Location, location, location . . . proves its worth in Beckett's Foxrock family home

Cooldrinagh, the picturesque Tudor-style birthplace of Samuel Beckett, on an acre on Brighton Road, Foxrock, has seen many owners come and go since it was built by the Beckett family in 1903. Designed by eminent architect Fred Hicks, it is one of Dublin's best examples of a mock-Tudor house, modelled on English suburban villas, that were popular around the Foxrock area at the time.

Taking into account the price of building materials and labour around the turn of the century, it probably cost the Becketts £1,000 to £1,500 to build Cooldrinagh - making it one the most expensive houses in the city. And it still is. Samuel Beckett's father, William Beckett, was a successful quantity surveyor and the house was built at a time when well-todo business people were moving out of the bustling city to the quiet leafy suburbs.

Although subsequent owners have extended the property considerably, it originally had four bedrooms - Samuel Beckett was born in its main bedroom in 1906 - a magnificent hallway, a drawingroom and a family sittingroom.

The house changed hands at least once before being bought by an architect in 1955 for £4,000. He sold it after a year to Dr Desmond de Courcy Wheeler, who paid £5,000. He sold it in 1976 for £70,000. In 1989, it was bought for around £400,000 in private negotiations. Seven years later, it had more than doubled in value, selling for £850,000 at a Lisney auction. Lisney sold it again, privately, a year later, this time for £1.2 million. The owners have since extended it considerably and it is now thought to be worth over £3 million.