Ian Curley, former chief executive of glass and metal company Ardagh, has emerged as the purchaser of Sunnyside on Vico Road in Co Dublin for €4.35 million in December 2015. The Tardis-like house, which appears to be single-storey from the front but spreads out over three floors to the rear, extends to a whopping 520sq m (5,600sq ft) and had gone on the market seeking €3.75 million.
Located on the coveted seaward side of the road, the property features magnificent views that will never be interrupted and enjoys sizeable gardens that cascade down towards the Dart line and sea. Following its acquisition, the then-mystery buyer placed Sunnyside up for rent seeking €15,000 a month, but it appears that Curley now has ambitions to demolish the multimillion-euro mansion and replace it with a marginally larger 582 sq m three-storey, five-bedroom house.
Curley currently lives a short distance away on Killiney Hill Road, and presumably intends to make Sunnyside his home if planning permission for the new mansion is granted.
Land Registry records indicate that the vendor of Sunnyside was developer Robin Power, the long-time owner of the property, who extended and refurbished it at great expense.
Like most properties in Power's once-extensive portfolio of coastal mansions that stretched from Monkstown to Killiney, it had been used as a luxury rental. Many of these properties have been sold in recent years.