The second phase of an apartment development overlooking Lucan Demesne, Co Dublin, goes on sale this weekend at The Orchard, where 24 two-bedroom apartments are priced from £179,950 to £215,000.
The apartments, in a single three-storey block, range in size from 730 to 835 sq ft. Hooke & MacDonald is handling sales.
In the first phase of this Deane Homes development last April, all but four of the 40 two-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom duplex houses, priced from £189,000 to £235,000, sold within days of their launch. A further two apartment blocks will be launched before the end of the year, bringing the total number of units in the Orchard development to 100.
In the three-storey block, all the apartments will have balconies, some of which are up to 10 ft wide and run the entire length of the room they adjoin. Some of the lounge areas have two bay windows and all have limestone fireplaces. Kitchens have fitted pine Shaker-style units. All have double bedrooms, the main one being en suite. The block has a lift and a spacious hallway. Construction is due to be completed by the end of this month. Up to the 1930s, the site on which this development is built served as the kitchen garden of the neo-Palladian Lucan House, which is currently occupied by the Italian ambassador. The late Professor and Mrs Stanley McCollum created a garden there. Deane Homes has preserved some of the original features of the site, like the stone boundary walls to the garden and orchard and the original Victorian garden with its walkways, wrought iron pergola and sun-dial.
In the 1770s, Lucan Castle, reputedly the birthplace of the first Earl of Lucan, General Patrick Sarsfield, was demolished and replaced by Lucan House. The orchard predates the house.
Other preserved features on the site include a cone shaped stone ice-box with arched passages, a 19th century stone-framed copper orchard bell and a tunnel from the orchard to Lucan Demesne, under the old Lucan Road. The thriving village of Lucan, across the motorway from the rapidly expanding Lucan suburbs, is served by a Superquinn shopping centre and is in easy reach of Blanchardstown and Liffey Valley shopping centres. A Quality Bus Corridor from Lucan to the city centre cuts down on peak time travel. The Liffey Valley area has parks and sporting facilities.
