Saudi Embassy buys €6.5m Glenageary Victorian as Dublin residence

In a property year like no other where residential property sales have fallen by 23 per cent in the first half of the year compared with 2019, bumper house sales have been thin on the ground. But one of the biggest Dublin sales of recent times has quietly slipped onto the radar with the sale of Rathmore on Glenageary's Adelaide Road for €6.5million.

The Embassy of Saudi Arabia has emerged as the new owner after it purchased the detached 441 sq m (4,750 sq ft) Victorian on a sizeable acre in early December 2019. Details of the deal were only registered on the Property Price Register months later. With six bedrooms, 0.4 hectare (an acre) of walled garden and a separate converted stable mews, Rathmore on the corner of Adelaide and Marlborough Roads is a pristine property on an already exceptional south Dublin road.

The off market deal between the Saudis and the Donnelly family, who originally purchased Rathmore at auction in 2005, is understood to have been brokered by Sherry FitzGerald director Michael Grehan. Back then, it had been guiding €4.75 million and sold post-auction to Conor Donnelly for €5.6 million. The Saudi Arabians for their part are well acquainted with their new purchase since the ambassador and his young family have been renting the property since July 2018 when it was advertised on lettings website spotmycrib.ieseeking a monthly rent of €13,500. Mr Grehan declined to comment on the sale.

It is an interesting development given that the embassy purchased Gortanore, a fine site in the heart of Foxrock village in 2013 for about €5 million (a local developer had paid €31 million for it in 2005), but they have failed to do anything with the prime 1.15 hectare (2.85 acre) site since.

Rathmore, Adelaide Road, Glenageary Property as it appeared in 2005

Rathmore, Adelaide Road, Glenageary as it appeared in 2005

Probably one of the best sites available in Foxrock, each successive Saudi ambassador has chosen instead to live in different properties. With the security hut in place at Rathmore and the acquisition complete, it seems likely that the Saudis intend to use Adelaide Road as their main embassy residence for the foreseeable future at least. Meanwhile it will be interesting to see what they plan to do with the Foxrock site.