Coming up roses in former High Court judge’s Foxrock home for €2.45m

Heather Lodge is Edwardian in style and sits on a half-acre site of well cared-for gardens. It was the long-time home of the late High Court judge Mr Justice Robert Barr, his wife Mary and their five children. The judge, who died in 2016, had a distinguished career during which he headed the Barr tribunal into the fatal shooting at Abbeylara and dealt with a number of cases linked to the IRA. Five generations of Barrs have enjoyed Heather Lodge and, although they admit that selling is "hard", divergent lives mean it is no longer feasible for family members to live there.

Judge Anthony Barr followed his father into law, "though we didn't ever act as barristers together". He recalls that Kerrymount Avenue "was literally on the edge of the countryside" when he was a boy. "I remember horses in a field at the end of the road. The only bus, the 63, was called a phantom bus because it came so rarely. Kerrymount is still a quiet, country-like road but transport has changed dramatically now with the M50 and Luas nearby."

Heather Lodge is very much a family home, good-sized at 278sq m (2,992sq ft), with accommodation and a sense of space on three levels. The seven-bedroom property is for sale through agent DNG seeking €2.45 million.

Site potential

The Barr family made few structural changes to Heather Lodge. An arch between the interconnecting formal reception rooms was filled in, but could be easily reinstated. A new owner will doubtless remodel the rear kitchen and breakfastroom; there is more than enough scope and space. A new owner might also want to seek planning permission to build another house on the site. There is adequate room for this to the side.

Charming original features abound: doors with brass plates, servant bells in the kitchen, windows, fine fireplaces and gloriously high ceilings. The rear drawingroom has a large box-bay window, cornicing, a picture rail and wood-surround fireplace with marble inset. The reception hall has original floor tiles, the front-facing diningroom has another box-bay window and fine original fireplace.

The healthily budding state of the garden’s roses is a tribute to the years of care and attention given them by the late judge.