Entrepreneur Ciarán Mulligan might be best known as the man behind Blue Insurance but when you cross the threshold of his home at 68 Lindsay Road (at the Glasnevin end), a soft citrus scent of wild orange and lemongrass hits you. It’s a blend he has mixed from an organic range of essential oils by Kotanical, another of his investments.
Mulligan knows quality when he sees it, whether it’s a wellness firm or a fine house. He bought number 68 Lindsay Road, a Strain-built Edwardian, “at almost the bottom of the market”, paying €455,000 for it in March 2013, according to the Property Price Register.
It had been in the same family since the 1930s and so had retained many of its fine period features. He then spent a year doing it up with the help of Martin Spillane of McCauley Daye O’Connell architects.
Mulligan shares the brick-fronted semi with fiancé, Bryan McCormack, and the house now presents as a smart mix of period and contemporary styles. The front door’s fine leaded-glass panels have been repurposed in a new, sympathetically styled, draught-excluding door from Leinster Joinery.
The reception rooms retain the original marble fireplaces with their tiled insets while the wide timber floorboards are now stained a warm shade of walnut.
The living room has a bay window to the front and a relaxed styling around a linen-clad sofa and matching lounge chair from Restoration Hardware in New York. He found the room’s matching pendant lights there too. Sliding pocket doors with brass pulls open to the dining room. Here is where the original footprint has been most changed.
Where the back wall once stood, there is now a set of steps down into the kitchen, finished to a sleek design by Realm Concepts with anthracite doors and a long island cum breakfast bar. There is floor to ceiling glass on two sides, along the return wall and large-format sliding doors open out to the impressive garden.
At more than 5m wide, the kitchen is washed in light and has been designed with parties in mind for there is a lovely flow all the way out to the sizeable and sunny garden that feels like a proper outdoor room.
The high neighbouring wall helps create an incredibly private space and the dining area is shaded from sun or rain by an awning and overhead heating. The views to Ringsend towers, Berkeley Road church, the towers of Mountjoy Jail and the Dublin Mountains, are impressive.
The main part of the garden is covered in a swathe of artificial grass and this is surrounded by a contemporary water feature that counters the sound of the Maynooth train line which rumbles past the back of the house en route to Connolly Station.
Upstairs, there is a good-sized return where two of the property’s three bedrooms are located. A painting by Jordie Fornies hangs on the lofty double-height landing. Work by the artist, who was at one stage also head of marketing at Facebook, Dublin, also hangs in the foyer of the Marker Hotel. Mulligan describes the bathroom at this level as “manly” with its wall of black grouted textured tiles and black shower head.
The main bedroom, on the first floor, is an enormous space that stretches the width of the house. A bedroom to the rear has been turned into a walk-in wardrobe with a shoe closet, Mulligan says, worthy of Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw. Adjoining it is a smart shower en suite that is similar in style to the main bathroom. At the top of the house is an attic room with stellar views from its rooflights.
The property, which extends to 176sq m/1,897sq ft, is seeking €1.195 million through agent Turley Property Advisors.
