CO TIPPERARY: €650,000Originally asking €2 million, this house has had a haircut, writes ALANNA GALLAGHER
SLEVOIR House, an Italianate mansion and grounds on the edge of Lough Derg in Co Tipperary, has had its price reduced by up to 67 per cent.
Last April, the house, set on 110 acres of farmland, had an asking price of €2 million. Now the house on 40 acres is being offered for sale for €650,000 – a reduction of 67 per cent on last spring’s price, though with a smaller amount of land.
The remaining 70 acres will also be for sale. The house on all 110 acres is €1,650,000, a cut of 17 per cent.
Dating back to circa 1870, the property was built to the design of John McCurdy, the man who designed the Shelbourne Hotel, for a Lieutenant Colonel JF Hickie.
The Victorian building has a campanile tower and comes with rich pastoral lands, woodlands, and its own harbour, as well as a walled garden, stone quadrangle, stables and other outbuildings. The property has extensive lake frontage and its own private dock.
The Hickie family lived at Slevoir until the 1960s when it was sold to the Salesian order of nuns. They kept the property in good condition and are probably responsible for the well-polished timber floors throughout. In 1982, the house was sold to a German company and changed hands again in 1999, this time selling to an American businessman for £3.1 million (punts).
In 2006, the property was bought by two Irish investors for just over €4 million. The plan was to create a luxury country house hotel. The house still has potential as a sporting lodge.
Located half a mile from the village of Terryglass, the 12-bedroom house is well laid out and has many original features including tiled floors, window shutters and ornate ceiling plasterwork. There are even bell-pushes for summoning servants, should you need a Downton Abbey moment.
The entrance hall in the main house is in the tower and it leads into an impressive baronial hall. Reception room highlights include a double drawingroom with matching marble fireplaces and interconnecting doors and a bowed diningroom. The kitchen has a separate scullery and pantry as well as a four-door Aga and fireplace.
From the hall, a carved timber staircase, top-lit by a glazed atrium, leads to a fine gallery on the first floor.
In the main house there is about 1,381sq m (14,865sq ft) of accommodation. Five of its 12 bedrooms are en suite. There is also further accommodation in the basement, not to mention the stables.
There is brown-trout and coarse fishing on the lake. The property is freehold and sporting rights will pass with the freehold sale. Included in the sale is an old smokehouse, created by the previous German owners.
Slevoir House, Terryglass, Co Tipperary
Eleven-bed Victorian country house on 40 acres – or 110
Agent: Savills
