Previously known as Dundrum Constabulary Barracks, and being sold as the Old Barracks, this architectural gem in the Tipperary village of Dundrum is located about eight miles northwest of the popular town of Cashel.
Currently laid out as two properties with six bedrooms, this unique offering could be kept as it is, converted into one big house or turned into a commercial entity, as there are some outbuildings to the rear.
Lying on a 2.5-acre site, the Tudor-revival property was constructed between 1860 and 1870 and has “two asymmetrical gable fronted projections and octagonal entrance tower to the front facade, with three asymmetrical gable fronted projections to the rear,” according to the National Built Heritage Service (NBHS). The NBHS described the structure as an “attractive building . . . and a good example of the Tudor-revival style popular at the time”.
The piece of architectural history along with the local Church of Ireland was a legacy of former landlord Cornwallis Maude (Viscount Hawarden), whose efforts to build the planned village of Dundrum also included a (since-closed) railway station.
The Maude family were the principal landowners in the area at the time. They lived in nearby Dundrum House; a Palladian pile on 2,400 acres that they built in 1730, which is now a hotel and leisure resort.
With its distinct Tudor-revival style, the entire property extends to 281sq m (3,025sq ft) and was mostly refurbished in recent years. It also has a detached laundry in a courtyard to the rear that could also be used for further accommodation.
Ber-exempt and with a few fireplaces in some of the reception rooms (both sides have two formal rooms each) the property does not have much in the way of internal period details (save for an old hearth in the kitchen) so there is no coving or ceiling roses. Instead, its charm is its decorative exterior with cast-iron rainwater goods, cut-sandstone walls, fixed casement windows and decorative timber bargeboards.
What makes the interiors interesting is they are full of light and are of generous proportions and, coupled with the courtyard to the rear, where more cut-stone buildings lie, there is a whole lot of charm to the place. It is now on the market through Sherry FitzGerald Gleeson, seeking €550,000.
