A quick glance at properties listed for Limerick city on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage reveals the majority of houses are either located in the environs of the North Circular Road or the Mill Road in Corbally.
Running parallel to the Mill Road, near the banks of the river Shannon and across from O’Driscoll’s bar is Roseville House, which is described on the inventory as “one of the most significant buildings in the area – due to its size and porch” – a unique cast iron structure added to the building somewhere between 1880 and 1900.
The archival photograph depicts a dark house, overshadowed by trees, which would have been planted when the house was constructed in 1840.
However, when William Holliday, a wealthy local merchant, called Roseville home it was noted that "with its beautiful gardens, it was the showpiece of the district and trippers to Corbally could not pass the gates without feasting their eyes on the exotic wonderland".
Which is exactly what the current owners, lecturers Deirdre O’Loughlin and Ronan O’Brien, have tried to achieve by totally clearing the one-acre site – with the exception of some signature trees, and under the guidance of Dundrum Nurseries in Tipperary which replanted the gardens – to what they would have been in their heyday.
In addition to the gardens the couple, who purchased the house in early 2016 for €385,000, spent months and considerable monies restoring the house and upgrading the property to modern standards. It has been re-roofed, replumbed, rewired, insulated both externally and internally and all the original sash windows to the front have been refurbished and those to the rear are new wooden sash types. In addition, an extension was added to the kitchen – which now opens to a limestone patio through concertina doors – and the fifth bedroom was converted to a family bathroom and generous en suite for the principal bedroom.
One of the biggest achievements, apart from the painstaking repair of this Georgian gem, is that the house – which extends to 370sq m (3,983sq ft) – now has a BER rating of B1, which is quite incredible for its age and size.
The property has four bedrooms, two reception rooms, a large living-cum-dining room, a playroom, study and ancillary rooms at basement level. There is further space in the four outhouses in the cobbled courtyard, and the gardens – now cleared and replanted – are starting to take shape to what they were almost 200 years before.
The owners, bitten by the renovation bug, are moving to another project and have placed this charming home, full of period details, on the market through DNG with an asking price of €855,000.
