In January 2008 the French ministry for foreign affairs put its ambassador’s residence at 53 Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4 up for sale for €60 million.
Even by Celtic Tiger excesses, this was a breathtaking amount of money – a record asking price at the time.
The original house was commissioned by wealthy barrister George Bustard in 1883. It remained in the family until it was purchased by the French government in 1930.
The 11,000sq ft mansion was so big that Yvon Roe d’Albert, ambassador between 2007 and 2010, said he had to call his wife on the mobile phone to find her.
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Its attempted sale was part of a worldwide downsizing of the French foreign estate.
The timing was unfortunate. The collapse of Northern Rock in the UK in late 2007 had been the canary in the coal mine of the great recession that was to follow. By St Patrick’s Day 2008, shares in Irish banks had plummeted. The debt-fueled party had ended and property prices crashed.
The embassy across the road at 36 Ailesbury Road was put on the market at the same time for €20 million. Such was the magnitude of the crash that it eventually fetched between €4 and €4.5 million when it sold in 2013.
The French residence was quietly taken off the market. Instead, it has been totally refurbished, a process that has taken four years. The roof, plumbing and electricity were completely overhauled.
The residence closed for more than a year for renovation inside. It has been repainted with new tapestries from contemporary French artists. The hallway floor was stripped back to reveal the original tiles. The original doors separating the stairway and the entrance hall were found and have been restored.
The French ambassador Céline Place has only been in residence there for 10 days and is focused on the annual Bastille Day celebrations in the 1.75-acre back garden which will feature more than 1,000 invited guests.
“It will be my own home when my family comes back from France, where they are on holidays,” she said. She and her husband have two boys, aged nine and 17.
The trend of selling off French residences abroad has stopped now, she added, and the ambassador’s residence will not be put on the market again. “The renovation means we are here and we are staying for good.”
Even in the pantheon of great French residences abroad, the Dublin property is regarded as special. “Other colleagues who told me about it before I came to Ireland, and all those who travelled to Ireland for official visits or strategic dialogue, said: ‘You should see the residence; it is amazing’. It is a well-known building and much appreciated in France.”
Though it is called the ambassador’s residence, the living space itself is upstairs. The ground floor is reserved for public functions and is opened once a year for the public through Open House Dublin.
The newly renovated residence will be the focal point for many French activities in Ireland.
Ms Place is hoping to organise the launch of the Dublin Chamber International Festival in the residence next April. The old piano in the main salon was regularly played at functions by Ms Place’s predecessor, Stéphane Crouzat.
She also hopes to showcase the work of French designers during Irish Design Week, while next November there will be events to mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord.
“We will work as we always do on classical arts and promoting the good relationship in arts between France and Ireland.”
