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Historic Belcamp Hall in north Dublin is to be converted into apartments after Fingal County Council granted planning permission to develop the site.
The project spearheaded by developer Gerry Gannon will see the construction of 165 homes on a 15-hectare portion of the site surrounding the 18th century Georgian house, although the original application was for 260 units.
The council attached 53 conditions, including the omission of five blocks of apartments which are to be part of a separate application for the site on Malahide Road.
Built in the 1780s by Sir Edward Newenham, an MP for the area, Belcamp Hall was designed by Kilkenny-born architect James Hoban, who was also responsible for the White House in Washington.
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It later became a boarding school, Belcamp College, before being bought by Mr Gannon as part of a €105 million deal in 2004.
Fabric
The plans submitted by Gannon Properties envisage converting it into 34 apartments as part of the “general repair and conservation of the historic building fabric”. The northern section of the three-storey building will house a restaurant and childcare facility.
A total of 122 two-storey houses, along with a number of apartment blocks, will be constructed on vacant land between Belcamp and Malahide Road, subject to further permission in some cases.
The proposals gained the approval of heritage organisation An Taisce as well as local TD Tommy Broughan, who described the housing as "desperately needed in Dublin Bay North and Fingal County".
They did, however, attract objections from local residents concerned about right-of-way access to the 80-hectare site, and from the Irish Georgian Society which said the development would have a “significant negative impact on the architectural heritage of Belcamp”.
In a lengthy submission to the council, it added that "the loss of this landscape through the construction of inappropriate new development would constitute a profound loss in Ireland's cultural heritage and our shared cultural heritage with Europe and America".