The diary of Maxwell Fox makes the average Twitter or Facebook post seem absorbing. “Walked to church. Flo and servants drove,” reads a “status update” from Sunday, February 2, 1868. “Drove to Tullamore on business. Returned for luncheon calling at Lynally,” says another from later that month.
The writer was a wealthy landowner and county sheriff in Co Offaly in the mid-19th century. He owned Annaghmore House in Ballyboy and substantial lands around it.
The journal he left behind gives us a picture of his daily life — and it’s not all dull. His diary records the fact that he often commuted to Dublin on official business in the courts. This might be of great interest to anybody who wants to buy his former home, which is on the market for an eye-catching €550,000.
Set on 10 acres, some of which is magnificent mature woodland, Annaghmore House is an 8,500-sq-ft pile dating back to the 1790s. The stately-looking house is just under 10km from Tullamore and is accessed by a 1½km-long avenue.
It has eight bedrooms, a spectacular staircase in the main hall and some of the best Victorian plasterwork you will see anywhere. There is also a stable block at the back and a walled garden.
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Back in the 1860s, Fox would regularly take the morning train, attend court, meet friends in Dublin and return home in time for dinner.
A buyer today could do the same — and, for the privilege, they would be asked to pay only €50 more than they would for a four-bedroom semi-detached house in Dublin’s north city suburbs.
No 12 Celtic Park Avenue in Whitehall, which is on the market for €549,950, has 1,750 sq ft of living space and a separate garage. For someone seeking the ideal family home, Annaghmore House might seem far less practical than No 12, but it could also prove a lot more exciting.
One couple from Dublin viewed the property in Co Offaly last Wednesday and took just 70 minutes to get to the door, according to Sean Joyce, the joint selling agent.
“I have been getting a remarkable number of viewings for this house,” says Joyce. “It has mostly been people from Dublin, but there has been English interest in it too and a couple from Italy looked it over recently.”
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The diarist Fox inherited the house from his father, Barry Fox, who added the five-bay, bow-ended Victorian front section that gives the property its dignified demeanour.
In the impressive hall of the Victorian addition, six columns hold up the central staircase and wraparound gallery landing, with a vaulted ceiling.
There is original plasterwork with ornate cornicing and centre roses, and an unusual wrought-iron railing. The hall and gallery are lit by large windows at both ends.
The main reception rooms are in the Victorian section of the house too. These are bright and well-designed, a fine example of early Victorian architecture. There are original fireplaces, which are large and made from solid marble. These rooms also have elaborate plasterwork. The panelled doors are original too and made from mahogany.
The drawing room has a bow-ended wall, two double-glazed windows with shutters and a white marble fireplace. It leads to the library, which has built-in bookshelves, recessed and shuttered windows, and a marble fireplace.
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The formal dining room has a corniced ceiling, bow-ended wall, original window shutters and a grey marble fireplace. There are eight bedrooms and on the ground floor there is a small study with a marble fireplace and built-in bookcases.
The kitchen has built-in units and a marble fireplace. A back staircase provides access to a ground-floor wing with another kitchen, pantry and former servants’ quarters.
In the 20th century, Annaghmore House was again occupied by someone who would have to commute to Dublin for work. In 1919 it was bought by Patrick Egan, from a local family of brewers and publicans. Egan was elected a Cumann na nGaedhael TD for Laois/Offaly in the fourth Dail in 1923.
The TD married into the Williams family, the makers of Tullamore Dew whiskey, and the house stayed with the Egans until 1968, when an American couple, both academics, bought it as a summer home.
It is now being sold by an executor, but the estate agents would not name the beneficiary.
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A Dublin homeowner who is considering trading up should be aware of the problems that often come with period country houses, however.
For a start, Annaghmore House is landlocked. When it was owned by Maxwell Fox, his estate was just under 3,000 acres. Later owners sold off much of the land and the access is now via a right-of-way. Although there are documents setting out this arrangement, it might make a new owner feel uncomfortable about the possibility of a dispute with the neighbours.
Joyce does not see an issue with the access, however. “The avenue is shared all right,” he says. “But it is all documented and there are no problems with it.”
The house also needs refurbishment. It has not been lived in for 2½years and is showing the signs of this. The oil-fired central heating and double-glazed windows have prevented serious damage, however.
Annaghmore, is a “project” rather than a “builder job”, according to Joyce. “I would see it as habitable, or at least habitable after very little investment. The courtyard is not in good condition, but the main house is not so bad.”
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The rear courtyard has an arched entrance with a bell tower, four lofted coach houses, three stables, a tack room and storage rooms, but this whole area will need considerable investment to bring it back to habitable condition.
The grounds also include a walled garden, lawns, fields and almost seven acres of woodland.
While the price seems keen, even in today’s post-crash market, if you had made a successful offer to the owner a year ago, including contents, you might have made most of your money back. Last summer, Annnaghmore House hit the headlines when three marble sculptures found on the premises turned out to be worth almost as much as the house.
One of these was Die Spinnerin, by the German artist Rudolf Schadow. The others were statues from the workshop of Antonio Canova, the renowned Venetian sculptor of nudes.
Die Spinnerin was given an auction reserve price of €140,000-€210,000. In the event, it made €281,000. The other pieces failed to sell but had reserves of ¤70,000-€93,000. If they had all sold, the total would not have been much less than the asking price that the joint agents, Knight Frank and Sean Joyce, have placed on the property.
Joyce says that when people hear the price, they tend to ask what the catch is. “There is no catch and that’s being honest,” he says.
“We have priced this with the current market in mind and we want to sell it. We have a lot of interest in it and it is from people who are aware of what they would be getting into.”
Knight Frank, 01 662 3255, knightfrank.ie; Sean Joyce, 057 932 9442