Prospects to develop 67 units on south Dublin property

Ferndale House dates back to around 1820

Donal Buckley

February 23 2023 02:30 AM

A development property with potential for 67 residential units in Rathmichael, near the junction of the M50 and M11 in south county Dublin, is being offered for sale. Selling agents Savills Ireland are quoting a guide price of €4.95m.

Known as Ferndale House, the property sits on a 6.16-acre site and is zoned A1 ‘to provide for new residential communities and Sustainable Neighbourhood Infrastructure’.

A feasibility study prepared by Conroy Crowe Kelly Architects & Urban Design, says the 67 units could comprise a mix of three, four and five-bedroom houses and apartments, ranging from 104 sqm to 198 sqm in size, subject to planning permission.

The site is accessed by Ferndale Road from Shankill and Bray directions. A rural lane runs along the south-west boundary and is part of a public and popular trail leading up the hill to Rathmichael Wood and Puck’s Castle.

The property is also convenient to Cherrywood with its two Luas stops where a new town centre is being developed.

Ferndale House, which stands on the site, dates back to around 1820 when it was described as a Georgian gentleman’s residence.

Over the centuries its residents made notable contributions to Irish cultural, business, legal and religious life and also improved and extended the original houses.

In 1964 Ferndale House was acquired by John Gordon who managed the Irish shipping company Palgrave Murphy

They included Ernest McClintock Dix, a Dublin solicitor, a leading figure with the Gaelic revival, a writer and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

In 1964 Ferndale House was acquired by John Gordon who managed the Irish shipping company Palgrave Murphy until its closure in the early 1970s. He became a priest with the Church of Ireland, acting as an auxiliary priest serving Rathmichael Parish and Loughlinstown Hospital and his wife, Elizabeth, designed The Gordon Stained Glass Window in the Rathmichael church. Their family lived there until 2018.

The site contains a number of mature deciduous trees and there are planning objectives indicated on the Development Plan to preserve trees on the site. Tom Rohan from Savills believes this relates primarily to the boundary trees. Any such preservation will depend on a special arborist report on the condition and importance of the trees.