decent-sized doubles, each semi-circular in shape. The family bathroom is to the rear.
Overall the house, which overlooks a leafy green, measures about 100 square metres in size.
The two-storey property also comes with a sizeable garage that extends to about 59 square metres and could be extended into. This would give you a more standard-shaped open plan kitchen, living dining room and allow you to make more of the home’s curves to create a statement sitting room.
Given that curves are trending there are lots of crescent-shaped sofas and seating on the market to take advantage of this rather unique property.
There is a small enclosed garden to the front, a small decked patio area to the side and off-street parking for up to two cars, set back to back, on the driveway, which is to the rear.
During the 1930s he was probably the most influential town planner in Ireland. He is known to have submitted plans for building houses (Dublin, 1931), a district hospital (Clifden, 1931), a town hall (Balbriggan, 1937), and a church (Birr, 1937). and was commissioned to make plans for Waterford, Tralee, Drogheda, Meath, Navan, and Tullamore.
He also wrote a proposal for employment-generating public works in Dublin (which included the building of Dublin airport, Clontarf Marine Boulevard, and riverside promenades, and cleaning the Liffey river bed). Not all of his proposals were actually implemented during those austere years.
The house last sold in 2021 for €120,000, according to the property price register. McNeill Auctioneers is asking €299,000 for the house.
