Johnny and Deirdre Doran were delighted when they got a mortgage for their first home at the Bank of Ireland in the town square in Templemore, Co Tipperary. Little did they know that 22 years and three children later, that bank would become their home.
“We were living about a mile out the country and were kind of getting itchy feet and we wanted to move,” says Johnny. “Then the bank came up for sale.”
Johnny is a self-employed physical therapist and alternative therapist, and he and Deirdre started to think about the possibilities the building could have for his busy practice and for their family.
“We were 22 years out the country and we felt this was a good time to move for us and the kids and for Johnny’s business,” says Deirdre. “We were constantly in and out the road, six times a day, dropping them to school and training, so it kind of made sense to be closer to everything. It was a change, but we knew it could be a positive one.”
Dating from about 1860, the semidetached three-bay, three-storey 5,000sq ft (465sq m) bank with brick chimney stacks and decorative render was a landmark in the Tipperary town. Their central location and imposing facades signified the important position of the bank and the bank manager in country towns. This building, with accommodation for a manager and their family upstairs, towers over Main Street, nestled in the commercial heart of the town.
“Buying the bank seemed daring and challenging at the time, because it is just such a big building with a big personality,” says Johnny. Its protected status meant getting approval for alterations and adaptation might have been tricky.
Its sale was part of the mass transformation of banking as most things once done in a branch moved online. Over the past five years, some 176 bank branches around the country have closed as banks have sought to lower costs, or, in the case of Ulster Bank and KBC, quit the country. The largest number of bank buildings closed between 2021 and 2023, with the closure of multiple Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank branches.
The Templemore bank, which shut its doors in October 2021, was marketed for €245,000. Agent Jonathan Gleeson of Sherry FitzGerald Gleeson also handled the sale of the former Bank of Ireland branch in Urlingford, Co Kilkenny, which had a €200,000 asking price.
Several parties were interested and the Templemore bank and Bank of Ireland requested the hopefuls to outline their intentions for building. The Dorans pitched a 10-page vision for how the building would incorporate Johnny’s business with the family moving in upstairs. The ground floor space could be rented to a business complementary to Johnny’s wellness practice.
The couple emphasised their history in the town too, and their commitment to it.
“We put our house up for sale, we sold our house, we put our money where our mouth was, we took a gamble, and if it paid off, we were going to buy a bank,” says Johnny.
And pay off it did. On the day they dropped their oldest daughter to begin her first year at the University of Limerick in 2022, the couple returned to Templemore to pick up the keys.
“It was actually surreal, to be honest with you,” says Deirdre. “Bank of Ireland took a photo of myself and Johnny outside the bank. It just felt magic because we knew the potential there was, and living over it was going to be exciting as well.”
First to go were the metal bars on the windows. “It was like walking through a jail, if you wanted to get out, you couldn’t. We had no worries about our 15-year-old escaping anyway,” says Deirdre.
“It was daunting because there was so much work to do. It was a huge project,” says Johnny. “There were leaks, damp, cold. A lot of things needed to be rejigged to make a family home first of all, before we could make anything else happen. That took us about a year,” he says.
They set about insulating the attic and repairing windows first to make the place warmer. They took care to maintain the original features such as the coving, panelled doors, deep architraves, original wooden window shutters and grand fireplaces.
With their high ceilings, marble columns, decorative floor tiles, mahogany stairs and ornate ceiling roses, the period features of old banks can make them unique and attractive homes. Typically well-maintained, secure and centrally located, it’s no wonder some are being bought for residential use.
The Dorans applied for, and received, the vacant property refurbishment grant worth €50,000, which Deirdre describes as a “phenomenal help”. Buyers of properties vacant for two years or more and built before 2008 are eligible. You must plan to live in the property or rent it out.
There was a fair bit of paperwork, and the grant was paid for agreed work after it was completed, recalls Johnny.
“There were conditions and we had to stick to them to get the grant, but it was a magical help towards the finishing of it,” says Deirdre.
The result is a large, four-bedroomed home with a kitchen, diningroom, double sittingroom and bathroom on the middle floor. On that floor too is a favourite feature the couple calls their “lookout room”. The original function of this small 6ft by 8ft room confounds them, but it’s just big enough to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the bustling town.
The original bank loan table, which remained, is where they will sit and have Christmas dinner.
Healthy investment
The ground floor has had a complete transformation. The bright purple paint and a pink door signal the change inside. Alongside Johnny’s practice, JD Physical & Sport Therapy, there is the Achieve Wellbeing Hub, a business that opened in recent months and is complementary to Johnny’s own work and ethos.
Now, instead of the hushed tones and high counters of the bank, you’ll find locals investing in their health – a morning spin class going full belt, a camogie team doing a recovery session after a tough game, boxing, callisthenics classes or an exercise class for new mums, babies in tow.
There’s the salt vault too. The old bank vault which secured the money and property deeds of townspeople for more than a century has been transformed into a salt therapy room said to benefit those with asthma, bronchitis or allergies.
“We spent a whole day trying to put a small, six-inch hole in the wall, but the thing was filled with concrete and mesh,” recalls Johnny.
To the rear, the half-acre walled garden with mature trees behind has a sauna and two ice baths. Johnny’s 85-year-old uncle is busy designing the planting for a “tranquility garden”.
Challenging
In their first year, the doorbell never stopped ringing, says Deirdre. “People said, oh my God, I can’t believe you are living in the bank, can I come and see it,” she says.
“Every time we came in from work, there was someone visiting and sitting down. It was excitement for the town really, because it was a young couple who had moved in and people knew us.”
“It was fierce positive. I couldn’t believe the support that was behind us in Templemore,” says Johnny.
The family is enjoying living in the town.
“It was exciting coming from the country to the town. It kind of felt like New York City in some ways at night-time, because of the lights and everything going on outside,” says Deirdre. “Then you go out the back garden and it’s like a haven because the garden is so huge. It’s the best of both worlds really.”
Moving from the countryside was challenging for the children at first, but they’ve grown to love it, says Deirdre.
“It benefits our eldest for Saturday nights now. The middle boy is 17 and he loves it. I think the independence for him walking to school is super, it’s coming at the right time in his life. The youngest guy is 10 and he loves being so close to the park and his sports. It’s been an adjustment, but I think it’s a positive one for them all,” she says.
Selling their home, moving into town, buying a huge bank, refurbishing it while developing the business side of things wasn’t always easy, they say.
“Maybe we were a bit blindsided, but maybe we were better off because it was challenging,” says Deirdre.
“There were times when we questioned it. We were pushed to our boundaries,” says Johnny.
“It feels like such an achievement. It’s a landmark in the town and people were watching it 24/7 to see what was happening, so it’s a big project and it’s a big part of the town,” he says.
On moving in, the couple found a framed photo of the nearby town hall, commissioned by Bank of Ireland in 1999, still hanging on the wall. In the corner of the picture is a young Johnny and his motorbike.
“We kept saying, this was meant to be,” says Deirdre.
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