Co Kildare/€4.5m: A luxury home at the K Club has a bedroom suite made for entertaining - and billionaire neighbours. Frances O'Rourke reports
When the Ryder Cup was in full swing last autumn, 20 Churchfields, a four-bedroom house overlooking the 6th fairway at the K Club, Straffan, Co Kildare, was being extensively refurbished and extended by John Smyth of OMS Architects.
Now the 430sq m (4,600sq ft) house is being sold by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald for €4.75 million.
The extension accommodates a heated 20ft by 12ft swimming pool with an electronic cover, sauna room and changing rooms.
Everything about the house - one of 20 detached homes in this exclusive setting dubbed billionaires' row- is luxurious.
There are glazed balconies and timber decks providing sheltered cover from which to view the golf course.
Flooring is either Jura limestone - in the livingroom and diningroom, for example - or solid walnut, as in the library/study.
Cantilevered stairs flanked by a sheer glass wall lead up to the main bedroom suite, described as "ideally used as an entertainment and relaxation area".
It includes the bedroom, with a video intercom and alarm panel, an en suite bathroom with a double shower with multijets and a Jacuzzi bath and a walk-in dressingroom.
Patio doors lead to a large terrace overlooking the fairway.
Accommodation downstairs includes a Siematic kitchen with Guggenau appliances and a utility room, library/study and three bedrooms with built-in walnut wardrobes.
There is off-street parking in the landscaped front garden and a large patio area bordered by flowerbeds in the back.
It also comes furnished with bespoke furniture fitted by Soon Interiors - and there is a Bang & Olufsen multimedia system.
And like all the properties in Churchfields, two full memberships in the K Club come with the house.
Neighbours at Churchfields include property developers Sean Dunne and Sean Mulryan, as well as K Club-owner Michael Smurfit, who is building a house apparently over 2,323sq m (25,000sq ft).
They no longer, however, include Ben Dunne, whose 325sq m (3,500sq ft) house at 2 Churchfields sold recently for a reported €4.5 million.
