When the current owner of The Gables left Limerick for the US in the mid-1950s, she can have had no idea of the life that awaited her on the other side of the Atlantic.
After a few years in New York she married an American and went on to raise a family in Westchester County on Long Island. She also built a successful design business in both fashion and interiors, and her own house – a Tudor-style mansion dating from the Age of Jazz – featured in prestigious interiors’ magazines.
Once her family had grown, she was free to spend more time back in Ireland and started to look for a home close to where she had grown up. A keen horsewoman, she wanted somewhere she would be able to keep horses.
In 2000, she found The Gables, which was once a glebe house, home to a member of the local clergy.
The house lies just a few minutes’ drive from the 200-acre Clonshire Equestrian Centre, which is a hive of equestrian-related activity, hosting everything from jumping leagues to dressage instruction.
The Gables was in poor condition so she set out to restore it, bringing her design expertise to bear on the endeavour.
The result is a house of true character, in excellent condition, roomy yet not intimidatingly large. There is a warmth to The Glebe that goes beyond its impressive-for-a-period-house C1 BER, thanks to the owner’s decorative flair and clear understanding as to what makes for a comfortable and stylish home.
She has moved happily between Ireland and the US for almost 20 years – Shannon Airport being a 40-minute drive away made this painless – and is selling now with a heavy heart only because The Gables is too large for her requirements.
The two-storey house has classical Georgian proportions, with five reception rooms and three bedrooms. Internally, features include natural stone fireplaces, original restored doors, coved ceilings and hand-crafted double-glazed timber sash windows with granite sills. The entrance hall is floored in Portland stone and the original staircase leading to the first floor remains in situ.
To the right of the hall is the library, with floor-to-ceiling book shelves, while the sitting room lies opposite. Both rooms have fireplaces, and the sitting room leads to a sun room, which leads to the dining room/ conservatory. The sun room and conservatory are in a west-facing extension; the conservatory is used as a dining room and has under-floor heating, skylight windows and double doors leading to a patio area and steps down to the manicured garden.
The country-style kitchen is tiled and fitted with custom-made pine cupboards, and nicely toasty thanks to an AGA range. The kitchen connects to the living room via an archway. Adjacent to this are a guest lavatory and cloakroom leading to the back-courtyard door. There’s a separate laundry room.
Upstairs, two of the three bedrooms lie to the front of the house, with the third to the rear off a large landing. The main bedroom has a dressing room and en suite bathroom with a marble-tiled bath surround. The second and third bedrooms each have direct access to the second bathroom which has both a bath and separate shower.
The Gables is situated in a quiet boreen, ideal for walking. The house faces to the south and sits in a beautiful parkland setting with a variety of hardwood mature trees, shrubs and plants, while the curved gravel driveway is lined with maturing hardwood trees.
There is stabling for two horses, as well as detached out-offices and an enclosed apple orchard/dog run. The gardens immediately around the house extend to an acre, with another seven acres currently rented out for grazing to a local farmer.
The property lies 20 minutes’ drive from Limerick and is 5km outside Adare, the location of the luxurious Adare Manor Hotel, with its championship golf course. Originally designed by Robert Trent Jones Senior in 1995, the course was redesigned by American golf course architect Tom Fazio as part of the upgrading of the property that took place a couple of years ago.
Adare is also the location of the well-known Dunraven Arms, and Wade and Elaine Murphy’s highly-regarded 1826 restaurant.
Era: Early 19th Century
Size: 260sqm
Agent: Murphy Gubbins Auctioneers (061) 590 000
Viewing: By appointment
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