The master's house

Abbeville: Charles Haughey's home in Kinsealy in north Co dublin also had a powerful first owner, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Charles Haughey on his horse outside the main entrance to Abbeville. This photograph by Jacqueline O’Brien features on the sleeve of Abbeville - The Family Home of Charles J Haughey by Mary Rose Doorly (Townhouse Press, 1996).

Nobody could be in any doubt that it pained Charles J. Haughey to part with his Abbeville estate in Kinsealy, Co Dublin, even for €45 million. It was his pride and joy for more than 30 years and he had stamped his own personality on the place.

It was, of course, deeply ironic that the former Taoiseach would come to own a splendid Georgian house that was built by John Beresford, the first chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, especially as he had his own serious tax problems.

Beresford, too, was one of the most enduringly powerful political figures of his day and originator of the plan to build a new Custom House far downriver from Dublin's old centre around Capel Street, decisively shifting the city's centre of gravity.

Abbeville was largely designed by James Gandon, the English architect brought over by Beresford in 1781 to work on the Custom House, before going on to do the Four Courts, the King's Inns and the House of Lords portico of the old parliament in College Green.

There was a 17th century house on the site in Kinsealy, seven miles northeast of Dublin, but Gandon greatly enlarged it and gave Abbeville its grandeur. He also reversed its entrance front to face the main road, marked by a porch with a great fanlight over the door, and installed a ballroom.

As shown in photographs by Jacqueline O'Brien in a 1996 book on Abbeville by Mary Rose Doorly, most of the interiors are neo-classical, in the Adam style, apart from one room which is curiously gothic. Mr Haughey¹s principal intervention was to turn another room into a traditional Irish pub.

Designed by Sam Stephenson, the bar counter and other fittings were salvaged from a Belfast bank that was being remodelled in the early 1970s. Most of the other work on the house and its stables was done by two otherwell-known architects, Arthur Gibney and Austin Dunphy.

Most of the art on the walls is personal, including a lively portrait of father-in-law Seán Lemass that dominates the dining-room, faced by a less impressive one of Mr Haughey himself - both pictured addressing the Dáil from the Taoiseach's position.

Mr Haughey installed a fountain in front of the house, on the axis of its entrance, linked to it by a path of cobbled setts, and planted many broadleaf trees to maintain the wooded character of the 250-acre estate, including his favourite ginko.

He ran Abbeville like a country squire - and ran the country from his study. Having grown up in a humble home in Donnycarney, he revelled in the grandeur of his Ascendancy mansion. "You would want to be a soulless creature not to be affected by its style and elegance," he once said.

It pained him greatly to have to sell 15 acres on its road frontage in 2000 to property developers Treasury Holdings for £6 million (€7.6 million), so that he could pay a demand from the Revenue for tax, interest and penalties on the money he had received from businessman Ben Dunne.

This parcel of land had been zoned for commercial use in the context of developing Kinsealy village. The entire estate was also capable of being serviced, as Mr Haughey had agreed to allow a sewerage pipe to be run across the land to serve the adjoining Baskin Cottages.

Though he agreed terms with Treasury in 2001 to dispose of the estate for £30 million (€38 million), with the proviso that he would have the right to live in the house until his death, this deal fell through and it was eventually sold in August 2003 to Manor Park Homes for €45 million.

Mr Haughey believed that Manor Park would treat Abbeville with some sensitivity. The house itself is a protected structure, which means that even its setting would have to be retained, including the picturesque lake and many of the surrounding trees, both front and rear.

One possibility would be to refurbish the house as a small luxury hotel. The rest of the land would need to be rezoned before it could be developed,though this might be said to comply with the objective of strategic planning guidelines to consolidate the metropolitan area.

But without all the Haughey memorabilia, its horses and other trappings, Abbeville just won't be the same. The former Taoiseach's sons, who built houses on the estate, will also find themselves living in quite different surroundings, as it is consumed by the suburbs of Dublin.