The excellent quality of stone in the Valley of the Kings allowed tombs to be excavated close to one another, where Egyptian pharaohs were laid to rest as they awaited transfer to the afterlife.
Six eight-metre columns – in rose and yellow sandstone, speckled with fossils, from the Valley of the Kings – now stand in the valley of the Liffey at Homeleigh in Castleknock.
"I realised I had to soften the exterior as it looked a bit commercial – so I imported these from Egypt, the cladding in the hallway was sourced there also," says owner Garrett Cooke, a consultant in private equity funds on green energy development in Africa. The columns and sandstone cladding cost more than €300,000.
Cooke, who purchased what was an old bungalow at number 6 Homeleigh in 2006 for €1.3 million, admits the constant travelling and staying in hotels had a great influence on the design of the home, which was overseen by architectural firm AJ Whittaker and Associates.
Stretching to a whopping 743sq m (8,000sq ft), with a basement measuring a further 364sq m on a site of one acre, the house is “built to a level to withstand earthquakes as it is solid concrete and exceeds San Francisco regulations”.
Cooke, who is also a developer of commercial properties in eastern Europe, used the highest grade materials on the market; windows were made in Poland and cost more than €400,000, and a lift which connects the basement – where a swimming pool is located – to the bedrooms upstairs, was installed at a cost of €100,000.
The properties five bedrooms are all en suite and feature separate dressing areas. The main suite bathroom has a spa bath and a shower large enough to accommodate a volleyball team.
Reception rooms
Rooms are all spacious; “the original bungalow that stood here had a room which measured 20ft, and I decided all the reception rooms in the new house [three in total] should be that size,” says Cooke.
The receptions include a family living area, a games room with a full bar which came from a restaurant on Dame Street, and a formal, double-height reception room. Smaller rooms include an office, television room and gym.
The basement would happily accommodate a fleet of vintage cars and has an unfinished swimming pool – ready to go but for tiling and a filtration system.
Cooke and his family are moving further out to the countryside, but the location here for him while travelling “was superb, because it’s 15 minutes to the airport in the mornings.”
Sites in the estate generally sell for more than €1 million.
Though well built, the house would benefit from softening – some fast growing climbers would take the slightly industrial feel from the exterior, and more soft furnishings and artwork might have a similar effect inside.
The property would be suited to a large family – its acre of gardens open onto a park and Castleknock Golf Club wraps around the estate.
As a place for entertaining it would easily accommodate 250 people with a minimum of hassle. Number 6 Homeleigh is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €2.49 million.
