A new Laois of life for Ballyfin House

HERITAGE:A former Patrician Brothers' school in Co Laois has been lavishly restored by Chicagoan Fred Krehbiel and his Irish wife Kay, and is to open as a private country house retreat. What timing! CAROLINE ALLEN takes a tour of Ballyfin House

A RESTORED REGENCY MANSION set on 600 acres in Co Laois is defying the odds in the recession-ridden hospitality sector by being opened as a luxury retreat.. The painstaking restoration may have taken longer than the original build, but Ballyfin House and Demesne will open for business on May 1st, just a year behind schedule.

When the Patrician Brothers, who ran a boarding school in the grounds for 74 years, announced their decision to close in September 2001, there was dismay locally. Several generations of families in the county had attended Ballyfin College while others availed of coarse fishing in the lake or walks in the grounds.

Although the property was sold to Chicago-based couple Fred and Kay Krehbiel in May 2002, it was August 2008 before the school finally closed.

Ballyfin House and Demesne will be taking overnight guests and is available for private hire. The project is expected to create up to 40 jobs. However anyone who wants to see the restoration will have to book a room, as the house will not be open to non-residents. Aileesh Carew, general manager, says the decision to open to residents-only was tied in with the concept of recreating the atmosphere of an exclusive private country residence. “The restoration set out to return Ballyfin as closely as possible to how it functioned when it was built. If people were coming and going for lunch or afternoon tea all the time, it would lose that,” she says.

Ballyfin House has been the ancestral home of the O’Mores, Crosbys, the Poles, the Wellesley-Poles – the family of the Duke of Wellington – and the Coote families. The Cootes sold it to the Patrician Brothers for £10,000 in 1928.

“Money was always scarce when we were there, but we minded the place as best we could,” recalls Br Maurice Murphy, a member of the restoration advisory committee. “A million pounds in grant-aid from the Heritage Council, which we subsequently repaid, was spent on a section of copper roof over the salon.

“We repainted the grand rooms on two occasions, which was a fairly big effort. We kept all the pieces of parquet flooring labelled and stored in a drawer in the salon. The Turner conservatory fell into disrepair which made it very dangerous, and at one stage taking it down was contemplated, for safety reasons.”

The new owners, Fred Krehbiel, whose electronics business, Molex, has a presence in the US, Asia and Europe, including a plant in Shannon, and his wife Kay, who is from north Kerry, already own a property in Kerry. Having developed a passion for antiques and an interest in small hotels, the Krehbiels were keen to find a significant Irish house to restore and revive.

Landscape designer and plantsman Jim Reynolds had worked on the Krehbiels’ Kerry house, and they took him on board as a shareholder and managing director for this project. Their vision is to recreate, through restoration, the hospitable tradition, luxury and ambience of the Irish country house.

“The owners were very involved with the Georgian Society and were aware that there were numerous houses around the country crying out for help,” Reynolds says. “Once we saw the quality of the architecture at Ballyfin and the importance of the demesne, it was evident we would never find another property that would approach it in any way.

“It was a matter of finding something that needed help and spending whatever needed to be spent, without being utterly insane,” Reynolds says. The crumbling neoclassical mansion was fortunate to be rescued by benign benefactors with the same attitude of Sir Charles Coote, whose family motto was ‘Coute que Coute’ – cost what it may.

Sir Charles bought the house in about 1812 and replaced the dwelling that had been built and rebuilt over previous centuries by successive members of the Pole family. The leading architects of the period, Richard Morrison and his son, William Vitruvius, designed the remodelled and enlarged Ballyfin House in 1822.

“We started the restoration in a very different financial climate and got to the point in 2008 where the economy was beginning to turn down,” Reynolds says. “We pondered on what we should do – stop and do nothing, or continue – and we decided to continue, opening a year later than intended.”

The restoration advisory committee, led by Jim Reynolds, included Br Maurice Murphy, Sir Christopher Coote, 15th baronet and great-great-great grandson of the builders of Ballyfin, Desmond FitzGerald, knight of Glin and president of the Irish Georgian Society, as well as Laois native Darina Allen, Robert Guinness and James Hepworth, who all had an interest in the preservation of the house.

The conservation architects were Purcell Miller Tritton from the UK, advised by John J O’Connell, who led the restoration of Fota, Co Cork, another Morrison house.

The conservation team, involving approximately 100 people, came mainly from Ireland and the UK. “The great expert on antique and inlaid floors John Hart came from nearby Co Kilkenny and he was a huge help in supervising repairs to the original bookcases, mahogany doors and elaborate inlaid floors,” Reynolds says. The main contractor was Cornerstone from Cobh, Co Cork, and the roof contractor was James Farrell from Carlow.

Portraits of the Cootes lend a sense of authenticity to the meticulously restored house. “As soon as the purchase was negotiated from the school, we made contact with the Coote family in England, who had a fairly extensive archive relating to life in the house, particularly from 1890 onwards,” Reynolds says.

“We were originally interested in accessing that archive and finding out about the history and building of Ballyfin House. However, over several years, we built up a very good relationship with Sir Christopher Coote, and his wife, Anne. They eventually suggested that the paintings might be better coming back to Ballyfin as his immediate family weren’t able to look after them.”

A number of other pieces have made their way back to Ballyfin, such as a portrait of Sir Charles Coote, who had married Caroline Whaley, a niece of the infamous Buck Whaley, in 1814. The portrait had been sold by one of his descendants to Hugh Lane, ending up in the US, and the new owners bought it at Sotheby’s in London.

Attention to detail is the hallmark of the restoration, from the sourcing in the UK of a perfect geological match to the local sandstone, which was no longer available in the required format, to the replication of a gasolier in the library, an early 19th-century piece that formerly hung in the Royal Academy London. The ironwork of Richard Turner’s curvilinear conservatory was deconstructed piece-by-piece and taken to the UK for specialist consolidation and repair.

The opulent interiors are captivating and inviting. There is an inlaid floor in the Rotunda based on the Lion Court of the Alhambra Palace in Granada. Other features include a “whispering room”, secret doorways, a bedroom where the walls are hung with 17th-century Flemish tapestries, and a sumptuous Roman sarcophagus bath that was brought to Ballyfin by Sir Charles Coote in 1822.

While Jim Reynolds says the concentration in the restoration was on the house, the restitution of the building in its landscape has been achieved to spectacular effect. “It is certainly the best intact demesne in the country, with extraordinary 18th- and 19th-century ornamental features and wonderful woodlands,” he says.

Much of the commercial forestry that was planted in the 1940s and 1950s was removed, to open up the landscape, and replaced with 70 acres of oak. Work included the restoration of the 18th-century gate lodge, and restoration is ongoing on the two 19th-century lodges. An 18th-century grotto was made safe, the demesne walls were repaired and new planting was carried out in the parkland of specimen semi-mature trees. A large folly tower, built around 1850, was redeemed and a new cascade feature introduced. Paths that were there in the 18th and 19th centuries were reopened, and miles of newly-made hard surface paths were laid.

According to Aileesh Carew, bookings for the hotel’s 13 bedrooms and two suites have already been received from families and business groups from Ireland and the US. A major marketing campaign will get underway over the next few months, mainly targeting the US and Europe.

Opening rates for deluxe rooms are €950, based on double occupancy, including breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, drinks from the minibar, pre-dinner drinks reception, use of the fitness centre and recreational facilities, which include boating on the lake, as well as a laundry service.

“We are aiming at high net worth individuals in Ireland and abroad who want to stay in the most extraordinary house, enjoying the hospitality and setting that was envisaged when Ballyfin House was first built,” Jim Reynolds says.

While the objective is to cosset guests in such a high level of comfort and service that they will not need to venture beyond the gates, he points out that an array of attractions are available nearby for those who wish to explore the local area.

“There is wonderful walking and horse trekking in the Slieve Blooms. On the far side of the mountain, there is Birr Castle with its internationally renowned arboretum and gardens. There is also Emo Court and gardens, the Lutyens gardens at Heywood in Ballinakill, boating on Vicarstown Canal, traditional music, and Kilkenny city within easy reach.”

One of the previous inhabitants, meanwhile, is delighted with what has been achieved at Ballyfin House, which was once used for the set of The Count of Monte Cristo. “It was a real wrench to leave,” reflects Br Murphy. “The consolation is that it is there still and not only is it there, but it has been restored with such care, taste and accuracy.”

Ballyfin, The Restoration of An Irish House and Demesne by Kevin V Mulligan is published by Churchill House Press (€40). Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Georgian Society. Ballyfin House opens for business in May, tel: 057-8755866, ballyfin.com