A country house on 18 acres near the K Club, in Co Kildare, is expected to make in excess of £700,000 when it goes to auction on October 19th.
Glendaars House, a two-storey building dating from around 1925, has been enlarged and remodelled on several occasions. It is now quite a spacious house with four fine reception rooms and four bedrooms. Its location within 20 miles of Dublin will appeal to many families looking for a manageable country house with a nice stretch of land and good facilities for keeping horses.
Susan Kirk, of selling agents Coonan Auctioneers, says there has been a great scarcity in recent years of properties such as Glendaars within easy commuting distance of the city. For that reason alone, she expects strong interest in the house and land, which is two miles from both Straffan and Sallins and five miles from Naas. Hamilton Osborne King are joint agents.
Glendaars House has the advantage of being in a perfect country setting overlooking post-and-rail paddocks which are repeated in an adjoining farm, also involved in horses.
The house was reputedly built for a Colonel Slattery, one of Michael Collins' close confidantes, who was injured during military activities. A former owner, Mrs Ann Smurfit, added a large Tudorstyle drawingroom with a huge bay window overlooking the paddocks to the front, and another window focused on the gardens and an artificial pond complete with fountain.
A square hall, almost 18 ft by 18 ft, forms a pleasant core to the house which is ideal for entertaining on a fairly grand scale. The drawingroom and diningroom are on one side of the hall and on the opposite side, there is an excellent livingroom/TV room which in turn opens into a spacious breakfastroom. The ground floor lay out is completed by a kitchen with a Stanley cooker and a utility room.
Upstairs, the main bedroom offers plenty of space, as well as an en suite bathroom. The other three bedrooms are a little on the small side. However, the present owner had earmarked a site at the back of the house for three or four additional en suite bedrooms.
The house offers a high degree of privacy. It is approached through electronically controlled gates, along a sweeping gravelled driveway.
