Mystery buyer rescues writer’s home
Boru House, a large, red-bricked building on Mulgrave St, built by the author’s grandfather in 1880, had fallen into disrepair.
The mystery purchaser paid €85,000 for the building and has informed the mayor of Limerick, Jim Long, that he intends to open the restored building for the benefit of the city and its culture.
Cllr Long said: “I received a letter from the purchaser in recent days and conservation architect Tom Quinlan will be overseeing the restoration of the house.”
In his letter to the mayor, the new owner stated: “Restoration work on the property’s railings and all brickwork will be carried out by local craftsmen. As for its future use, I am certainly not going to convert it into 12 bedsits. I am currently exploring ideas, but you can rest assured it will benefit the city and community culturally. I am looking at perhaps a combination of writer’s museum and maybe a presence for the University of Limerick School of Architecture. These are just two ideas at the moment.”
Cllr Long said the restoration of the home of will bring great joy to all fans of Kate O’Brien, whose work includes That Lady and Without My Cloak.
He said: “I was always very saddened that Limerick City Council couldn’t buy it, but there were a number of impediments in our way.
“The new owner of the building has stepped into the breach and it looks like all impediments have been removed, and he is going to allow the public use the building when it is restored. It is great to see that all the ambitions for the building are now going to be realised.”
