116-acre Doonass House sells at pre-Christmas auction for €1.65m
The lands of the property are in excellent condition, according to the selling agent, with the majority in permanent pasture and laid out in rolling parkland with many mature trees.
Shortly before the Christmas break, there was another successful public auction at GVM’s Limerick City auction rooms of a large holding near the village of Clonlara, Co Clare.
The property in question encompassed 116 acres of a former estate — Doonass House. Located 3km southeast of the village of Clonlara and 40km northeast of Limerick city on the banks of the River Shannon, the house had been through a fascinating and chequered history before being completely gutted by fire in 2009.
The estate was originally established by the Massy family in the wake of the Cromwellian wars and the main house was remodelled by the owners in 1820.
During the construction of Ireland’s first hydro-electric dam at Ardnacrusha by German company Siemens-Schuckert, Doonass House accommodated 18 German engineers, scientists and electricians.
Their side-line business in wine importation famously earned them a court summons in 1926 after 1,400 bottles of German wine were seized in the basement of the house.
Since then, the house has been through the hands of a number of owners — the most notable of whom was a certain Benjamin Weissmann, son of Israel’s first president Chaim Weissmann. He owned the house for a period in the 1950s.
The lands of the property are in excellent condition, according to selling agent Richard Ryan, with the majority in permanent pasture and laid out in rolling parkland with many mature trees.
The shell of the main residence remains, along with a gate lodge by the main entrance and a dramatic folly by the river. To the rear of the house, there is an impressive range of cut limestone outbuildings. The pre-auction price guide was €1.5m.
On the day of the auction, there was a good turnout at the rooms. There was a simultaneous online auction as well but, interestingly, nobody turned up to bid in the virtual manner.
“The bidding opened at €1m, and the bidding went up in €50,000 bids as far as €1,55m. We called a recess, after which we put it on the market. There were four more bids after that before it sold at €1.65m [€14,200/acre]," Mr Ryan said.
There were three bidders in the room and this exceptional and historical property was sold to a dairy farmer in the area, according to the agents.
