The Dublin developer who paid €10 million for Santa Maria in Dalkey, Co Dublin plans to build a residential development in its grounds.
Wesley Curran's Otranto Properties Ltd wants to build 24 houses and apartments on a 1.45-acre portion of the two-acre grounds of the protected Victorian house on Cunningham Road, which he bought last year.
He is seeking planning permission from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to build a mix of house types, including five terraced mews houses, 10 detached houses and nine apartments.
The proposal is also for basement car-parking for 45 cars of which 38 are underground. There would be a new access at Cunningham Drive.
Santa Maria is on an elevated site which has sea views and is within walking distance of Dalkey village and Dart station.
Hugh Leonard's father once worked as a gardener on the estate, which was formerly known as Enderly and was owned by the Jacobs, a prominent Quaker family.
After the second World War, Enderly was sold to the couturier Marjorie Boland, who changed the name to Santa Maria. In 1958 the Kennedy family bought Santa Maria for £5,000.
Santa Maria is one of a plethora of large houses in the area which have been snapped up by developers as residential sites. Many have proven controversial with local residents who see these infill developments as an encroachment of their area.
Elsewhere, Anthony and Brian Durkan's Strandsend Limited has been granted planning permission by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to demolish Fey Yerra, a house on Leopardstown Road in Foxrock, Dublin 18 and build 20 apartments and duplexes in a three-storey block adjoining two townhouses on a 0.25-acre site.
In September, Strandsend was refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for a similar development of 20 residential units at Fey Yerra which it said "would constitute overdevelopment of the site resulting in a shortfall in car-parking provision, would be visually obtrusive at this location and would seriously injure the amenities of adjoining property by reason of overlooking".
Meanwhile in Ballinteer, the Board of Governors of Wesley College - and Lywood, Ardglas and other residents' associations - are among the opponents to a scheme of 541 apartments at the Gort Mhuire site. They have lodged appeals to An Bord Pleanála following a decision by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to grant permission for a scheme by Dorville Homes, which is owned by the Haughey building family and O'Malley Homes.
