Art deco inspired property on Louth shoreline comes with 1900 lifeboat station and wealth of wildlife

Irish Independent

2 days ago

Asking price: €1.2m
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Carroll [phone]
​On April 6, 1858, The Mary Stoddart, a barque which had departed Scarborough, ran aground in Dundalk Bay during a violent storm.
The conditions were treacherous. The ship's decks were two or three feet below high tide level and the crew of 18 had to tie themselves up in the rigging and spend the next three days drenched, frozen and terrified, as the storm raged on.
For that time, desperate rescue attempts were made to reach them with boats out of Soldier's Point and Blackrock in Dundalk, but all efforts failed.
On April 9, another attempt was made by two boats under Captain James Kelly and Captain John Hinds.
On nearing the Mary Stoddart, Kelly's boat was overturned, but another wave righted her, and the crew clambered back in. Captain Kelly, however, was carried out to sea and perished. The remaining crew, suffering from exposure and shock, were ferried back to Blackrock by Captain Hinds, but two died en route and another shortly afterwards.
The 11 surviving crew members of the Mary Stoddart were finally brought back to shore on April 10, after the winds eased. The ship eventually broke up where she had run aground, two nautical miles from the Fane river estuary.
A public outcry in the wake of the tragedy led to the establishment of a lifeboat station a year later at the southern end of the promenade in Blackrock. A monument in Captain Kelly's honour now stands in Dundalk town.
The first lifeboat was horse-drawn, but transporting the vessel over the sand and mudflats proved difficult. A more efficient alternative in the form of a new boathouse closer to the estuary was built in 1900. It operated until 1935, and the building still remains.
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Beside it is a four-bedroom family home, designed by the architect Fergus Flynn Rogers, in the style of art deco architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
It was built by pharmacists Sean and Rosemary Gardiner, of Gardiner Family Apothecary, in 1994. 'It was their dream house and they were very proud of it,' explains their daughter Joanna Gardiner, who is selling the property with her siblings Patrick and Zoe.
Joanna is now the CEO of the family-run pharmaceutical company, which also sells medical devices and skincare products.
The 2,270 sq ft house is bow-shaped on three sides, and designed to feel like being in a boat at sea with downstairs views of the water. The decor is mostly cream, white and beige in keeping with the construction style.
The floors downstairs, save for the kitchen, are maple. In the sitting room and dining room, there are Portland stone fire surrounds. 'It's lovely in winter when the wind is howling and the fire is lit,' she says. 'And there's a bit of an art deco feel to the elongated windows throughout with their little squares.'
There's a square-shaped conservatory on the south-west side of the house, which looks on to the boathouse. Here, the Gardiners added a roof and installed a stove.
The traditional style kitchen has a tiled floor with wooden cupboards and a dresser, used to store samples of apothecary. There's a Georgian glass cabinet, a pine kitchen table and a utility room off it.
Upstairs, there are four double bedrooms, one of which has an en suite bathroom, and a family bathroom.
Joanna's brother Patrick, who also works in the family business, has happy memories of growing up there. 'I was a fanatical windsurfer and I used to go from the back of the house,' he says. 'It's a tidal area and the water is only ever up to your waist or shoulders, so it was perfect for water sports.'
'We held lots of family events: barbecues, communions and christenings there too, and Christmas was always wonderful in the house,' adds Joanna. 'Between us, there are nine grandchildren and they've also spent a lot of time there.'
One of these is her 26-year-old son, Tom. 'I spent nearly as much time in the house as I did in my parent's home,' he says. 'We moved a couple of times in my early years, but it was my constant – I've a strong connection with it and with the boathouse.'
The 920 sq ft boathouse after which the main property is named, is set on an elevated site and has been used to store boat and water sports equipment, as well as kit for attending to the 0.7-acre garden.
Tom has enjoyed paddle boarding from the house, and recalls searching for crabs in the nearby rock pools as a child. 'But the most amazing thing about it is the view in the early mornings, when the sun is just coming up and the water is like glass. You can see murmurations of birds in the sky and they're just beautiful.'
The Boathouse is located beside the Fane river estuary, and the marshy mud and salt banks there are a designated wildlife conservation area.
'You can see wild geese, swans and flocks of starlings,' says Joanna. 'People come from all over to photograph them and when the tide goes out, their sound is amazing.'
The house also comes with 1.1 acres of shore frontage which is open to the public, and there are no walls surrounding it.
It's equally scenic all around the location, with views of Dundalk Bay, the Cooley Mountains and Dunany Point in the distance.
It's a five-minute walk from the village of Blackrock, and there are two primary schools nearby. Dundalk is a 10-minute drive, and you can reach Dublin airport in 35 minutes by car.
After the passing of their mother last year, the family are selling the house. Joanna has mixed feelings about it. 'It's bittersweet because we all love it,' she says. 'I do hope whoever buys it will restore the boathouse. It's an important piece of history.'
Sherry FitzGerald Carroll is asking €1.2m.