Swedes sell embassy house

Sweden closed its embassy here in the summer. Now it’s selling its former D4 embassy residence for €3m

SWEDEN closed its embassy in Dublin in the summer and the house built as the ambassadors residence in 1967, 25 Greenfield Park in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, has come on the market at €3 million through Lisney.

The recently appointed Swedish Ambassador to Ireland, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, operates from Stockholm, so the distinctive bungalow on 1.23 acres designed by Swedish architect Sten Lindgren and Irish architect Arthur Douglas is no longer needed.

The previous ambassador, Claes Ljungdahl, lived in the house for three years before leaving in the summer. The decision to close the embassy after 60 years was part of a Swedish policy to close six European embassies, including Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and Slovenia. the former ambassador said that it shouldn’t be seen as a snub.

From the outside, the residence, which backs onto the grounds of UCD, looks more like an office building than a house. Inside, devoid of its lovely Scandinavian furniture and oriental rugs theres little ostentation about it apart from it’s size – 479 sqm (5,173 sq ft). The Swedish influence is evident throughout, however. While it’s a well-maintained and functional home, it’s low on frills. Aesthetically it’s like being transported back to the 1960s, apart from a main bedroom suite added in the early 1990s and geothermal heating installed a few years ago.

The Ladies and Gents-labelled toilets off the entrance hall immediately give the place the look of a public building. The only nod to luxury are the marble floor tiles on the wide inner hall.

Two doors lead to the formal function rooms, effectively one very long 22m room divided into a formal diningroom and lounge by a massive sliding glass door. These rooms are the best in the house with floor-to-ceiling views of the gardens. There’s also a sizeable study.

There are two bedroom wings, one for family, the other for staff. The family bedroom wing has five fairly modestly-proportioned bedrooms and plenty of bathrooms. The main en suite bedroom has a walk-in-wardrobe. Beside it a larger room which has been used as a sittingroom could be converted to another bedroom. Most of the bathrooms in this family wing need updating. There are pipes running around the walls in quite a few rooms in the house, for example.

The staff wing at the other end of this very long bungalow has two bedrooms, a kitchen and utility room. Again while the kitchen is quite acceptable with plenty of fitted units and two double ovens, it’s also dated. Beside it, there’s an industrial looking utility room, a wine store and a large store room.

The back of 25 Greenfield Road looks more like a house than the front. The 50m wide lawn is immaculate; an area hived off by hedge has a vegetable patch and a garden shed. There’s a two-car garage, a room for the geothermal central heating system and outside sheds.